Reflecting on his time as an animal activist, Henry Spira wanted his epitaph to read "he pushed the peanut forward". 'Ethics Into Action' by Peter Singer is a biography of the life of Henry Spira. Spira lived from 1927-1998 and played a large part in the animal liberation movement that erupted towards the end of the 20th century. He achieved some significant changes through his activism; helping to stop cruel fertility experimentation on cats, cosmetic testing on rabbits and unnecessary pain/death of farm animals. The main themes of the book explore how to identify an ethical problem that can be fixed and then go about enacting the solution in reality.

I summarised the book as follows. "Henry Spira is probably one of the only people I have come across in calling someone an unsung hero. This book lays open the hard work of a remarkable man who made a huge difference to the lives of many animals. It's not a book for sorting our your ethics but once already establish, how you can implement them into action. I would definitely recommend it to all activists who actually want to make a change in the world, rather than just 'raise awareness'."
As always, we hope you enjoy, Mere Mortals out!

Timeline:
(0:00) - Synopsis
(2:54) - The Problem: A mix of ethics & reality
(4:54) - Action: Will it work?
(9:12) - Personal Observations
(13:02) - Summary
(14:54) - Pragmatic Takeaway: The small individual steps count. Do more!

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