Andrew Knight videos

Andrew (https://sentientism.info/sentientist-...) is Professor of Animal Welfare & Ethics & Founding Director of the University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare, Adjunct Professor in the School of Environment & Science at Griffith University, Queensland, EBVS European & RCVS Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics & Law, American & New Zealand Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare, Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons & Principal Fellow of Advance HE.

Ever since helping launch Australia’s campaign against the live sheep trade to the Middle East in the early 1990s, he has advocated on behalf of animals. For nearly a decade prior to 2012 he practiced veterinary medicine, mostly around London. In 2013 – 2014 he directed the Clinical Skills Laboratory & taught animal ethics, welfare, veterinary practice management & surgical & medical skills at one of the world’s largest veterinary schools in the Caribbean.

Andrew's books include The Routledge Handbook of Animal Welfare (2023) & The Costs & Benefits of Animal Experiments (2011). He has over 150 academic & 80 popular publications & an extensive series of social media videos on plant-based companion animal diets, climate change & the livestock sector, invasive animal research, educational animal use, humane clinical & surgical skills training & other animal welfare issues. His papers have been published in leading scientific & medical journals, such as New Scientist, the British Medical Journal USA & PLoS One. He has delivered over 200 presentations at conferences & universities internationally & has organized or chaired seven conferences and seminars. He regularly works with animal welfare charities to advocate for animals & is often interviewed by the media. Andrew has been honoured with 14 awards & 22 research grants, including the Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics Shomer Award, a University Values Award & the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association Humane Achievement Award. He received a University Student-Led Teaching Award in 2017.

https://sustainablepetfood.info/ - includes details of all the research discussed.
https://www.andrewknight.info/

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?”
Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The audio is on our Podcast: https://apple.co/391khQO & https://anchor.fm/sentientism.

We discuss:
00:00 Welcome
01:33 Andrew's Intro

03:57 What's Real?
Questioning his life after being unlucky in love
Following the tradition of "gurus going to mountain tops"... hiking up a mountain & fasting
A beautiful mountain view at dawn... "Please god - if there's anything out there - let me know now!"
"The sun came up... I got my answer clear as day... there was absolutely nothing... I had to go back down the mountain... carry on and do the best I could... without any advice or clues from above... that's been my guiding inspiration since... what are we going to do with this opportunity?..."
"I was very pleased because I could finally eat some food" :)
Australia's secularism
Veterinary education focused on science & evidence.

11:11 What Matters?
"Try to do the most good you can and the least harm that you can."... without letting that turn you into a grim and uninspiring person
Enjoying your life & not burning out (tough for caring professions & activists)
"Don't forget to look after ourselves"
"That's why it's [doing good, avoiding harm] such a good baseline principle... It's a simple clear message... something we can all aspire to"

15:32 Who Matters?
Helping with the @RedCross soup patrol, @AmnestyInternational and banning land-mines
Realising how many more non-human animals were suffering & dying in animal agriculture
"There are millions more animals being impacted & their capacity to suffer is not millions of times less... it is a more important issue"
Continuing to support human causes but prioritising animal causes (e.g. live export)
"Then I've had a 25 year career as a professional animal advocate thereafter"
At 8 yrs old reading a book about baby animals "These animals are wonderful. I'm not going to eat these animals any more... I marched up to my parents and declared I was going vegetarian"
"They smiled & thought to themselves 'no worries this will only last a week' but it didn't last a week - it lasted a lifetime and I became vegan at 23"
"A really important criterion for moral consideration is whether a person or an animal can suffer... and indeed more broadly whether they are #sentient "

29:46 How Can We Make a Better Future?

... & much more!

#Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all #sentient beings.” More at https://sentientism.info/. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall https://sentientism.info/wall/.

Everyone, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups. E.g.: / sentientism .