Greenwashing Animal Exploitation

How Aquariums and Conventional Nature Films Greenwash Animal Pain

Humans try to camouflage their atrocious behavior toward their planetary cohabitants.

The experimental videos of Pawał Wojtasik explore the consequences of the coercive and exploitative entanglements of humans and animals beyond the corporate media of Amazon, Disney, and Netflix that objectify animals or position them as villains or victims.

Wojtasik’s videos investigate how humans extract amusement, knowledge, and food from animals.

For The Edge, Dale Hudson’s review of Wojtasik’s “The Aquarium” demonstrates how the video exposes human camouflaging of animal abuse and environmental destruction.

Read Hudson’s review on The Edge.

Overturning Roe v. Wade is Immoral and Dangerous 

The majority ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is based on scientific inaccuracies about fetal development and runs counter to widespread U.S. public opinion.

Further, as sociologist and bioethicist Monica J. Casper succinctly explains, the overturning of Roe has and will continue to inflict profound damage.

“The decision is already causing unequal and devastating harm based on race, class, citizenship status, language, age, and geography. Middle-class white women, like me, have long been able to secure abortions, and they will continue to do so.

“Many others will suffer unnecessarily — and even die — attempting to access health care.”

Read more from Casper on The Edge.

The Post-Roe Police State: Reproductive Justice Demands Freedom

The attack on Roe and reproductive rights is an attack on democracy — connected and not dissimilar to the January 6 riot at the capitol. 

Zillah Eisenstein writes, “If the January 6 attack on the capitol should have all people who love freedom and equality on high alert, so should the Court’s attack on bodily integrity and the right to determine choices about abortion.”

Racism and misogyny are directing this attack on choice — further endangering Black pregnant women, who suffer higher maternal mortality rates than white women. It will require much more than voting in Democrats to promote democracy and end the criminalization of women’s choices.

Read Eisenstein’s full commentary on The Edge.

2022 PCIM Interns Work at a Variety of Independent Institutions

This summer, interns for the Park Center for Independent Media are covering local government for the New Jersey Globe, running social media campaigns at Syracuse’s Everson Museum of Art, and viewing screeners for distribution at Juno Films.

Read about their work so far, and more on placements at local radio station WFRI and independent news organization The Ithaca Voice.

The Supreme Court Deals Three Devastating Rulings in One Week

Last month, the Supreme Court issued a series of decisions led by its conservative majority, resulting in the overruling of Roe v. Wade, the loosening of concealed-carry gun restrictions, and a rollback of environmental protections.

The June 23 6-3 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen ended the need for gun owners to demonstrate “proper cause” for carrying a handgun outside their homes.

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ended in a 5-4 decision on June 24 that upheld a  Mississippi law that banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exception for rape or incest, and overturned the longstanding precedents of Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992).

And in West Virginia v. EPA, a 6-3 vote ruled on June 30 that the Clean Air Act does not give the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that contribute to global climate change.

Read more about each case on The Edge.

In Other News

1. Greenland lost enough ice over three days to put West Virginia under a foot of water | The Independent

2. The Inescapable Conclusion From the January 6 Hearings | The Atlantic

3. 3 Killed In Shooting At Iowa State Park, Gunman Also Dead | HuffPost

4. Nasa’s James Webb telescope reveals millions of galaxies | BBC

5. Ukraine and Russia sign UN-backed deal to restart grain exports| The Guardian