The Evolution of Animal Advocacy: Alternative Strategies to Achieve Animal Welfare Advances
Center for Advanced Study
Levis Faculty Center, Room 210
919 W. Illinois, Urbana
Watch the video here
In this presentation, Chris Green will draw upon his many years of experience across multiple advocacy forums to explore alternate vehicles one can employ to achieve progress for animals when traditional avenues are blocked or captured. His talk will feature a range of strategies and real world examples that include utilizing smaller venues to curtail Ringling Bros. Circus and SeaWorld, engaging in direct democracy via public ballot initiatives, exposing abuse through undercover investigations, leveraging consumer sentiment to achieve corporate progress, and simply outcompeting less humane products in the marketplace. Chris also will highlight the fundamental relevance of academic scholarship to support these advocacy endeavors.
Chris Green is the Executive Director of the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School. He is the former Chair of the American Bar Association’s TIPS Animal Law Committee and previously was the Director of Legislative Affairs for the Animal Legal Defense Fund. In those capacities, Chris persuaded the top three US airlines to stop transporting endangered animal hunting trophies, helped defeat Ag-Gag legislation in several states, and successfully passed ABA-wide resolutions recommending that all US legislative bodies outlaw the possession of dangerous wild animals and provide police officers with non-lethal animal encounter training. Chris also recently served on a National Academies of Sciences committee assessing the Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ use of dogs in biomedical research. Chris regularly testifies at legislative hearings on animal protection matters and he has been quoted on animal legal issues in dozens of major media outlets. Green is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the University of Illinois, where he created the college’s first Environmental Science degree. Chris also spent several decades working in the fine arts, film, and music industries, and currently manages an Illinois farm that has remained in his family for 185 consecutive years. In 2022, Chris received the American Bar Association’s Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Animal Law.