Have you ever wondered what animals think and feel? It’s easy to see that our animals love us, but what is really going on in their heads?
The University of South Carolina Upstate, WaterRock Institute and Wofford College will host New York Times bestselling author and PBS Host Carl Safina on Tuesday, Feb. 16 on the USC Upstate campus. Safina will discuss his latest book, Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel. Tickets are $15 for the 7:30 p.m. event or $55 for the 6:30 p.m. VIP reception and event (which also includes a copy of the $32 hardback book). A portion of proceeds will benefit the Spartanburg Humane Society.
According to Safina, animals have been watching us for much longer than we have been watching them. “They know us better than we know them. We have the same imperatives: take care of our babies, find food, try to stay alive. Whether we’re outfitted for hiking in the hills of Africa or outfitted for diving under the sea, we are basically the same. We are kin under the skin.”
Safina is author of various books and many other writings about lives of free-living animals, how the ocean is changing, and the human relationship with the natural world. His books include among others the award winning Song for the Blue Ocean and Eye of the Albatross, as well as “The View From Lazy Point; A Natural Year in an Unnatural World.” He is founding president of the Safina Center and host of the PBS series, “Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina.”
Safina’s work has been recognized with MacArthur, Pew, and Guggenheim Fellowships, and his writing has won Orion, Lannan, and National Academies literary awards and the John Burroughs, James Beard, and George Rabb medals. He has a Ph.D. in ecology from Rutgers University.
Tickets to the event may be purchased at The Hub City Bookshop or by visiting www.hubcity.org/safina. The Hub City Bookshop is also selling copies of Safina latest book, Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel. For more information, contact Heidi Campbell-Robinson, president of the WaterRock Institute, at (828) 393-4190.