Tapestry

Education on Behalf of All Living Beings

Tapestry was founded in 2018 as an information sharing nonprofit for scholars, activists, and anyone else interested in fostering peace and compassion.

Tapestry is rooted in a wide-angle understanding of oppressions. Oppressions are part of society just as language is part of society: Both are created and maintained by humanity and can be modified or even rejected. Oppressions are part of the fabric of a people’s history and culture, and Tapestry works from the idea that oppressions are neither separate nor distinct from one another, nor from any other aspects of a given community—all exist in relation to and in conjunction with one another. To use a Zen Buddhist term, they inter-exist.

With an eye to creating wider and deeper peace and compassion, Tapestry shares information through two interrelated channels: mentoring and research/writing (including public-access websites).

Mentoring

In 2018 Tapestry launched an international mentoring program, The Vegan Philosopher, in the field of animal studies, through which Tapestry’s mentor, Dr. Lisa Kemmerer, has worked directly with scores of activists, scholars, and students of all ages to help maintain and build a rigorous program of research, writing, teaching, and activism. As Tapestry Mentor, Dr. Kemmerer engages in one-on-one discussions with students to explore their dissertation topics, works with instructors to provide zoom presentations for classrooms, offers talks at conferences, and brainstorms with activists and thinkers in the field of anymal studies on both nuanced philosophical ideas and unfolding local events.

Tapestry’s mentoring program is specifically for students and activists familiar with Dr. Kemmerer’s work and whose work/interests/activism intersect with or parallel Dr. Kemmerer’s areas of research and writing. Mentoring is generally free, with priority is given to those less privileged (women in particular). For those with a dependable income, especially in wealthier nations, Tapestry requests a donation of $85 per hour. If interested, please contact lisa@vegantapestry.org.

Scholarship

Tapestry Founder, mentor, and scholar, Dr. Lisa Kemmerer, has been an activist engaged with anymal studies for nearly half a century. She describes those decades as an ongoing journey from a narrow vision to an increasingly wider understanding of oppressions. Tapestry currently focuses research and information sharing in the following areas: interconnections between anymals/speciesism and

  • marginalized peoples/sexism, racism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, etc.

  • the natural world/capitalism, consumerism, and environmental degradation

  • religious ethics

Since founding in 2018, Tapestry has published (by invitation) four journal articles, seven chapters in scholarly anthologies, and two encyclopedia articles, as well as four books. (Many of these articles can be accessed at Dr. Kemmerer’s website (publications page) or at researchgate, or on request.)

Research, writing, and sharing information lie at the core of Tapestry’s mission, and Tapestry is is particularly proud of the following three projects:

1. Vegan Ethics: AMORE (book and website)

We eat every day, yet most of us do not understand the moral weight of what we put on the table. Published in 2022, Vegan Ethics: AMORE, using clear and simple prose and an abundance of enlightening and inspiring quotes, explores the many moral reasons to choose vegan: animal well-being, human health, human oppressions (such as world hunger, sexism, and homophobia), religious commitments, and the health of the planet.

Vegan Ethics is a must-read for anyone interested in animal-studies, environmental philosophy, intersectionality, social justice, religious studies, animal activism, and ethics in general. Watch for this book to be turned into a website! (Until then, it can be purchased, supporting Tapestry, on the publication page at lisakemmerer.com.) For more information, please see the publication page at lisakemmerer.com.

2. Animals and Religion (book series and website)

About 85% of humanity identifies as religious, and anymals and religious ethics is one of Tapestry’s strongest threads. (Recall that Tapestry founder and scholar, Dr. Kemmerer, is the author of Animals and World Religions.) Religious ethics are likely the most powerful—and overlooked—avenue of bringing change for animals.

While religious ethics overwhelmingly teach compassion and caretaking of earth and animals, neither people of faith nor animal activists tend to be familiar with these basic, critical moral teachings. Making matters worse, few people of faith, activists, or animal studies scholars are aware of the depth and range of core religious ethics protecting animals, while many are aware of arguments against animal rights and the vegan lifestyle. Consequently, speaking with people of faith about animals, ethics, and diet requires more than a cursory understanding of religious ethics.

Although people are increasingly reliant on the internet for information, there is not even one website that provides high-quality educational resources on the subject of religious ethics and anymals—this despite the well-known power of faith for inspiring change for the world’s 5.8 billion religious people. The Animals and Religion Book and Website Project fills this gap, providing comprehensive, systematic coverage of ethics and animals in each of the world’s largest religious traditions. (For those who prefer books, a book series accompanies the website, and Tapestry receives all proceeds.)

Tapestry’s Animals and Religion program shares information on what is likely the most compelling reason for change among people of faith. The website will include Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Christian, Jewish, Daoist, and Confucian ethics, and perhaps indigenous traditions. Armed with an understanding of religious ethics, activists, scholars, and educators will be more effective anymal advocates.

This project got underway in 2020 and Judaism and Christianity are already uploaded! To see what we have been working on, please visit https://www.animalsandreligion.org/

For those who prefer to read books, a book series accompanies the website.

3. Animals and World Religions Traveling Banner Exhibit

The Animals and World Religions traveling banner exhibit, designed for people of all ages, explores what eight world religions and a handful of indigenous traditions teach about ethics and anymals. Focusing on such topics as ethics, sacred stories, key terms, and at least one controversial practice involving anymals, this exhibit includes 10 magnificent double-sided pull-up banners (or 20 wall-hanging banners).

Animals and World Religions Traveling Banner Exhibit reminds viewers of some of the most beautiful teachings religions offer—protect the vulnerable, respect life, be kind—including words from religious leaders like Gandhi, Mohammed, and Jesus, and exquisite passages from sacred texts like Genesis, the Dhammapada, and the Mahabharata. Viewers are likely to recognize that what religions teach about our relations with anymals is both simple and profound.

We invite you to access both the traveling banner exhibit on world religions and anymal ethics and the Animals and Religion website.

To participate in Tapestry’s information-sharing, please leave a donation here.

For more about Tapestry, visit the Tapestry website.