AMSE Science Report Bethany Brookshire
How Humans Create Animal Villains
Welcome to the AMSE Science Report. I’m Alan Lowe, Executive Director of the American Museum of Science and Energy, and the K-25 History Center, both located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. On an episode of our podcast, AMSEcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Bethany Brookshire about her book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. In our discussion Bethany emphasized that defining a creature as a pest, whether it is something smaller like a rat or snake, or larger, like a coyote or an elephant, is based in large part on our culture. It is a subjective perspective, and because of that, Bethany argues that we can examine and change our views - if not eliminating our fears, at least gaining respect for many so-called pests. Here is Bethany:
