Agencies
Mumbai: In Survival at Stake: How Our Treatment of Animals Is Key to Human Existence, which is being released by HarperCollins just in time for World Vegan Month (November), leading animal rights activist and PETA India Director Poorva Joshipura describes how key crises affecting us today – including extreme heat, droughts, fires, pollution, antibiotic resistance, pandemics such as COVID-19, and other diseases – are inextricably linked to our treatment of animals. With a foreword by United Nations Secretary-General Advocate for Sustainable Development Goals Dia Mirza, the book provides readers with an essential roadmap for connecting the dots and finding a path forward to change these disturbing and destructive patterns.
Mirza writes, “Today, Earth and all the animals – including humans – who live on it are in crisis. And that's why Poorva's book is so vital, especially for my children Avyaan and Samaira, for your children, and for our future generations. This book comes at a crucial time.”
Joshipura warns, “We are living in the Anthropocene, the geological age defined by unprecedented human influence on the planet, and as global temperatures rise, we head into the unknown. What's in store for us, and is there anything we can do to influence the future and protect against threats? The answer is yes. Our hope lies in treating animals with kindness.”
From tracing the origin of COVID-19 and SARS to wildlife markets in Asia and the first cases of HIV and Ebola in humans to hunting episodes in Africa to warning about bird flu and swine flu threats and antibiotic resistance caused by factory farms and highlighting the link between climate change, pollution, and species extinction to meat, egg, dairy, and leather production – Survival at Stake will leave you convinced that animals' well-being is essential to our own. Chapters also cover the link between India's tuberculosis crisis and dairy consumption, how the use of monkeys and other animals in laboratories is a threat to public health, how deadly games like dogfighting and jallikattu encourage violence to humans, and how cruelty to animals is linked to rape and other violent crimes.
MP Maneka Gandhi shared her praise for the book: “Compassion is good economics, good science, even the best weapon against climate change. Survival at Stake shows us there is hope for humans if we can learn to treat other species with respect and understanding.”
And MP Mimi Chakraborty wrote, “Animal and human well-being are intertwined, and Poorva makes that crystal clear. She convinces us that we simply cannot afford to continue to turn a blind eye to animals' suffering and the repercussions this is having on the world we share with them. Be kind and think where your food is coming from – anything that involves blood, tears, and suffering is not meant to be on our plate.”
Joshipura's first book, For a Moment of Taste: How What You Eat Impacts Animals, The Planet And Your Health, released in 2020, was also published by HarperCollins India.
For a copy of the book, to arrange an interview with Joshipura, or if you have any other questions, please contact Hiraj Laljani at HirajL@petaindia.org or on 9619167382.
