12.11.2026

Dr Magdalena Kozhevnikowa, członkini ZANDu, opublikowała nowy artykuł: „Mussels in water supply systems: On the trail of welfare” w czasopiśmie Environmental Values.

Abstrakt artykułu:

From the perspectives of environmental humanities and ethics, I examine the welfare of the swollen river mussel (Unio tumidus), which serves as a bioindicator of water quality in drinking water supply systems in Poland. The mussels are placed in a highly technical environment, where they are tasked with monitoring water intended for human consumption. Drawing on ethnographic research and observations of human–mussel relations, I consider whether this arrangement can be understood as a form of interspecies labour or rather as exploitation.
I approach mussels as sentient beings, acknowledging their capacity to experience well-being and their inclination towards conditions that support a good and comfortable life. By describing the life cycle of mussels used in bioindication, I seek to decentralise the dominant anthropocentric narrative and foreground the needs of aquatic organisms. At the same time, I situate this analysis within a broader context in which different species embody distinct forms of knowledge about water, as well as different capacities and needs in relation to it.
The article also engages with ongoing debates in animal ethics, which remain largely focused on vertebrates, thereby reproducing forms of expanded speciesism. Freshwater invertebrates, including mussels, are typically treated as non-sentient and thus excluded from moral consideration. In practice, mussels in water supply systems are often perceived as components of technological infrastructure or ‘bio-cyborgs’, which contributes to their instrumentalisation and ethical marginalisation.
I further examine the ethical implications of their use within a utilitarian framework, weighing human interests in safe water against the welfare and mortality of mussels. Finally, I argue that incorporating knowledge about invertebrate sentience and fostering greater sensitivity among practitioners could improve welfare standards and challenge the prevailing perception of mussels as ethically insignificant organisms.

Link do artykułu: https://doi.org/10.1177/09632719261505313