Response to listeners of my interview on the Diane Rehm Show (March 16, National Public Radio)

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-03-16/jonathan-balcombe-second-nature#comment-53

Thank you to all who listened to the show today, and thank you for taking the time to share your comments. I just now read them (all of them). I have mixed feelings about some of these comments, for sure, but they show that I struck some chords, tweaked some nerves and generally got people thinking into some uncomfortable territory. For that I am grateful. Also, I’m sorry I didn’t respond to all the questions that came through. A one-hour media interview goes incredibly fast and there’s a premium on time for both guest and host. I don’t assume to be the authority on these complex matters (thanks, Lori, for your comment on that) or to have all the answers. I do feel very strongly, however, that our current relationship with animals represents what the Hope Indians would call koyaanisqatsi: life out of balance. There is an enormous disconnect between what we now know of animals’ experiences of their lives, and how we treat them as a whole (most notably as in factory farms and commercial fishing — which consume some 75 billion sentient creatures yearly). That disconnect badly needs fixing. A key element to fixing it is information. Putting the information out there is the core aim of this book.