What does a city look like when it's designed for more than just human life? How does the world work when we share it, openly and purposefully, rather than reluctantly?
As part of this year's @sxswlondon , The Empathy Project's @beljacobs_com will take part in a Future Histories panel to explore the possibilities of a cityscape that's no longer centred on a single species. Chaired by @mwestcombe and joined by @animallawreform , @animal_think_tank and @ariasaleja , the panel brings together activists, advocates and academics to share their insights and put forward their vision for a different world.
Join us on June 4th at @sxswlondon and be part of building a better future.
#sxswlondon #futurehistories #animalactivism
🇬🇧 On the 2nd of May, at the London Global Voices for Orelha event, a deeply heartfelt speech was delivered by Empathy Project — a plea for compassion, justice, and a collective awakening to the suffering animals endure in silence.
This was more than a speech.
It was a call to conscience.
A reminder that the measure of our humanity lies in how we treat the most vulnerable among us.
We cannot continue to normalise cruelty hidden behind convenience, tradition, or profit. The pain of animals is real. Their fear is real. Their lives matter.
It is time for a reset — in our systems, in our choices, and in the way we see animal suffering.
Not as something distant. Not as something acceptable. But as something that demands empathy, accountability, and change.
May we become a world that chooses compassion over indifference, and justice over silence.
🇧🇷 No dia 2 de maio, no evento London Global Voices for Orelha, um discurso profundamente emocionante foi apresentado pelo Empathy Project — um apelo por compaixão, justiça e por um despertar coletivo diante do sofrimento silencioso dos animais.
Aquilo foi mais do que um discurso.
Foi um chamado à consciência.
Um lembrete de que a medida da nossa humanidade está na forma como tratamos os mais vulneráveis.
Não podemos continuar normalizando a crueldade escondida atrás da conveniência, da tradição ou do lucro. A dor dos animais é real. O medo deles é real. As vidas deles importam.
É tempo de um recomeço — nos nossos sistemas, nas nossas escolhas e na maneira como enxergamos o sofrimento animal.
Não como algo distante. Não como algo aceitável. Mas como algo que exige empatia, responsabilidade e mudança.
Que possamos nos tornar um mundo que escolhe a compaixão em vez da indiferença, e a justiça em vez do silêncio.
#justicefororelha #cpidoorelha #justiçapororelha #savealife #AnimalJustice
#WorldDonkeyDay offers us a reminder of the strength, courage and empathy of beings that are often overlooked at best and mistreated beyond comprehension at worst.
It also serves as a reminder that there are people like @oursimple.homestead who give their time and their compassion to those who need it most and who change the lives of our animal kin for the better.
Cash's story is an incredible one and the team who made it happen deserve all the fanfare they get – and, of course, so does Cash. But, with over 60 million donkeys worldwide and the vast majority in servitude to humans, it's also important to remember the others like him; to tell their stories and, of course, to change them as often as we can.
Watch Cash's story in the video above and consider donating to any of the many, many amazing donkey charities who are helping to save lives and shift the narrative worldwide every single day.
Today marks #BeKindToFarmedAnimals day. If you follow us, we know you'll agree with the sentiment – but we also take a stand against it.
Kindness shouldn't need a day to be enforced; empathy shouldn't be a once-a-year concession. Farmed animals deserve their freedom and, failing that, they deserve their dignity and our kindness every single day.
Real change only happens when we work together.
Hosting a screening of our documentary film, The Empathy Project, means bringing our message – and the work of activists and advocates like @gauthierinsoho , @cleve_west , @_mollyelsdon and @dan710ths – to the people who need to hear it most. It means starting an honest conversation today about the kind of future we're trying to build. It means changing minds and opening eyes.
Reach out to [email protected] to discuss how you can screen the film, whether virtually or in person, and how we can work together toward a kinder, more empathetic world.
Animal testing in the UK relies on excruciating, repeated experimentation often without pain relief. But it also relies on the abuse of power and trust too easily built.
Toxicity testing is the government-mandated exposure of animals to test substances to determine the concentration at which harm, illness or death occurs. But it isn't an exact science and it isn't the calm, clinical process it sounds like.
While new footage released through ongoing campaigns by whistleblowers – via the ceaseless activism of Animal Aid and Animals International – shows the reality of what these callous, non-consensual processes involve, with 90% of animal-tests drugs failing human tests, we know already that too much of this unjustifiable suffering is pointless.
This can't continue. Cruelty without reason or compassion has to end and you can help to make that change a reality. Follow the link in our bio to sign the petition and show the UK government we won't let this happen in our name.
#EndAnimalTesting #LicensedCruelty #UKLabsExposed
One day a year can't change everything, but it does offer time to reflect. There will only ever be one Earth, only one home for human beings, but just because it's precious to us that doesn't mean we can forget that it's a home we share with so many others.
Everything we do is a reminder of that. From the documentary we premiered earlier this year to our ongoing digital magazine platform to our educational outreach programs and workshops – it's all in service of that sense of community.
It that resonates with you this Earth Day, or any other day, you can reach out about hosting a screening of the film or make a contribution to our GoFundMe via the links in our bio.
Today we reflect, tomorrow we put that into action. Join us.
#EarthDay
As advocates and activists we're often pushing for perfect solutions to the problems of an imperfect world.
But the drive for perfection can be paralysing; our presumptions that we know the "right" thing to do can lead us to an impasse we might otherwise have crossed. Our stubbornness can actually stand in the way of change.
It may seem counterintuitive when there are so many wrongs to right, but the only way we can ever hope to make real progress is to slow down every once in a while; to listen instead of talking constantly, and–crucially, whenever and wherever possible–to spend time in (and with) nature.
Building a better world takes time. It takes mistakes and misses. It's important to remember that getting it wrong isn't necessarily a step backwards, it's part of the process.
We're getting there.
Endangered whales, sea turtles and an entire ecosystem of all-too-rare marine life call the Gulf of Mexico their home. The Trump administration wants to destroy it for profit.
Following the same through line that has seen national park land given over to oil and gas companies, the Trump administration just tried to bypass the Endangered Species Act and expand oil drilling in the Gulf.
The Endangered Species Act protects our animal peers because when they can't protect or speak for themselves. Not only in the Gulf, but anywhere they're under threat. And if that pact can be broken, nowhere is safe.
Using a legal loophole invoked by self-styled "Secretary of War" Pete Hegseth, the administration's committee on endangered animals–glibly nicknamed the "God Squad"–waived critical animal protections under the dubious guise of national security.
This time, though, they failed. Legal resistance mounted by organisations including the NRDC, the Wolf Conservation Center, and Women For Wolves (among many others) have stopped this disastrous policy in its tracks. For now.
But the fight isn't over. The Trump administration will surely try again; will surely test the resolve of campaigners.
To continue the fight, they need our help. Follow their work; contribute to their ongoing battle if you can. Together we can protect the world from the worst of humanity's greed.
Join us. Join them. Join the fight.
"Atrocity can be routinised. Moral shock fades. Profit can launder brutality into banality." – Michael Corthell
As activists and advocates, the fact that casual cruelty and an ingrained status quo of superiority harm animals is taken for granted. What we often miss, however, is how this fits into a bigger picture: a picture of apathy, of subjugation and of violent systemic decline that hurts people too.
When you underpin societies with the mechanised suffering of vulnerable beings, you see what you see now: war, starvation, exploitation, violence, the elevation of psychopaths, the torture of children, the end of nature.
These are not distinct problems; they are one and the same. A shared downward spiral that spares no one but those at the very top.
This is what Vegan Project founder and Vegan's Voice publisher Michael Corthell puts forward in his latest post on substack, and it's the foundation of everything The Empathy Project stands for.
A better future for animals means a better world for all of us.
Follow the links in our bio to read Michael's article in full and to find out more.
#vegan #stopcruelty #factoryfarming #veganactivism #animalactivism
What shocks one person to their core and changes their entire world view might just as easily shut someone out of the conversation forever.
We know that human treatment of animals is cruel and violent, but does showing that violence in graphic detail always have the right effect? Or is it possible that "opening eyes" to the visceral truth can sometimes just push them even tighter shut?
Speaking at the first screening of The Empathy Project documentary back in January, actor and animal advocacy campaigner Dan Richardson shared his thoughts on shock tactics and one-size-fits-all activism:
"We need everybody on side; every kind of activist. For some people, Earthlings transformed them, others go with a softer approach. There is no right or wrong – we all have things that resonate with us."
What matters most, then, is starting these conversations – whatever form they take – and meeting people at their level. Activism cannot be exclusionary or insular: it has to be for everyone, because we need more voices to speak up for those who can't – more people willing to work toward a more empathetic world.
How we get there matters less than making sure we get there at all.
For more information on how you can join the conversation, follow the link in our bio.
#activism #animaladvocate #animalrights #animalrightsactivist #endanimalcruelty
