Safina Center Update 09/03/25

This week, we've got updates from our Safina Center Fellows, new podcasts, and more!

Ticket Sales and Sponsorship opportunities for the Safina Center’s 2025 Annual Celebration are Now Live!

Join us on the evening of Thursday, November 6th at the Explorers Club for a night of camaraderie, some good news, dinner, cocktails and a much-needed lift, showcasing our values-changing, life-altering work!

Purchase tickets or sponsor the event on our website.

Horseshoe crab populations are declining everywhere, but now in New York, you can help to change the game.

We at the Safina Center urge you to contact New York State leadership and ask them to sign the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act into law. This law prohibits the taking of horseshoe crabs for commercial and biomedical purposes. 

Horseshoe crab blood has long been valued for its biomedical uses, but synhetic alternatives now exist. Reliance on their blood caused a significant decline in population and spawning rates. Prohibiting the harvesting of horseshoe crabs would allow their populations to recover, boost coastal biodiversity, and prevent the unnecessary suffering of these ancient creatures.

Please send an email to Legislative.Secretary@exec.ny.gov and urge Governor Hochul to sign the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act!

Fellow Spotlight:
Priya Parrotta

Priya Parrotta is the Safina Center’s Environmental History and Music Fellow. Her work explores borders and hierarchies in the modern world—from colonial divides to the separation of human and non-human—in the hopes of better understanding the art and practice of coexistence. Priya was educated in History and Music at Brown University. She recently completed a doctoral dissertation at the University of Aberdeen’s School of Divinity, History and Philosophy. Previously, she worked for the Smithsonian and the Red Cross, and was a Founding Leader of The Sanctuaries, the first multifaith arts collective in the US.

Check out her website to read more about her work!

Updates From Our Safina Center Fellows

Each year, we support a small group of early and mid-career creators and connectors whose work addresses conservation, the environment, and/or social justice in unique ways. You can find more information about our fellows on our website.

Rewilded Dreams: Remapping a Tourist Zone in Paseo with Music

Safina Center Environmental History and Music Fellow Priya Parrotta's hometown of Condado is a highly commercialized tourist zone and popular vacation spot where the natural world has been pushed out by casinos, hotels, and boutiques. In her album "Paseo," Priya seeks to reimagine Condado as a place where the more-than-human world can live and thrive. You can read more about the album and inspirations behind it on our blog, and you can listen to it now on Bandcamp.

Our Whispers Combine Together to Form a Collective Voice

In her latest article on our blog, Safina Center Community Organizing Fellow Mikaela Loach reminds us that there are people rebelling against the status quo and fighting for human and more-than-human rights all around us. Whether or not we decide to listen to their whispers and join the fight for a better world is up to us.

“Our whispers combine together to form a collective voice. One that asks us all to be 'a little bit brave.' One that reminds us that the ending to our story is not yet written.”

Photo: LUSH Spring Prize awardees of 2025. ©Mikaela Loach

Carl Safina Answers the Question:
“Does Your Dog Love You?”

"Dogs have everything we wish we could be without the things we wish humans didn't have. Dogs, in a way, are who we wish we were."

In a new video from JUST A DOG, Carl Safina speaks on the relationship humans share with their furry companions and the rest of the natural world.

Humpback Whales Sometimes Blow “Bubble Rings.” Jodi Frediani is Trying to Figure Out Why.

Since at least the 1980's, there have been documented instances of humpback whales blowing "bubble rings." Humpback whales are known to use bubbles as tools when hunting and to compete for the attention of potential mates, but the purpose behind these rings is a mystery. There's one thing we do know: they only seem to make these bubble rings in front of humans.

In a new post on our blog, friend of the Safina Center Jodi Frediani writes about her team's recent study on this phenomenon and what it might tell us about our cetacean neighbors.

Photo: various instances of humpback whales using bubbles as tools or creating bubble rings

Cynthia McVay’s “A FIELD OF MY OWN” Is an Intimate Telling of Her Two-Decade relationship with a flagging orchard in the Hudson Valley.

Friend of the Safina Center Cynthia McVay’s book, “A FIELD OF MY OWN: A Memoir of Place” is out now! After what was supposed to be just a weekend escape from New York City, McVay fell in love with a meadow and her life forever changed. This engaging memoir of place is a generous and honest telling of renovating a modest cottage and building a sustainable home, packed with useful know-how and humor.

Activist/Actor Tim Guinee Talks About Recent Environmental Wins and Losses on the Latest Episode of the Green Radio Hour

On this week’s episode of the Green Radio Hour, Safina Center Creative Affiliate Jon Bowermaster speaks with activist and actor Tim Guinee about some recent wins and losses for the environmental movement. Afterward, two residents of Lloyd, NY share their experience organizing a coalition of local activists that succeeded in barring a pet crematorium from being built next to a school.

Purchase a Print from Eco-Surrealist Artist Victor Stabin’s Turtle Series and Support the Safina Center!

In collaboration with eco-surrealist artist Victor Stabin, 50% of the profits from every print purchased from his Turtle Series will go towards the Safina Center!

Just use code "SAFINA" at checkout to make sure your purchase supports our work!

See the full collection on Victor Stabin's Website.

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