Hot Off the Press: PETA India Director’s New Book Survival at Stake Shows How You Can Save the World – and Why You Should The Book Features a Foreword by Dia Mirza and Endorsements From MPs Maneka Gandhi, Mimi Chakraborty, and Others

Hot Off the Press: PETA India Director’s New Book Survival at Stake Shows How You Can Save the World – and Why You Should 
The Book Features a Foreword by Dia Mirza and Endorsements From MPs Maneka Gandhi,Mimi Chakraborty, and Others
 
This news release is also available in Bengali, Gujarati,Hindi, Kannada, Marathi,Tamil, and Telugu.
 
Mumbai, 19th Oct. 2023 (GNI): 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.
 
Further praise for Survival at Stake follows below.
 
PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or Instagram. 
 
Praise for Survival at Stake: “Whatever you think you know about the instant world emergency, you don’t, not the half of it, until you read between the covers of this book. At one and the same time, its global reach, combined with its terrifying detail, astonishes, informs, and shocks. As humans, we have no right bestowed by any secular or spiritual authority to treat our planet and all life upon it as if it were our property to be exploited as we wish. We are not owners, nor superiors, but custodians with duties of care and respect. By the time you finish reading, you will not be able to sit still any longer. Silence and inaction are not options where survival is at stake.”
– Michael Mansfield, barrister, King’s Counsel, UK

“‘Survival at Stake’ may be the most fascinating and troubling book you will ever read. Tracing the path that brought us HIV, COVID-19, and other killers, it shows exactly how to protect against future threats. More than a wake-up call, it is an alarm bell for environmental and health risks, along with a well-mapped escape route. The real gift of this book is its optimism. It shows how the steps that protect our health and those that protect our planet and the animals with whom we share it are one and the same.”
– Dr Neal D Barnard, president, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC
 
“Engaging and highly readable, Survival at Stake shows why it is essential that we reform our relationships with other animals to safeguard our environment and ensure good public health.”
– Andrew Knight, veterinary professor of animal welfare and ethics, founding director of the University of Winchester Centre for Animal Welfare; adjunct professor in the School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Queensland
 
“Survival at Stake targets some of the most pressing crises facing us: the stagnation of medical research, the rise in pandemics and antibiotic resistance, and climate change and environmental destruction – and presents us with food for thought and a disaster exit ramp.”
– Dr Aysha Akhtar, MD, MPH, CEO of Center for Contemporary Sciences
 
“We are nothing without good health, so a huge cheer to ‘Survival at Stake’ for doing the homework that allows us to see how not only to survive but to thrive.”
– Dr Nandita Shah, recipient of the Nari Shakti Puraskar; founder of SHARAN
 
“The sooner we humans accept that we have to live by higher standards than we have been, towards all life, plants, fungi, creatures from land and sea, the sooner we will get into balance with nature and take the pressure off all ecosystems. My advice is to follow the useful guide in this book to help save our own species and the planet.”
– Jennifer Helen Jones, Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, member of the UK Parliament House of Lords
 
“There is absolutely no doubt that a vast array of diverse nonhuman animals (animals) are sentient and have rich and deep emotional lives. The important question is not if animals are emotional beings, but why emotions have evolved and why it is essential to pay careful attention to these well-established scientific facts in all of our interactions with them. We also know that caring for nonhumans spills over into caring for humans, and Poorva Joshipura’s wise words show that when we treat other animals with respect, dignity and compassion, it’s a win-win for all. ‘Survival at Stake’ is a must-read for a global audience, and animals around the world will thank us for doing so.”
– Dr Marc Bekoff, PhD, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology, the University of Colorado Boulder
 
“Joshipura inspires us to be solutions-driven in our fashion and other choices so as to effectively tackle cruelty to animals, pollution, and other grave problems we face today.”
– Nicole Rawling, chief executive officer and co-founder of the Material Innovation Initiative.ends GNI