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59: "I'm positive about our future... I experienced the rapid change in my own views" - Lu Shegay - Institute of Animal Law of Asia - Sentientist Conversation

59: "I'm positive about our future... I experienced the rapid change in my own views" - Lu Shegay - Institute of Animal Law of Asia - Sentientist Conv…

FromSentientism


59: "I'm positive about our future... I experienced the rapid change in my own views" - Lu Shegay - Institute of Animal Law of Asia - Sentientist Conv…

FromSentientism

ratings:
Length:
38 minutes
Released:
Jun 9, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

Lu (https://twitter.com/LuShegay) is an animal law attorney from Kazakhstan, now based in the USA. She is the co-founder and Managing Director of the Institute of Animal Law of Asia (https://www.ialasia.org/ and https://twitter.com/ianimallawasia).
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 video of our conversation is here on YouTube.
We discuss:
0:00 Welcome

1:15 Lu's Intro - Animal law from Kazakhstan to the USA

2:07 What's Real?
- Kazakhstan as a secular country, with Islam and Christianity the main religions
- Being brought to Christianity by Lu's mother
- Learning about religion and realising "it's not real - god is not real"
- Believing "there's somebody above us but they're not like us"
- "I believe in the universe and I believe in science"
-  Believing using facts and reason, but also believing there are some things that can't be explained

6:52 What Matters Morally?
- Morality can come from the heart. Listening to ourselves re: what feels right or wrong
- Having compassion & putting yourself in someone else's shoes
- As a child: loving animals but still eating animals
- Re-considering animal ethics while exploring animal law in Kazakhstan
- "The legal system doesn't work well in Kazakhstan even for humans" so many aren't ready for the animal law field
- Studying animal law in the USA and learning about animal suffering
- Dr Raj Reddy's class "changed my world" https://law.lclark.edu/live/profiles/7148-rajesh-reddy
- Going vegetarian
- Learning about what happens to male chicks in the egg industry. Giving up eggs
- Going vegan. "It came to me naturally that I was doing something wrong"
- Eating meat is central to culture in Kazakhstan but there are meat and dairy alternatives
- Family not understanding veganism. Questioning health and ethics
- "I've only met one other vegan in Kazakhstan"
- Biocentrism, ecocentrism and the interdependencies for sentients
- Loving space, but not understanding why governments spend so much more on exploring other planets rather than caring for ours and exploring our oceans
- Long-termism. Space colonisation

21:54 The Future
- Being realistic about moral scope expansion
- Raising awareness and educating people
- Recognising that different countries have very different contexts. Where there are serious human crises it's harder to prioritise non-human issues
- The non-human animal law agenda across Asia
- Does law follow culture and politics or can it lead and innovate as well?
- In many Asian countries politics & law don't respond to public opinion
- Some countries have animal laws but there is no enforcement (e.g. Kazakhstan animal cruelty legislation)
- Different animal law approaches (cruelty, personhood, farming/fishing)
- The EU and UK recognising the salience of animal sentience
- "I'm positive about our future... I experienced the rapid change in my own views".

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall.
Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.
Released:
Jun 9, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Want a philosophy or worldview that's grounded in reality and has compassion for all sentient beings (mostly humans and other animals)? Then you might find Sentientism interesting. It's "evidence, reason and compassion for all sentient beings." In this podcast, you'll hear about "what's real" and "what matters" from a wide range of celebrities, academics, activists, writers - and interested lay people like me. Find out more at https://sentientism.info/ or join one of our open-to-all, global community groups, like: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism