10,000 Birds

MAY 23, 2023

Many birders keep personal birding lists or life lists, documenting the species they have seen throughout their birding experiences. The concept of a big year gained significant attention through books, such as “The Big Year” by Mark Obmascik, which chronicled the experiences of birders participating in competitive big years.

United States 147

United States North America Birds America 147

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2023

I knew he was also a former Marvel comic book writer and editor, but did not know that he also, unsurprisingly, had a history of involvement in LGBTQ and Black rights advocacy. Because being a birder means you experience life through that framework. And, as he did a decade ago, the joys and benefits of birding.

Emotional 228

Emotional Birds Minneapolis Nepal 228

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 6, 2022

At the end of 2022, let us celebrate the local field guide, a sub-genre that many of us feared would die, the victim of technology, development, and globalization, but which still shines bright, fewer in number but brilliant in quality, thanks to birders and birding organizations that believe in knowing your patch and your state.

Los Angeles 210

Los Angeles Birds District of Columbia Parrots 210

Animal Person

MAY 23, 2009

I've used the term "animal activism" lately as an experiment. With more than 2 million members across the globe, PETA is the largest animal advocacy group and comparable in size to the human rights organization, Amnesty International. First, note that now PeTA is an "animal advocacy group." daily, in the blogosphere.

Animal Advocacy 100

Animal Advocacy PETA Animal Advocacy 100

Animal Person

AUGUST 12, 2009

However, there's a context here, and that context is that the message is coming from an organization that focuses on the science angle of our use of sentient nonhumans (i.e., Though the health argument isn't ironclad and I wouldn't want to make it the center of my advocacy, I have to remember who the messenger is here and what the context is.

Vegan 100

Vegan Campaign Advocacy Vegetarian 100

Animal Person

JULY 23, 2009

Books are obvious opportunities for advocacy and vegan education. All kinds of things happen during the writing process because it is organic. In my experience, the biggest problem for prospective authors is that they don't know who their audience is and they say "everybody should read my book and can benefit from it."

Vegan 100

Vegan Advocacy Animal Rights Research 100