Arihanta Institute & Mercy For Animals

This course will focus on animal advocacy, ethics, and veganism. We will delve deep into the multiple reasons to live vegan and how a Jain ethic parallels with animal protection. The course is designed for Jains who want to learn more about veganism and for vegans and pre-vegans who are interested in learning more about Ahimsa and Jain Dharma. We will explore modern animal farming, animal agriculture’s environmental impact, fishing and our oceans, and more. Join us to learn about how the Jain way of life and ethical vegan living support and nurture each other.

The first of its kind collaboration between the Jain Vegan Initiative and JAINA’s Ahimsak Eco-Vegan Committee, Arihanta Academy brings a course focused on veganism through the lens of applied Jainism. Throughout history, Jains have been at the forefront of promoting non-violence, with consideration of life extending to the microscopic level. Parallels can be found in ethical veganism, animal rights, environmentalism, and social justice. Those not familiar with veganism are welcome to join but prior knowledge is useful. The primary intention of this course is to serve as an introductory educational resource for those Jains who are already vegan or vegan-curious, to equip them with current, accurate information with which to promote a non-violent lifestyle.

Non-human animals are routinely used for profit or product, and as a result, suffer greatly in our society. Animal sanctuaries provide a glimpse of a different world; one in which animals are provided with protected spaces and treated as equals. A new initiative is taking shape that can aid sanctuaries, and individuals, in their goal of bettering animals' lives: Animal-Centered Design (ACD). In this course you will learn the basic principles of ACD, study examples of it in action within sanctuary settings, and consider how ACD can be applied to companion animals and beyond. This course will also touch on passive solar design, focusing on how proper orientation to the natural elements can benefit both animals and our environment. Readings and assignments are provided throughout the course to engage you directly in the animal sanctuary design process and to inspire you to make a positive change for animals.A portion of the proceeds for this course support Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge.Learning Objectives: Class 1: Introduction to Farmed Animal SanctuariesClass 2: Principles of Animal-Centered DesignClass 3: Precedents in Animal-Centered DesignClass 4: Case Study I-Designing Spaces for GoatsClass 5: Case Study II-Designing Spaces for DucksClass 6: Animal-Centered Design for Companion AnimalsClass 7: Passive Solar Design Strategies for Animal Spaces

According to Jain dharma, we live in an interconnected web of life in which no creature, human or non-human, wants to be harmed. For this reason, the Jain tradition has taught ahiṃsā, or non-violence, to all forms of life for thousands of years. Learn why the Jain tradition places particular emphasis on non-violence toward non-human animals, and how these Jain perspectives can be brought into conversation with contemporary animal advocacy concerns. Leave the course inspired to advocate for the well-being of all forms of life.

While the study of certain aspects of the ancient world may derive from mere intellectual curiosity, the study of other aspects is absolutely essential for our understanding of current social, political, and environmental circumstances. The latter dynamic is certainly the case with the history of ancient ideas about “the human” and “the animal.” These ideas, taken up and developed over centuries by Christian theologians and humanist philosophers, have shaped the radically anthropocentric worldview of Western nations. Most Europeans and North Americans are simply unconcerned with how we torture and kill billions of animals each year. They live, without knowing it, in a mental universe constructed by a handful of Greek and Roman philosophers. To escape this universe, it is useful and perhaps even necessary to know what Chrysippus, Epicurus, Cicero, or Saint Augustine said about animals and humans’ interactions with them. The objective of this course is to study—alongside the many pleas of the vegetarian philosophers of antiquity—the incomplete but triumphant responses of their carnist adversaries.  Course Details6 hours of recorded lecture contentAdditional readings for self-studyPlus+ 4 x 60-minute recorded Q&A sessions with Professor Larue

Animals farmed for food and resources are among the most exploited, abused, and suffering beings on the planet. There have long been groups of humans trying to rescue them and advocate for their rights, possibly for as long as they have been enslaved and commodified—around 10-12,000 years. For the last 40 years or so, this movement includes organizations called a “Farm Sanctuary”—a place where farmed animals who have been neglected, surrendered, found, or liberated are cared for and supported in living out their natural lives. This course will look at the history, philosophy, ethics, practices, and cultural/ecological implications of farm animal sanctuaries as an approach to ahimsa. Leave with a deeper and broader kinship to the community with whom we share the planet. Course Details4 hours of recorded lecture contentAdditional readings for self-studyPlus+ 4 x 60-minute recorded Q&A sessions with Professor Turzi 

In the United States, the law has long treated animals as property and objects to be owned, used, and discarded within human-centered systems. While legal protections against animal cruelty exist, they are often fragmented, riddled with exemptions, and inconsistently enforced. The result is a legal framework that permits immense suffering, particularly for animals used in industrial agriculture, research, and entertainment, while extending comparatively greater protections to companion animals or endangered species.  Over the past several decades, the field of animal law has emerged to interrogate this system, asking not only how animals are treated under the law, but why...and what must change. Animal law challenges the assumption that legal systems are neutral, revealing how they reflect and reinforce hierarchies that privilege human interests, corporate power, and economic efficiency over animal life and well-being. In this course, we will examine key legal frameworks in the U.S. governing the treatment of animals and explore how the law functions both as a tool of oppression and a site for advocacy. Each class focuses on a major theme in contemporary animal law: the foundational classification of animals as property; the regulation (and deregulation) of their use in various industries; the legal distinctions between species and contexts; and the growing efforts to transform legal systems through strategic litigation, rights-based arguments, and cross-movement coalition building. Through this lens, students will be invited to think critically about the role of law in shaping societal values and the possibilities for building a more just, multispecies future. Course Details4 hours of recorded lecture contentAdditional readings for self-studyPlus+ 4 x 60-minute live Q&A Zoom sessions (previously recorded) with Professor Nirva Patel

The global food system is the single largest contributor to the ongoing ecological crisis and humanitarian crisis, impacting every one of the six planetary boundary transgressions that the Stockholm Resilience Center identified in 2023. This necessitates a transformation to a compassionate food system that meets the nutritional needs of all human beings while ensuring that these planetary boundary transgressions are mitigated. In this class, we will examine the architectures of compassionate food systems and how they can be implemented as the foundation of a holistic transformation from the climate heating phase to the climate healing phase of our civilization.Learning ObjectivesUnderstand the Urgency: Articulate the critical need for transforming foodsystems to address ecological crises and social injustices, including theimplications of animal agriculture on planetary boundaries and human health.Define Compassionate Food Systems: Explain the principles of a compassionate food system and its potential to provide nourishing food for all while operating within the limits of planetary boundaries.Analyze Implementation Strategies: Assess the political and economic transformations required to implement compassionate food systems effectively.Facilitate Transformation: Identify grassroots initiatives and strategies to overcome resistance and facilitate the transition to a compassionate food system.