The ethics of street photography

I’m not a great street photographer, but I enjoy looking at it and finding the stories in the captured scenes. I’m uneasy, personally, about the idea of breaching someone’s personal space without implicit permission.

The matter was brought home to me the other day, when a family member asked me to unshare a photo I’d published of their child. That unease I felt with strangers seemed not to apply with my own relatives. It made me ponder the rights and wrongs and rights of photography and photographers, and the photographed.

Street photography is an established art form. It has existed for as long as photographs have been made. Or perhaps, in this context, taken. It has shown us different lives, lifestyles, moments in history… without these images much of history would be if not lost then more easily forgotten.

It is clear, right now, that the use of mobile phone photography is at least recording, if not reining in, some of the madness in other parts of the world. And, eventually, those phone pics will form evidence at trials and inquiries. Murders and beatings and state sponsored terrorism have all come under the scrutiny of the camera.

Of course, mobile phone cameras have also brought new problems: capturing people in uninhibited moments such as nightclub dancing, and preying upon both the vulnerability of the person and the predatory instincts of others. Every light brings its own shadow…

From time to time, various governments and corporate interests have attempted to shut the genre down. “I’m a Photographer, not a Terrorist“, was both a meme and an information resource in Britain at the end of the last century.

Street photography and photo-journalism are fundamental parts of whatever freedoms we still enjoy. But times move on, and with media feeding frenzies and the advance of AI and wearable tech such as camera equipped glasses, the continuation of candid photography is perhaps in question.

It may be that you think spontaneous, unobtrusive and unnoticed street photography is fine, but that photos of your child should not be published. The right of the parent obviously trumps the desires of the photographer (and, of course, I immediately unpublished that photograph). But there’s an ambiguity here.

That conflict of fascination and protection implies a grey area, and that’s what I’m examining. Yes, as I’ve said, I’m already uneasy about photographing people and peopled scenes without prior permission, but that’s the very basis of street photography and the candid documentation of everyday life.

If we are unable through social consensus to publish such images, all we will have left are posed, rehearsed, “safe” and most likely AI slop images. We will lose the connection to reality that the street photographer’s camera offers, in favour of bland inoffensive and unreliable pap.

And, it ought to go without saying now, as you go about your public lives your government and/or private companies are taking your photograph almost every moment of every day, with AI enhanced facial recognition already in use by several British police forces. You have no rights when it comes to Big Brother…

I have no answers, and I’m making no conclusions here. And I’m not going to get into anything animist (including the rights of non-humans). I am interested in your thoughts and opinions… are you street photographers?

How do you square the circle? Have you given it any consideration? Do you perhaps carry model release forms? Make contact with the random people you capture? Do you post pictures of your selves, of your kids, or of anyone else’s?

The pixelated image at the top is, of course, me…

#child #Ethics #parent #photography #privacy #private #street

Stop Gambling Our Future for Meat Deforestation

Renowned animal rights ethicist philosopher Peter Singer asserts that our dietary choices, particularly our consumption of meat and dairy, are jeopardising the Earth’s future. These industries contribute significantly to environmental degradation, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions, intensifying the impacts of climate change. By indulging in hamburgers and other meat-based products, we are not only compromising our health but also the wellbeing of our planet. For a more sustainable and compassionate future, consider boycotting meat and dairy. Choose to be vegan for the animals and to save our planet #Boycottmeat be #vegan #Boycott4Wildlife

youtu.be/ge4S2oHF5oY

Originally published by The Conversation June 15, 2023 and republished here under the Creative Commons Licence, read original.

Peter Singer, Princeton University

I wasn’t aware of climate change until the 1980s — hardly anyone was — and even when we recognised the dire threat that burning fossil fuels posed, it took time for the role of animal production in warming the planet to be understood.

Today, though, the fact that eating plants will reduce your greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most important and influential reasons for cutting down on animal products and, for those willing to go all the way, becoming vegan.

A few years ago, eating locally — eating only food produced within a defined radius of your home — became the thing for environmentally conscious people to do, to such an extent that “locavore” became the Oxford English Dictionary’s “word of the year” for 2007.

If you enjoy getting to know and support your local farmers, of course, eating locally makes sense. But if your aim is, as many local eaters said, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, you would do much better by thinking about what you are eating, rather than where it comes from. That’s because transport makes up only a tiny share of the greenhouse gas emissions from the production and distribution of food.

With beef, for example, transport is only 0.5% of total emissions. So if you eat local beef you will still be responsible for 99.5% of the greenhouse gas emissions your food would have caused if you had eaten beef transported a long distance. On the other hand, if you choose peas you will be responsible for only about 2% of the greenhouse gas emissions from producing a similar quantity of local beef.

And although beef is the worst food for emitting greenhouse gases, a broader study of the carbon footprints of food across the European Union showed that meat, dairy and eggs accounted for 83% of emissions, and transport for only 6%.

More generally, plant foods typically have far lower greenhouse gas emissions than any animal foods, whether we are comparing equivalent quantities of calories or of protein. Beef, for example, emits 192 times as much carbon dioxide equivalent per gram of protein as nuts, and while these are at the extremes of the protein foods, eggs, the animal food with the lowest emissions per gram of protein, still has, per gram of protein, more than twice the emissions of tofu.

Animal foods do even more poorly when compared with plant foods in terms of calories produced. Beef emits 520 times as much per calorie as nuts, and eggs, again the best-performing animal product, emit five times as much per calorie as potatoes.

Favourable as these figures are to plant foods, they leave out something that tilts the balance even more strongly against animal foods in the effort to avoid catastrophic climate change: the “carbon opportunity cost” of the vast area of land used for grazing animals and the smaller, but still very large, area used to grow crops that are then fed — wastefully, as we have seen — to confined animals.

Because we use this land for animals we eat, it cannot be used to restore native ecosystems, including forests, which would safely remove huge amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. One study has found that a shift to plant-based eating would free up so much land for this purpose that seizing the opportunity would give us a 66% probability of achieving something that most observers believe we have missed our chance of achieving: limiting warming to 1.5℃.

Another study has suggested that a rapid phaseout of animal agriculture would enable us to stabilise greenhouse gases for the next 30 years and offset more than two-thirds of all carbon dioxide emissions this century. According to the authors of this study:

The magnitude and rapidity of these potential effects should place the reduction or elimination of animal agriculture at the forefront of strategies for averting disastrous climate change.

Climate change is undoubtedly the biggest environmental issue facing us today, but it is not the only one. If we look at environmental issues more broadly, we find further reasons for preferring a plant-based diet.
Fires in the Amazon and linked to cattle ranching. Andre Penner/AP Photo
The clearing and burning of the Amazon rainforest means not only the release of carbon from the trees and other vegetation into the atmosphere, but also the likely extinction of many plant and animal species that are still unrecorded.

This destruction is driven largely by the prodigious appetite of the affluent nations for meat, which makes it more profitable to clear the forest than to preserve it for the indigenous people living there, establish an ecotourism industry, protect the area’s biodiversity, or keep the carbon locked up in the forest. We are, quite literally, gambling with the future of our planet for the sake of hamburgers.

Joseph Poore, of the University of Oxford, led a study that consolidated a huge amount of environmental data on 38,700 farms and 1,600 food processors in 119 countries and covered 40 different food products. Poore summarised the upshot of all this research thus:

A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use. It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car, as these only cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Poore doesn’t see “sustainable” animal agriculture as the solution:

Really it is animal products that are responsible for so much of this. Avoiding consumption of animal products delivers far better environmental benefits than trying to purchase sustainable meat and dairy.

Those who claim to care about the wellbeing of human beings and the preservation of our climate and our environment should become vegans for those reasons alone.

Doing so would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of pollution, save water and energy, free vast tracts of land for reforestation, and eliminate the most significant incentive for clearing the Amazon and other forests.

This is an edited extract from Animal Liberation Now by Peter Singer (Penguin Random House).

Peter Singer, Professor of Bioethics in the Center for Human Values, Princeton University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Originally published by The Conversation June 15, 2023 and republished here under the Creative Commons Licence, read original.

ENDS

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Jaguars and Pumas Eat More Monkeys in Damaged Forests

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2026-01-03 14:59:00

Jaguars and Pumas Eat More Monkeys in Damaged Forests

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Study finds that in fragmented forests of #Mexico, #bigcats like #jaguars and pumas find it difficult to find traditional prey animals like #ungulates. Instead they focus on harder to catch prey like tree-dwelling #monkeys, forced out of the trees by #palmoil, #soy and #meat #deforestation. This spells bad news for many #primate species of Central and South America and highlights why urgent forest protection is needed. Help species survive and be #Vegan #BoycottPalmOil #Boycott4Wildlife to protect forests and forest animals.

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In #Mexico, big #cats like #jaguars 🐆 and #pumas can’t find ungulate prey due to #palmoil #mining #meat #deforestation. They’ve switched to a diet of #monkeys, putting them in peril. Help them, be #vegan #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect wp.me/pcFhgU-92D

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#Primates like #howler 🐒and spider #monkeys in #Mexico 🇲🇽 are declining due to overhunting by big cats: #pumas and #jaguars. They’re forced by #deforestation 🌳 into smaller areas. Help them survive! #Boycottpalmoil 🌴⛔️ #Boycott4Wildlife @palmoildetect wp.me/pcFhgU-92D

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Written by Aralisa Shedden, Postdoctoral Researcher in Conservation, Bournemouth University. Originally published as ‘Big cats eat more monkeys in a damaged tropical forest – and this could threaten their survival’. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Monkeys aren’t normally that popular with Jaguars and Puma but wide-spread logging robs primates of hiding places, drastically reducing their numbers.

Monkeys are not usually a popular menu item for big cats. Primates are, after all, hard to catch: living in the canopies of large trees and rarely coming down to the ground. Jaguar and puma have varied diets and will normally hunt the species that are most common where they live, such as deer, peccary (a type of wild pig) and armadillo.

youtu.be/jg-7kOpHtys

But jaguar and puma living in southern Mexican forests with a high human footprint (where wood and other resources are regularly harvested and there are large clearings for farms or expanding settlements) seem to be changing their feeding preferences to include more monkeys, according to new research.

Other studies have already found that when there is less of their usual prey around, big cats turn to alternatives. The changes in jaguar and puma diets that my colleagues and I recorded may indicate that the populations of these normal prey are shrinking, or that something in the environment has changed to make catching and eating primates easier.
A jaguar in the jungle of southern Mexico. Mardoz/Shutterstock
This change in the diet of large cats could make the disappearance of primate populations in tropical forests like this one in southern Mexico more likely. This would, in turn, make the disappearance of large cats themselves more likely due to a lack of food, threatening the stability of an entire ecosystem.

youtu.be/m5VDG5lAEtM

On the trail of big cats

When forests are cut down or altered by loggers and hunters, primates are particularly affected, as many species depend on tall trees for food, shelter and to chart paths through the forest. Globally, more than 60% of primate species are threatened with extinction.

youtu.be/X-brmypUfJY

These changes to forests have also put large predators at risk. Understanding what is happening in these areas can inform more effective conservation measures, which may prevent species from disappearing.

The Uxpanapa valley in southeastern Mexico is one of the last relicts of tall evergreen forest in the country, and is classified as one of the most biodiverse areas in both Mexico and the world. It is home to jaguar, puma and many other species, including two endangered primates: howler and spider monkeys.
Howler monkeys are native to South and Central American forests. David Havel/Shutterstock
I led a research team that studied the distribution of primates in the Uxpanapa Valley for the first time. We recorded the number of primates and where they were found, as well as the type of forest they preferred.

Another team looked for large cats with the help of a dog which could detect their faeces, otherwise known as scat. Scat was collected to obtain DNA and determine the species that left it, whether it had any parasites, and what its diet was like. The team found out what prey these large cats were eating by using microscopes to study the hairs left in each scat. Special identification guides can link each kind of animal to its hair – each has a particular colour, pattern and shape.

Large carnivores maintain biodiversity and the functioning of an ecosystem by controlling populations of certain species – for example, herbivores that might otherwise harm trees or prevent forests regrowing. The presence of such predators can indicate an ecosystem’s health. Knowing what top predators are eating can tell us even more about how an ecosystem is functioning.
Jaguar Panthera onca by Ecuadorian artist Juanchi Pérez portrait

What we found

When we combined the data and information we collected, we began to understand that something out of the ordinary was happening.

Primates were the most frequent prey found in jaguar and puma scats, making up nearly 35% of the remains. Primate remains were also more likely to be found in scats collected from areas with less forest. Spider monkey remains, for example, were more likely to be found in scats collected in areas with more villages, and in forest that was regrowing after being disturbed.

A possible explanation is that where there are more villages, it is likely that there is more hunting and tree-cutting taking place. Where there is more hunting, the prey that jaguar and puma usually prefer might not be as plentiful. And regrowing forests do not offer primates the same protection as tall, untouched forests. These two factors may explain why large cats are eating spider monkeys more often here.

Jaguar and puma will usually eat the prey that is more abundant. If their preferred prey is scarce, they will hunt the species they encounter most. Similar to what we observed with spider monkeys, in areas where there was less tall forest, howler monkey remains were more likely than non-primate prey to be found in the scats, possibly as big cats found it easier to reach primates.
Logging robs monkeys of hiding places from predators. Eduardo Cota/Shutterstock
Less tree cover and overhunting of other prey (combined with general habitat loss) could explain the high rates of primate predation we discovered. Nevertheless, we need to continue monitoring these sites to fully understand these changes in large cat diets.

Our results highlight the importance of maintaining tall forest cover to ensure primates and other forest-dependent species can survive. They also raise the urgent need for conservation, before the negative effects of human activities on both primate and large cat populations become irreversible, and the ecosystems they live in are lost.

Written by Aralisa Shedden, Postdoctoral Researcher in Conservation, Bournemouth University. Originally published as ‘Big cats eat more monkeys in a damaged tropical forest – and this could threaten their survival’. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Learn about other animals endangered by palm oil and other agriculture

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Learn about “sustainable” palm oil greenwashing

Read more about RSPO greenwashing

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A 2019 World Health Organisation (WHO) report into the palm oil industry and RSPO finds extensive greenwashing of palm oil deforestation and the murder of endangered animals (i.e. biodiversity loss)

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1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.

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2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.

Wildlife Artist Juanchi Pérez

Read more

Mel Lumby: Dedicated Devotee to Borneo’s Living Beings

Read more

Anthropologist and Author Dr Sophie Chao

Read more

Health Physician Dr Evan Allen

Read more

The World’s Most Loved Cup: A Social, Ethical & Environmental History of Coffee by Aviary Doert

Read more

How do we stop the world’s ecosystems from going into a death spiral? A #SteadyState Economy

Read more

3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.

twitter.com/CuriousApe4/status…

twitter.com/PhillDixon1/status…

twitter.com/mugabe139/status/1…

4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.

5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here

Pledge your support

#animalBehaviour #AnimalBiodiversityNews #animalCommunication #animalCruelty #animalExtinction #animalIntelligence #animalRights #bigcats #biodiversity #Boycott4wildlife #BoycottPalmOil #cats #deforestation #howler #Jaguars #meat #Mexico #mining #monkeys #PalmOil #palmOilDeforestation #palmoil #Primate #primates #pumas #soy #ungulates #vegan

The Problems with Palm Oil

Discover the environmental and social issues caused by palm oil production. Learn about its impacts on wildlife, indigenous communities, and how to take action with Palm Oil Detectives

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Why artificial intelligence is not intelligent at all and is only called that for marketing reasons.

Admittedly, today's AI models not only consume a lot of electricity but also deliver results that surprised me, but also absurd errors that are trivialized as hallucinations. One fact that is often overlooked, partly due to good marketing, is that today's AI models are based on calculated probabilities. The AI does not really understand what it is doing, it only calculates probabilities. Admittedly, it often does this very well until a “hallucination” occurs. This means that AI can only reflect human knowledge, human perspective and human bias and racism. Everything is based on human training data and the AI calculates with which probability the human user would like to have which knowledge. Wouldn't you expect much more from real intelligence? I just wonder how people can attribute intelligence to this well-calculating machine? There are people who even fall in love with today's AI models or see them as real artificial life. Fueled by marketing that promises us a real super intelligence in the near future in order to get even more venture capital to maintain the whole hoax, which devours vast sums of money in data centers and electricity. Another more serious problem in my view is that today's AI models are destroying the jobs that we need to continue creating good training material for AIs. Today's AIs can easily replace graphic designers, translators, authors, musicians and poets. As a result, the internet is already flooded with AI-generated content. This will eventually become the new training data, which will further reduce so-called intelligence. How a superintelligence will ever emerge from this is a mystery to me.

#ai #technology #training #internet #user #marketing #economy #money #business #future #humanity #problem #ethics #philosophy #fail #knowledge #science #intelligence