Happy Earth Day! This is an important time of year where we focus our attention on the perils facing the planet and get inspired to help her. So today our guest is Dr. Richard Twine, author of, The Climate Crisis and Other Animals (Sydney University Press, 2024). He is a professor in Sociology and Co-Director of the Centre for Human- Animal Studies (CfHAS) at Edge Hill University, UK. He also co-editor of The Rise of Critical Animal Studies – From the Margins to the Centre (Routledge, 2014) and author of Animals as Biotechnology – Ethics, Sustainability and Critical Animal Studies (Routledge, 2010).  Richard has also published articles on ecofeminism, vegan transition, the food system, and the animal-industrial complex.

Richard tells us about Critical Animal Studies and how it is inspiring many areas of academic study to consider human-animal relations. We then discuss Richard’s new book and how climate disruption is affecting wild animals, marine animals, birds and even insects and microorganisms. He talks about the impact on farmed animals who now face events like frequent flooding, fires, and heatwaves due to a changing climate. We also get into the weeds of the confusing, controversial, and politicized animal agriculture emissions numbers and why there is a wide range of percentages from different sources and how to decipher what is most accurate.We also cover climate justice, food justice, the importance of a social science viewpoint of the climate crisis and much more.

Resources:

Richard’s website:  http://www.richardtwine.com

Humane Hoax Chicken Webinar details and free registration 

Support this Podcast:

Compassionate Living

 Hope for the Animals Podcast

Do you want to know the truth about grass-fed beef? Regenerative grazing? Free-range eggs? This episode is jam packed with the jaw-dropping reality of greenwashing. Vasile Stanescu is an Associate Professor and Chair of Communication at Mercer University. He received his Ph.D. in the program of Modern Thought and Literature (MTL) at Stanford University. Vasile’s research focuses on greenwashing in animal agribusiness, critiques of humane meat, in vitro meat, and consumerist options for social change. He is the author of numerous publications on the study of animals and the environment including in the Journal of American Culture, Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, the American Behavioral Scientist, and Animal Studies Journal. Vasile is also the co-founder of the North American Association for Critical Animal Studies (NAACAS).

Vas talks about what is really behind regenerative grazing and the false messaging around supposedly “new” methods of animal farming. We also talk about the detriment of chicken farming, how beef is so often cited as the worst culprit for the environment, and the myth that if you just switch to chicken, it’s so much better. Vas dives deep into how interconnected all animal farming industries are and how the supposed “green” meat movement is just another marketing tool for industrial agribusiness. He also shares how he feels that it is critical to eliminate the stigma on veganism and have Vegan Pride.

Resources:

Humane Hoax Online Conference details and free registration

Learn more and support this podcast:

Hope for the Animals Podcast

Compassionate Living

Studies cited in this episode:

Joseph Poore, University of Oxford

Tara Garnett, Food Climate Research Network at Oxford University

Dr. Tushar Mehta practices Emergency Medicine in the Toronto area and is the co-founder of Towards Ahimsa and Plant Based Data, a free database which organizes academic and institutional literature regarding plant-based diet health, environment, food security, and zoonotic pandemic risk. Tushar will be speaking at Compassionate Living’s upcoming Ahimsa Vegan Conference.

Tushar joins us to discuss the environmental impact of animal agriculture and thoroughly debunks “regenerative” grazing. He also addresses common arguments for eating local and other “sustainable” meat, dairy, and eggs. He warns of animal farming’s resource intensive use of land and water and offers solutions that we so desperately need as we swelter in the new normal of extreme summer heat, floods, and fires. This is a rebroadcast of an interview with Tushar in 2021.

Resources:

Ahimsa Vegan Conference

Another Industry Attempt to Greenwash Beef

Plant-Based Data

Learn More and Support this Podcast:

Compassionate Living

Hope for the Animals Podcast

On this episode we are featuring one of the contributing authors to the new book, The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs, Nicholas Carter. Nicholas is an ecologist and co-founder of PlantBasedData.org, a library of peer-reviewed studies calling for plant-based diets. He has his Master’s in Environmental Practice and his thesis focused on the global estimates of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to animal agriculture. He also works with Plant Based Treaty as a Science & Policy Analyst and Plant Based News as a Data Scientist & Lead Researcher.

Nicholas’ chapter is called Grazing Vs. The Planet and in this episode, he unpacks sustainable animal agriculture and labels like carbon negative and carbon neutral beef. Nicolas tells us about how he recently debated representatives of While Oak Farms and exposed them for their greenwashing. He also shares some solutions like rewilding and veganic agriculture and how we have the tools we need to heal this planet, we just need the will to implement them. Nicholas says, “Veganic farming is the real regenerative agriculture.”

Resources:

Buy the Book! The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing Happy Meat, Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs

Humane Hoax Online Conference, May 20: Register here

Nicholas Debates White Oak Farms

Film: Rewilding a Mountain

Happy Earth Day! Today we have a special Earth Day episode where we are exploring solutions. Hope starts us off with some inspiring green living ideas and then we have a fascinating conversation with Karthik Sekar, PhD. Karthik has a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University researching bioreactor design and systems/quantitative biology. He works as a Senior Data Scientist at Climax Foods and has written the book After Meat: The Case for an Amazing Meat-Free World. In this episode, Karthik uncovers the inherent inefficiencies of animal products and how we need “disruptive technology” to replace meat, dairy, and eggs. He debunks regenerative animal agriculture and reveals the important innovations in fermentation-based products that can revolutionize plant-based eating. Join us for an inspiring discussion about solutions.

Resources:

Website: AfterMeatBook.com

More Podcasts for Earth Day:

Reason for Vegan Series 10: The Environmental Impact of Animal Agriculture

Episode 25: Greenwashing our Food: Exposing Sustainable Lab

On this episode, we have Glen Merzer joining us. Glen has authored and co-authored eleven books about veganism. He was a playwright and also wrote for network television for many years before stumbling into a career writing books that advocate for a plant based diet. His latest book, Food Is Climate, argues that the best way to reverse climate change is a global shift to a vegan diet. Glen talks to Hope about how rewilding millions of acres of grazing land is our best chance for fast and effective drawdown of carbon emissions. Glen also debunks the proposed new farming methods of “regenerative” animal agriculture and grass-fed meat, and enlightens us about how important the oceans are to the climate equation. Join us for an important discussion about the future of the planet and how we can save it.

Resources:

Get the Book! Food is Climate

www.glenmerzer.com

Antiracism in Animal Advocacy: Igniting Cultural Transformation

Vegan Voices: Essays By Inspiring Changemakers

Our guest today is joining us from Ireland! James O’Donovan is a long time vegan and environmentalist. He is the chair of the Cork Environmental Forum and he runs an online magazine called Vegan Sustainably. James is working on projects that redirect government funding and subsidies from animal agriculture to ecosystem restoration and plant farming. He explains the damaging impacts of subsidizing animal agriculture and the detrimental harms of regenerative grazing. James explores the connection between the mindset of European colonizers and our speciesist views today and what he calls the colonialism of land and the colonialism of seed. He also shares his journey with Buddhist meditation that has helped expand his views of compassion and nonviolence.

Resources:

Vegan Sustainability Online Magazine

Grazed and Confused YouTube Video

Avoiding Meat and Dairy is the Single Biggest Way to Reduce Your Impact on the Earth- Article

Today on the podcast we welcome environmental activist and earth warrior, Diana Oppenheim. Diana tells us about her love for the Point Reyes National Seashore on the coast of Northern California and the fight for the fate of the Tule Elk who live there. Ranchers lease the public land to use for breeding, grazing, and killing cows for their “grass-fed” flesh and “local” dairy products. The ongoing Tule Elk conflict is a fight for resources, water, and the very lives of the sensitive elk species. Diana founded the grassroots campaign forELK.org to help save the Tule Elk. She just completed a trip to Washington, D.C. to present over 100,000 petitions to Secretary Haaland at the Department of the Interior to end ranching in Point Reyes and stop the proposed killing of the endangered tule elk on public land. Hope and Diana discuss the issue with the elk as well as the larger environmental impacts of regenerative animal agriculture and local, grass-fed animal products.

Resources:

Website: ForELK.org

Facebook: Save The Tule Elk

Facebook: Hope for the Animals Podcast

We wrap up our Earth Day themed podcasts for April with a conversation with Dr. Tushar Mehta. Dr. Mehta is a practicing emergency medicine physician and co-founder of Plant Based Data, an online database that collects and organizes the most important academic and institutional literature regarding the impacts of a plant-based diet on health, the environment, and food security. Hope and Tushar have an in-depth conversation about the deception of regenerative grazing, how ranchers are manipulating the science, and the extensive inefficiencies of animal products, no matter how they are produced. 

Resources:

Another Industry Attempt to Greenwash Beef

Plant-Based Data

Hope begins with a review of the popular documentary Seaspiracy. This new film on Netflix exposes human impacts on our oceans and all marine lives. Then, we have the first interview in our new series called the Microsanctuary Series. On these podcasts we will explore how animal rescuers are having a large impact in small spaces. Our first featured Microsanctuary is Sweet Peeps Sanctuary in Alabama. Founder Tracy Glover shares how each of the chickens in her care have individual personalities and how she has learned that chickens are incredibly social, gentle, curious, and smart. The Microsanctuary Series will feature a different small sanctuary once a month through the summer of 2021.

Resources:

Seaspiracy the Movie

Reason for Vegan Series 9: The Fishing Industry Exposed

Sweet Peeps Sanctuary (Facebook)

Chicken Farming in America: A Webinar Series (ARC) 

Until All Are Free (Film)

TRANSCRIPT- EPISODE 26

In honor of Earth Day, this episode exposes the environmental impact of animal agriculture and the new “sustainable” labels that are becoming more prevalent on meat, dairy, and egg products. On the podcast today, Hope will be flying solo and sharing her knowledge about this issue. She has written a book on humane-washing and greenwashing called The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat? Hope will reveal the truth about labels like local, organic, free-range, and grass-fed.

Resources:

Countdown to Year Zero

EndGame 2050

Reason for Vegan Series 10: The Environmental Impact of Animal Agriculture

The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat?

TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 25

Animal advocates have primarily relied on a seemingly simple strategy of reducing the demand for animal products and expecting this will result in fewer and fewer farmed animals bred and killed in animal agriculture. But we are learning that it’s not so simple. Government policies protect animal agribusiness and billions of dollars are given to offset costs and losses to the meat, egg, and dairy producers, as well as to the farmers who grow animal feed.

Laura Reese of the Agriculture Fairness Alliance (AFA) has dedicated herself to dismantling this rigged system. Laura breaks down the intricacies of the government subsidies and bailouts that keep animal agriculture doing business as usual even when demand for their product drops, undermining consumer choices and the free market. Laura tells us about AFA’s pilot program called the At-Risk Farmer Incentive that would offer financial assistance to farmers who want to transition away from animal agriculture to plant farming. She also talks about AFA’s plans for the upcoming Farm Bill. Listen to Episode 22 and learn about this important aspect of advocacy so we can shift to plant-forward farming policies and bring a vegan voice to agricultural government programs.

Resources:                                  

Agriculture Fairness Alliance

Liberation 360

State Level Legislation in New York: Voters for Animals Rights

State Level Legislation in California: Social Compassion in Legislation

Podcast Episode 4: Unjust Farm Subsides with Connie Spence

In Episode 13, Hope reviews two new documentaries focused on climate change and the environmental impact of animal agriculture. Countdown to Year Zero and EndGame 2050 are both powerful films with eco-vegan themes, but they resonate in different ways. Hope will break down what she thought of the two films and why she recommends them both.

Next on the podcast is a lively interview with Jane Velez-Mitchell of Jane Unchained. You might remember Jane from her network TV show many years ago where she tackled hard-hitting animal rights issues. She continues the fight for animals today with Jane Unchained News, a Facebook Live video series, a vegan cooking show called New Day New Chef, and more. Jane tells the story of her transition from working in mainstream media to being a full-time activist. She also talks about her ingenious project, Plant-Based Neighbor, a social media app that connects vegans with other veg-neighbors in their area. Jane also tells Hope about the new season of her vegan cooking show New Day New Chef:Support and Feed Edition. The Support and Feed Edition offers hope for vegan restaurants that are struggling in the pandemic. The show features celebrities supporting plant-based restaurants so they can offer meals to hungry kids, doctors and nurses on the frontlines, and others in need

Resources:
VegMovies.com

Jane Unchained News

New Day, New Chef

Plant-based Neighbor 

Countdown To Year Zero 

EndGame 2050

TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 13

On this episode we talk with Connie Spence, an outspoken vegan and anti-oppression activist whose work addresses a range of justice issues. In this podcast we will discuss using creative tactics in vegan activism, systemic racism in the food system, and unjust farm subsidies. Connie Spence is the founder of Vegan Justice League and the Agriculture Fairness Alliance. The Vegan Justice League educates vegan advocates about the issue of farm subsidies, and the Agricultural Fairness Alliance is a federal lobbying group influencing legislation to bring fairness back to farm policy by ending subsidies and bailouts.

Connie has utilized creative tactics in her vegan activism. Using a large stage light, Connie has projected vegan messages onto buildings that could be seen from half a mile away. These seven-story tall projections have been shown in diverse locations such as on the Staples Center, on Las Vegas hotels, on freeways in Los Angeles, and many other prominent locations. Now, through her two sister organizations, she is dedicated to educating the community about how the food system is monopolized and rigged by livestock farmers and what we need to do to solve it. Agriculture Fairness Alliance is sponsoring federal legislation that will divert subsidies to programs that help struggling animal farmers transition to sustainable, plant-based, cruelty-free farming.  Learn more about how to support this legislation here.

Suggested Reading:

Meatonomics by David Robinson Simon

Stop Comparing Black Lives Matter to Animal Rights by Summer Anne Burton

Attention White Animal Rights Activists by Marla Rose

TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 4

On this episode, Hope digs into the Farm System Reform Act introduced by Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker. The bill is being pushed as an end to factory farming, could it be true? Then she will have a conversation with Climate Healer’s Sailesh Rao about his campaign Vegan World 2026, overhauling society by seeing it as an engineering problem, and exploring what it would take to change the system to create a vegan world in just six years.

TRANSCRIPT: EPISODE 3