More than three years into the COVID-19 pandemic era, the world’s governments are still grappling with how to prevent and prepare for future pandemics, including through a “pandemic instrument” being negotiated now with the World Health Organisation as the lead agency. Join Brighter Green and partners* at a half-day session in Washington, DC on Thurs., April 13th, “From Science to Policy: how the Pandemic Instrument can prevent pandemics and enable equity,” organized as part of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health/CUGH 14th annual global health conference. Register here.
The satellite session will center on the importance of prevention of spillover, a One Health approach that transcends anthropocentrism, and ensuring a whole of society, whole of government approach. International frameworks (such as One Health, economy of wellbeing, and international resolutions) can only be successful if they are inclusive and move beyond the instrumentalization of animals and nature. The satellite session will consider the stage of development of the pandemic instrument, reflect on the status of negotiations, and emphasize the importance of science and evidence-driven policy work and legislation.
Speakers include:
(video statement) Dr. Chadia Wannous, World Organisation for Animal Health
(video statement) Dr. Daniela Battaglia, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
Dr. Catherine Machalaba, One Health High-Level Expert Panel & EcoHealth Alliance
Prof. Sam Halabi, Georgetown University
Dr. Ann Linder, Harvard Law School
Dr. Hope Ferdowsian, Phoenix Zones Initiative
Dr. Chris Walzer, Wildlife Conservation Society
(video statement) John Scanlon AO, End Wildlife Crime
Nicoletta Dentico, Society for International Development
Dr. Syd Johnson, Upstate Medical University
Nina Jamal, MSc, FOUR PAWS International
*Brighter Green’s partners for this event that’s part of CUGH (Consortium of Universities for Global Health) are FOUR PAWS International, Born Free Foundation, Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime, Phoenix Zones Initiative, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Animal Protection, and the World Federation for Animals. Please join us and please spread the word.
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For a shared Earth, please support Brighter Green. As the world continues to warm and we witness more intense wildfires, floods, droughts, and other disasters as a result, Brighter Green’s work is more important than ever. Since our inception, our focus on interconnectedness has stood out, both in the environmental and animal protection movements.
We, people and animals, all have common needs. Clean water. Breathable air. Fertile soil. Intact forests. Habitat. A stable climate. And so much more. If we don’t create policies and practices that center the wellbeing, equity, and rights of all species, we may not have a livable planet for much longer. That’s why Brighter Green matters.
In the sections below, you’ll see why this approach matters, and how it’s reflected in our recent work. Brighter Green advocates for policies that address not just one nation, one climate solution, or one species, but instead, our shared past, present, and future. Through our written works, speaking at conferences and in classrooms, joining coalition campaigns, educating, influencing leaders, and developing new narratives and policies, we’re able to move the needle on key policies to support the living earth, and all its inhabitants.
As 2022 comes to a close, we thank you for supporting and engaging with us this year. We hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy, peaceful, and biodiverse new year. With your help, we look forward to continuing our work for a just and livable future in 2023 and beyond.
—Mia MacDonald, Executive Director (more…)
December 22, 2022Brighter Green was at COP27 in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt. We weighed up whether to attend, given the host country’s terrible human rights record and severe limits on environmental activism. However, we decided it was important to be present to emphasize the connections among human rights, the climate crisis, the treatment of the nonhuman world, environmental sustainability, and the many problems associated with intensive animal agriculture.
As part of our agenda at COP, Brighter Green is a partner in the first ever Food4Climate Pavilion, which brought food system transformation and sustainable diets to the heart of COP27, mainstreaming a transition toward diverse and resilient food production and consumption systems. The Pavilion hosted programs focusing on proven climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions, including the shift towards plant-rich diets, adopting sustainable and resilient agricultural practices, and reducing food loss and waste.
Brighter Green co-hosted three panels at COP27, along with a number of partner organizations (see names below). First, was an official COP27 side event (available to watch on the UNFCCC’s side events YouTube):
And at the Food4Climate Pavilion, along with the Global Forest Coalition, we’re presenting these two panels (also available to watch live or on video on the Pavilion’s livestream):
Summer has been succeeded by autumn here in New York City, and while we miss the longer daylight hours, we at Brighter Green are also looking forward to a busy few months ahead. Like you, we see a world with multiple challenges: a climate emergency upending millions of lives, the war in Ukraine causing enormous suffering and privation, and the continued and in some places (like Brazil’s Amazon and Cerrado) accelerating destruction of nature and the non-human world to produce more meat and feed for farmed animals. Yet, we are also buoyed and continued to be elevated by the visionary and tenacious work of our colleagues around the world, and so many others. Please read on for some short updates on what we’re doing and planning through the end of 2022.
Executive Director Mia MacDonald is teaching a new graduate-level class called Animals, the Environment, and Policy and Praxis in the Anthropocene at New York University (NYU) this fall academic semester. The class, part of the NYU Animal Studies Program, focuses on how the climate emergency, biodiversity loss, the COVID pandemic, and multiple inequalities among peoples, societies, and species are reshaping life on Earth. Students are being asked to make connections between food systems that exploit billions of animals and contributions to forest loss, extinction, water pollution, and global heating. They’re exploring how to increase policy protections for animals and the environment and navigate the landscapes of power and influence in which policies are shaped. Students are also engaging in and testing varied facets of policy analysis and advocacy, and “go deep” on issues of particular interest to them, while also learning from expert guest speakers. Please let us know if you’d like to learn more about the class or see the syllabus. Mia has also taught undergrads, grad students, and professional students at NYU and Columbia University, also in New York City. (more…)
Watch the panel! Brighter Green and partners hosted a virtual event that explored making changes in our society, and indeed our world, to help people, animals, and the planet be healthy and thrive. Learn More
This event was live streamed on November 9, 2021 at COP26 in Glasgow Scotland.
Brighter Green participated in an official COP26 side event called, No More Omissions: Addressing the Ambition and Scale of Change Required in Global Food Systems.
You can watch the event in the embedded player below, or on YouTube.
November 3, 2021Food and agricultural systems have an enormous impact on human lives, especially in vulnerable communities, the lives of other animals, and the ecosystems and climate on which all species depend.
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The fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4) is taking place from March 11-15, 2019 in Nairobi, Kenya. Learn More
March 6, 2019Brighter Green is a public policy action tank that works to raise awareness of and encourage policy action on issues that span the environment, animals, and sustainability. Based in New York, Brighter Green works in the U.S. and internationally with a focus on the countries of the global South and a strong commitment to ensuring and expanding equity and rights.
On its own and in partnership with other organizations and individuals, Brighter Green generates and incubates research and project initiatives that are both visionary and practical. It produces publications, websites, documentary films, and programs to illuminate public debate among policy-makers, activists, communities, influential leaders, and the media, with the goal of social transformation at local and international levels.
Linking activists and organizations from across Asia and other parts of the world, the Asia Program focuses on the development of sustainable food systems through knowledge exchange and public education. Our work focuses on China, but we are expanding to countries across the continent. We have produced documentaries, published policy papers, organized speaking tours, and hosted conferences to foster critical, collaborative engagement on climate change and food systems across Asia.
Intensive animal agriculture constitutes one of the greatest contributors to climate change. In an effort to expand awareness of the negative effects of factory farming, Brighter Green has produced policy papers, briefs, and short documentary videos that examine the globalization of factory farming through the lens of climate change, with a focus on the Global South.
Brighter Green collaborates with organizations from all over the world to bring attention to climate change and sustainable development. Through our International Climate Advocacy program, we empower individuals and groups to work together to resist deforestation, cope with erratic rainfall, and foster adaptation and resilience to climate change by creating paths to sustainable development.
Combining writing, presentation, and research, the Vegan America Project uses veganism as a lens through which to examine complex issues related to climate change. This project focuses on food security, animal welfare, and social transformation, and considers how the United States might reimagine food systems in the Anthropocene.