Council for animal ethics meeting attended in Oslo

Today I have attended Council for animal ethics´ meeting in Oslo (at Næringslivets hus). This is one of four meetings this year, two of which are now physical (and two digital, due to an insufficient budget).

Video of Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2025 available on YouTube

Recordings of the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2025 (Dyreetikkonferansen 2025) are available on the YouTube channel of The Norwegian Veterinary Institute. The topic was "Når dyr dør. Perspektiver på livets slutt" (When animals die. Perspectives on the end of life). Note that this full-day event was all held in Norwegian.

See also:

Panel discussion chaired at Animal Ethics Conference 2025 on animals´ death

Council for animal ethics meeting attended

Today I have attended a meeting of Norway´s Council for animal ethics, at Næringslivets hus in Oslo. Among other things, we discussed the consultative statement we are in the process of writing on climate change and animal ethics, and recent developments in the ethical work that is done in relation to Norway´s Government Pension Fund Global.

Panel discussion chaired at Animal Ethics Conference 2025 on animals´ death

Today I have attended Norway´s Animal Ethics Conference (Dyreetikkonferansen) 2025, which had the theme "Når dyr dør. Perspektiver på livets slutt" (When animals die. Perspectives on the end of life) and was held at Litteraturhuset in Oslo. I chaired the panel discussion which took place at the end of the day. The panel included all the presenters, namely Espen Gamlund (UIB), Elisiv Tolo (Animalia), Helen Øvregaard (Vet-Talk), Steffen Tretvoll (Norsk Vegansamfunn), Jon M. Arnemo (Universitetet i Innlandet), Åsa Maria O. Espmark. More than 150 people were registered for the conference, which is organised by Norway´s Council for animal ethics.

Partaking in 4 events in Stavanger and Oslo next week

I have been scheduled to take place in three more events next week, in addition to Dyreetikkonferansen 2024 (Wednesday November 20, Oslo):

Langsikt-seminar: Hvordan få mest mulig velferd for pengene, med Morten Tønnessen (Oslo, Thursday November 21, 2024) - takes place at 12.00-13.30 at Mech, Nationaltheatret

Academic seminar: Ethics in a time of animal crisis (University of Stavanger, Friday November 22, 2024) - takes place at 10.00-13.00 at University of Stavanger  

Steffens-forelesningen 2024, by Alice Crary: "All justice is animal justice" (University of Stavanger, Thursday November 21, 2024) - takes place at University of Stavanger at 18.00-20.00; I have been asked to introduce her

To speak at Dyreetikkonferansen 2024

I have been scheduled to present at Dyreetikkonferansen 2024 (the Norwegian animal ethics conference 2024), which takes place at Litteraturhuset, Oslo, on Wednesday November 20th, with the theme "Er du bevisst dyrs bevissthet?" (Are you conscious of animals´ consciousness?). The title of my talk is "Hvordan er det å være et dyr?" (What is it like to be an animal?).

More info (in Norwegian) on the website of Norway´s Council for animal ethics.

In Oslo for Council for animal ethics meeting

Today I have attended the meeting of Norway´s Council for animal ethics, in Oslo, at Thon hotel Opera.

Council for animal ethics meeting attended

Yesterday I attended the second meeting this fall of Norway´s Council for animal ethics, at Thon hotel Opera in Oslo. 

Dyreetikkonferansen 2022 held; panel chaired; recordings available online

Wednesday this week I attended Dyreetikkonferansen 2022 in Oslo (at Litteraturhuset), which had the theme "Noen dyr er likere enn andre. Hvorfor behandler vi dyr forskjellig?". I have been in the organizing committee. I also chaired the panel discussion, which lasted for 2 hours. Some 100 people attended physically while at least 70 attended online. 

The event was streamed. The recordings are available at YouTube.

The Norwegian Animal Ethics conference 2022 to take place in Oslo November 16th; links

Dyreetikkonferansen 2022, The annual Norwegian Animal Ethics conference, will take place November 16th in Oslo, with the theme "Noen dyr er likere enn andre. Hvorfor behandler vi dyr forskjellig?" (Some animals are more equal than others. Why do we treat animals differently?). I will be chairing the panel discussion, and take part in the organizing committee.

More info: 

Conference homepage

Facebook event page

Video recording of Dyreetikkonferansen 2020

Video recordings of the Norwegian Animal Ethics Conference 2020, which had the theme "Welfare in the time of isolation", is now available on YouTube (NB: in Norwegian).

Norwegian animal ethics conference 2020 held

Yesterday, from Oslo, I was part of arranging the 2020 Norwegian animal ethics conference (Dyreetikkonferansen), with the theme "Velferd i isolasjonens tid" (Welfare in the time of isolation). The conference was this year held digitally, in Zoom. I was present in the "studio" at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute from where the conference was streamed and organized. Some 180 people followed the seminar online.

Meeting in Council for animal ethics

Today I attended the meeting of the Council for animal ethics, in situ at Norwegian Veterinary Institute in Oslo.

Panel held on theme "Almost a human?" at documentary film festival "Human rights, human wrongs"

Yesterday evening I took part in a panel following screening of "Unlocking the cage" at Vega scene during the documentary film festival "Human rights, human wrongs" (Feb 24 - march 1). The event was titled "Nesten et menneske?" (Almost a human?) and focused on chimpanzees and other cognitively complex animals and whether these should have (more) legal rights. The panel also featured activist Siri Martinsen (leader of NOAH) and Alf Butenschøn Skre (senior advisor at Norwegian National Human Rights Institution - ENNHRI), and was chaired by journalist Anne Håskoll-Haugen. The event further featured author Alfred Fidjestøl presenting his book about the Norwegian chimpanzee Julius. Up to 50 people attended.

See also:

To take part in panel discussion after screening of documentary "Unlocking the cage" 

To take part in panel discussion after screening of documentary "Unlocking the cage"

On Thursday February 27th, this week, I will take part in a panel discussion during the documentary film festival "Human rights, human wrongs" in Oslo. The panel discussion is held on Vega scene and follows the screening of the documentary "Unlocking the cage".

The debate is titled "Nesten et menneske?" (Almost a human being?).

Event info here.

Council for animal ethics meeting attended

Yesterday I attended the meeting of Norway´s Council for animal ethics, in Oslo. A productive meeting.

Third gathering of hunting network attended in Oslo

Today I have attended the third gathering of the network "Jakt i endring" (Hunting undergoing change), in Oslo Science Park. The gathering amounted to a day full of presentations, including on preliminary findings from a Q survey conducted within the network on attitudes to hunting and related issues.

Council for animal ethics meeting attended; pyton snake held

Today I have attended the second meeting of Norway´s Council for animal ethics in this period, at Adamstuen. The meeting included a lecture on reptiles, and a guided tour at Oslo reptilpark, where I held a pyton snake.

Tripartite Umwelt model applied and further developed in ecocriticism MA thesis of Hernández

Mauricio Sánchez Hernández has written the master thesis "Mariposas imaginando árboles de oyamel: Representaciones literarias del umwelt de la monarca migrante y del humano en la ecoliteratura de Homero Aridjis" (in Spanish) at University of Oslo. He refers quite extensively to an article, especially with regard to the tripartite Umwelt model:

Tønnessen, Morten (2015). “Umwelt and language”. En: E. Velmezova, Stephen J. Cowley y K. Kull (eds.), Biosemiotic Perspectives on Language and Linguistics (Biosemiotics 13): 77-96. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-20663-9_5

The thesis includes a section numbered 2.2.2 and named "El modelo tripartito del umwelt según Tønnessen". Hernández also further develops diagrams based on the tripartite Umwelt model, cf. below (imagen 5, p. 21, imagen 6, p. 21, imagen 7, p. 22).

First meeting of new Council for animal ethics

Today I have attended the first meeting of Norway´s new Council for Animal Ethics (appointed for a 4 year period, starting now), a full-day meeting. The new council leader is Knut Bøe (NMBU), Kristian Ellingsen remains the council secretary. I represent the animal protection NGOs, with Guri Larsen being deputy representative. The council members are appointed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.