Species Unite

"Despite all the information that we see promoting dairy [in school], you cannot promote plant-based milk unless you also promote dairy even more. It just goes to show that there's something more to it." – Marielle Williamson Mariel Williamson recently graduated from high in Los Angeles. This past spring, while still a student, she was told by her school that she couldn't share information about plant-based milk or be critical of the dairy industry unless she provided pro dairy content as well. So, Marielle is suing - both the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Unites States Department of Agriculture, for violating her First Amendment right.

Rose Patterson is part of Animal Rising, the animal activist movement that's disrupting animal exploitation all over the UK. Animal Rising used to be called Animal Rebellion, that is until April. And since April, which is only a few months ago, they've exploded - they are everywhere. They have disrupted horse races and greyhound races, they've broken into labs, they've stolen beagles, they've stolen King Charles's lambs. And they've received a huge amount of press because of their actions. Much of that press has been TV time, which means that conversations about how we treat animals, not just in the ways mentioned above but in our food system, are taking place all over the media in the UK. Animal Rising is changing the game for what activism looks like. Rose and I met a couple of weeks ago in London, where she lives. She and another Animal Rising activist had just tried and failed to go on a trip to the US.

"Right from the beginning I think I was infected with this disease. It's a very, very contagious disease of not knowing how to say no to an animal in distress. So, alongside of the bears, we were rescuing everything else: crocodiles, snakes, birds, deer, foxes, jackals, you know, I mean, you name it." - Kartick Satyanarayan Kartik Satyanarayan is the co-founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS, an organization that was founded in 1995 with the mission to make lasting changes to protect and conserve India's natural heritage, forests and biodiversity. Kartick and Wildlife SOS work towards protecting wildlife, conserving habitat, studying biodiversity, conducting research, and creating alternative and sustainable livelihoods for erstwhile communities that depend on wildlife for sustenance. They run several projects to support bear conservation in India, including the largest rehabilitation center in the world for sloth bears. Kartik is often referred to as the 'Bear Man of India' because of his efforts to put an end to the illegal practice of dancing bears. But in reality, he and Wildlife SOS work to protect all of India's wildlife, including the elephants. They rescue, treat and care for elephants that are exploited in the abusive tourism and "begging elephant" industries and work to end the plight of injured and sick elephants that are forced to work in unnatural conditions. Kartick's stories are extraordinary and his love for India's wildlife is indeed contagious. wildlifesos.org

"I think we are at the point where so many of these methods have shown in studies to be more predictive for humans that it really is an issue of human health. We need to do better for patients. We know we can and that these methods exist, so we need to use them." -Elizabeth Baker This past season, we've focused quite a bit on animal research and experimentation, and a lot of our focus has been really on just how bad it is, how bad it is for the animals, how bad it is for science, and how bad it is for taxpayers who are spending so much money on this stuff. What we haven't focused enough on are solutions. And there are solutions. There are many many human relevant methods that are here to replace animal testing and there are many more on the way. Elizabeth is the director of research policy for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. They're a nationwide organization of physicians and laypersons that promote preventative medicine. They conduct clinical research, and they advocate for more effective, efficient and ethical medical research, product testing and training. pcrm.org

"We don't know one case where a lion which was hand fed or bottle fed was released successfully in the wild. Of course, if they see humans and they understand that humans is the connection to food, it will be always a danger to put those lions back in the wild. And many of those companies use that as an excuse why this conservation project is important, but we don't think so and we don't believe that of course. It's in my opinion, nonsense." – Daniel Kaul Daniel Kaul is the founder of Natucate, an environmental travel company that works to build a safer, more sustainable eco-tourism industry. Unfortunately, the eco-tourism industry has been hijacked by a lot of bad players who are taking advantage of animal lovers. And, some of the animals that are suffering the most because of these bad players, are lions. Please listen, share and don't participate in tourism that involves interacting with wild animals. Natucate: https://www.natucate.com/en

"I think to some extent it shows that we don't want to have knowledge that will make us uncomfortable or make us feel that we're doing something wrong. And I get that from people quite often, you know, that don't really know me very well, but they ask me what I'm doing and I mention something about I've written about animals and the way animals raised for food are treated. And then they'll say, 'Oh, don't tell me, you'll spoil my dinner.'" – Peter Singer In 1975, Peter Singer changed the way we talk about how we treat animals in our food system, in research and everywhere else we use, exploit and torture them. He gave the world Animal Liberation, the book that gave birth to generations of animal activists, advocates, vegans and the animal rights movement. And last week, a new version of Animal Liberation entered the world, Animal Liberation NOW. This version is much more than a revised edition, it's more like a whole new book, because a lot has happened in 50 years, and sadly, a lot hasn't happened. Peter and I met the day before the book came out to talk about what has changed and more importantly, what needs to change NOW. Please listen, share and then go read Animal Liberation NOW.

"It's like comparing hells - it's a different type of hell, right? It's just like one hideous place where you're neglected and you have all manner of suffering to another place where it's a different set of conditions of suffering and misery." – Dr. Alka Chandna This conversation took place a couple of weeks ago as a live event. It's with me and Dr. Alka Chandna, PETA's Vice President of Laboratory Investigations. At the time I called it, The Realities of Animal Testing, which is a pretty horrible name as nobody really wants to know the realities of animal testing. But I think it's so important that we do know, because the more we know, the more we can change. Alka has spent the past two decades at PETA fighting to end cruelty towards animals. She is an expert on animal experimentation. She has submitted dozens of complaints to highlight violations of US federal animal welfare laws, guidelines, and policies. And, she's has worked on numerous campaigns to end animal testing and has had original research published in peer-reviewed journals on policies pertaining to problems with oversight of animal experimentation. Please listen and gain a deeper understanding of why testing on animals needs to be a thing of the past and why it's crucial to move towards human relevant methods. LINKS: PETA: https://www.peta.org/ Alka Chandna Twitter: https://twitter.com/alkac1?lang=en

"We'd never worked in this industry. We'd not got any prior experience in fashion ourselves. But we thought, how hard could it be? Famous last words. How hard could it be to design a handbag? Turns out very hard, very hard." – Natalie Deana Natalie Deanna is the co-founder of Frida Rome, a conscious luxury brand that makes stunning vegan handbags, handbags inspired by and designed for, "bad girls who do good things." "'Bad Girls Who Do Good Things,' was a tagline we came up with even before the brand really started to flourish… And it was, I guess the cheekier side, the more kind of out there arm to what we want to grow as a big empire. Essentially, we want to take over the world with cruelty free brands." – Natalie Deana Please listen, share and check out FridaRome.com

"It's very disappointing when I see these menus that are from starter to main courses, all animal proteins… How can you not have like 30% of the menu be plant based? For what reason? Do you need to have animal proteins in every single dish? There's no need for it… People don't need that. The planet doesn't need that." - Verde Camilla Parmigiani Verde Camilla Parmigiani is the founder of Vegan Set. She helps hotels create successful plant-based experiences. She founded Vegan Set in 2016 with the aim of showing that a vegan lifestyle can be synonymous with luxury. Camilla and I met a couple of months ago. Before I met her, it just didn't really occur to me that I could and should be asking way more from hotels when it comes to not only vegan food, but the whole package. veganset.com

"So, if you listen to the experts, we're to be raising dramatically more animals for food in the future. The only way around that, I think, is through technologies that will render the exploitation of these animals obsolete. I mean, technologies have changed so much about how we live here on Earth today. Instead of whipping horses, we now use bikes and cars. Instead of harpooning whales, we now use electricity. You know, instead of live plucking geese for their quills, we now tap on glass screens to write messages to each other. And all of these technologies at first seemed very foreign." - Paul Shapiro At Species Unite, we get a lot of email and comments every time we do a news story or a podcast on cultivated meat or new alternative proteins. I think in part because the industry is changing and moving so fast and I think in part because I always assume people know more than they do. So, we thought it'd be helpful to invite some of the leaders in the space onto a panel to explain where we are, where we're going and what the road to one day having an animal free food system looks like. This conversation is a live panel that we did a couple of weeks ago with some of the top leaders who are shaping the future of how we eat: Paul Shapiro, the CEO of the The Better Meat Co., and Anne Palermo, the CEO of Aqua Cultured Foods., who both work with fermentation. Isha Datar, the Executive Director of New Harvest, whose work is focused on cultivated meat. Shannon Falconer, the CEO of Because, Animals who is developing cultivated meat for pet food. And Albert Tseng, the CEO of Dao Foods joined us from China, which as a single country consumes 28% of the world's meat. Albert invests in innovators to find solutions for China's food system. These are a handful of the people who are changing our food system into a much kinder, healthier and planet friendly place, a place without animals, but also one that doesn't require much change on the part of humans who don't want to give up meat. This is the future of food. Links: The Better Meat Co New Harvest Because, Animals DAO Foods Aqua Cultured Foods Isha Datars TED Talk