A new relationship with animals, nature and each other.

Posts by Michael Mountain

  • Introducing the Whale Sanctuary Project

    This blog is taking a break for the next few months so that I can devote my energies to the Whale Sanctuary Project. Here's why.

  • Is the Sloth Sanctuary a Zoo?

    The Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica was the first of its kind for these wonderfully engaging animals, and it was a model for others that followed. But questions have arisen. And…

  • Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary

    Tafi Atome looks like a typical forest in Ghana. The monkeys have been revered in this village for two centuries. But being “sacred” is no guarantee of survival.

  • The Great Irony of Animal “Rights”

    The great irony of the animal rights movement is there is still only one species that has any rights at all: humans. But the Nonhuman Rights Project is setting out to change that.

  • Why Mass Extinction Is Part of Human Nature

    Why would a supposedly “intelligent” species behave in a way that’s bringing about a mass extinction – one that will likely take us down along with so many other animals?

    Is the Stock Market a Global Ponzi Scheme?
    Sacred Activism in the Service of Animals
    Of Humans and Persons

    Best Simple Book on Climate Change

    Pound for pound, I’d rate Global Weirdness, the new book from the folks at Climate Central, the best book I’ve come across for a simple, objective, science-based explanation of what climate change is and how it’s affecting the planet.

    The Massacre in Denver

    If you want to see a deranged adult killer in the making, watch out for a young animal abuser. In each of five school massacres that took place in the year and a half leading up to the Columbine case, the kids who opened fire on their fellow students, teachers, and family all had a history of killing or hurting animals first.

    Oldest Living Beings

    Speaking of the awareness of our own mortality and the anxiety that this inspires (see my previous post), here are some of Earth’s longest living beings.…

    ‘I Am Not an Animal!’

    For thousands of years, we humans have sought to separate ourselves from the rest of nature, to see ourselves as superior and “exceptional.” We don’t even like to be reminded of the fact that we are animals. They are animals, we are humans.

    So, what is it about being an animal that we so very much don’t want to be? What frightens us about the fact that we’re animals? How does this affect the way we treat other animals? And how could the answers help us get a grip on why we humans are on a path to disaster and self-destruction – and taking a lot of other lives on this planet with us?

    Death at SeaWorld

    More and more people are deciding not to take the family to these seaquariums. David Kirby’s new book, “Death at SeaWorld – Shamu and the dark side of killer whales in captivity”, will only propel the exodus. It’s an engrossing story that also raises serious questions about not just the ethics of keeping the world’s top predator in the equivalent of a bathtub for their entire lives, but also the safety of it.

    Nature Bites Back

    The crew of Star Trek used to regularly find themselves admiring the beauty of whatever planet they’d just landed on – only to get sprayed by…