Milo Runkle: Widening The Circle Of Compassion

Species Unite will be back with a brand new season on October 28th. Today, we are re-sharing one of our favorite episodes, a conversation with Milo Runkle.

The only way to help animals is to help people. It’s humans that need to change, not animals. And I think it's the same way when we're talking about other issues in our society. It's about healing those who are causing violence, and it oftentimes can be easy to judge and persecute and sort of push aside people that are causing harm. It's more challenging to love them and to lead by example and to believe that everyone is doing the best that they can with what they have and what they know in that moment.

- Milo Runkle 

Some humans come out of the womb with a mission imprinted into their very being. Not often, but it happens. Milo Runkle is one of those humans. He was born in rural Ohio, delivered by his veterinarian father, and from the very earliest of his days, he knew he would change the world for animals. 

He was one of those kids who had a deep empathy for any creature that he encountered, an empathy that I think most of us have as children, but sadly are talked out of by well-meaning (and very well-conditioned) adults. Instead of being talked out of anything, Milo held on tightly, and rather than experiencing the slow, albeit unconscious, leak of animal-connected compassion that too many humans experience, his only grew.

He became vegetarian at 11, and vegan at 15, which was the same year that he founded Mercy for Animals; which would later become the world’s largest farm animal and vegan advocacy organization, an international powerhouse that has indeed changed the world for millions of cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and fish.

It all started because of an animal abuse case at his local high school. He saw abuse and injustice, and did something about it. 

Milo ran Mercy for Animals for nearly two decades, and is still involved - he is the Board Chair. Since leaving his role as the President, he has started a new chapter: one that involves deep exploration - of the planet, of himself, and of what it means to live a life of service that is rooted in joy, love, and compassion.

He is also the cofounder of the Good Food Institute, an organization that works to build a sustainable food system by supporting the development and adoption of plant and cell based proteins. 

And, he is the author of Mercy for Animals. One Man's Quest to Inspire Compassion and Improve the Lives of Farm Animals.

Milo and I spoke about what it was like to sustain decades of activism on the frontlines, what his life has looked like since, and his ever-widening circle of compassion.