I have a riddle for you. What do Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Mark Twain, Leonardo da Vinci, Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King–and many other free thinkers from our history, her story now forgotten, such as Anna Kingsford, Margaret Damer Dawson–all have in common?
They were all vegan/vegetarians!
With the Union of Concerned Scientists now urgently letting us know that the future for all life on Earth depends on human beings finding a way to stop destroying and live in harmony with all life, few subjects address so directly the heart of our challenge as that of veganism. For veganism is more than a diet; it is an ethic by which to live.
Vegans aim to do the least harm possible by not eating or wearing animals and not supporting companies that exploit them in laboratories, entertainment, factory farms, and the leather, fur, silk, and many other industries. This attitude of kindness extends to human beings as well and does not support sweatshops and the many other forms of human exploitation. Astrology, Native and other religious prophecies, and many futurists say that we are being given an unprecedented opportunity to evolve as a species to become a peaceful, nurturing, creative presence on the planet. Veganism, as an ideal, encompasses all creation with its awareness of the interconnected and Oneness of all. Read more
. Blossom (left) and Minnow out on a walk. Photo: Abbie Hubbard.
Abbie recalls once being asked by a reporter in South Korea what it was like to have a dog that was different from other ‘meat’ dogs. She explained that Minnow is no different, and that her heart is the same as all other dogs. “I often think about that question in regards to Blossom,” she says. “My response would be that she, too, is no different — her heart is the same as all other beings.” Blossom the turkey and Minnow the dog have something in common — they were both once thought of only as “food.”
Minnow was rescued from a South Korean meat farm in 2015, and Blossom was saved last year from a commercial turkey farm in West Virginia. Today they share a home with Abbie Hubbard, and are like any other family. They go on hikes together, snuggle on the sofa and greet Abbie at the door. “When I put the keys in, I hear Blossom make loud chirping sounds in excitement,” Abbie, who is the Animal Rescue Responder for Humane Society International, tells LAIKA. “She always comes running, and it makes my heart do flips of joy.” Read more
“Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
The spinning fury at the core of our culture, animal agriculture, not only exploits and destroys the lives and purposes of animals, it does the same to humans as well, and we see this playing out now with this draconian lockdown of healthy people, eroding mental health, human rights, and economic independence, and destroying countless small and medium businesses (including vegan ones).
In my lectures over the years, I’ve described animal agriculture as a Trojan horse: on the surface it appears to be a helpful gift, but on closer examination, and with deeper understanding, we see clearly that it is an utterly harmful force in our individual and collective lives, incessantly damaging the health of our ecosystems and society, as well as our physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being. Read more
“Everything is going to be fine in the end. If it’s not fine, it’s not the end. — Oscar Wilde
This 54 minute documentary produced by Australian Michael Shaw featuring Catherine Ingram, Dahr Jamail, Jem Bendell and Stan Rushworth presents a bleak, Western perspective on our ecological crisis. Other than Cherokee Elder, Stan Rushworth, the other principals in the documentary are well-educated, privileged Western “doomers” who are certain that the world is going to hell in a hand basket and billions of people are going to die in short order.
“MOTHERHOOD DOES NOT EXIST TO BE OWNED, COMMODIFIED, OR INVADED.”
Ashley Capps is a writer, editor, and researcher specializing in farm animal welfare and vegan advocacy. She is also the Founder and Director of the Mothers Against Dairy campaign, a powerful anti-dairy campaign. To mark Mother’s Day, we asked Ashley about how the campaign came to be.
You have mentioned it was a bit unexpected to find yourself running a campaign focused on mothers when you yourself are not a mother. Can you elaborate?Read more
Someone sent me this as one of the many examples of opportunistic so-called “animal advocates” who fall over themselves in a mad dash to say that animal exploitation is really okay while they hold their hands out for donations:
Imagine someone saying: “Most of the time, I am not a bigot. But I’m not perfect and I occasionally engage in actions that are legal but that harm others and that are motivated by my racial animus because I enjoy it.”
Imagine someone saying: “Yeah, I’m a bigot. But I’m a reducetarian bigot. I am cutting down my racist behavior here and there. For example, I don’t tell racist jokes on Monday before 6.” Read more
CALVIN NEUFELD is an independent speaker, thinker, and social justice advocate. He’s a man of conviction, who does not take on popular causes. He put forth the concept of trans-veganism. And since 2016, he has taken on Prison Farms, with the ambitious mission of steering them in an ethical direction.
Which translates to Plant-based Agriculture and Therapeutic Rehabilitation.
Which further means:
# 1: He defends prisoner justice and environmental justice.
#2: He proposes a sustainable and ethical model for Canada’s prison farms.
And #3: He opposes any model that exploits or harms prisoners, therapy animals, or the environment. Read more
Veterinarian and Professor Andrew Knight on the best diets for our animal companions
Meat-Based Pet Food Despite the biological evidence, millions of people cling to the belief that it is somehow natural to feed their feline or canine companions commercial diets comprised of assorted body parts from a variety of animals they would never naturally eat. To these are added abattoir products condemned as unfit for human consumption, such as ‘4-D’ meat (from animals that are disabled, diseased, dying or dead on arrival at the slaughterhouse), cleverly disguised using names like ‘meat derivatives’ or ‘by-products.’
Unfortunately, fish have not evolved mechanisms to excrete modern oceanic pollutants such as mercury and PCBs, which accumulate in their tissues. Once exposed to air, fish are particularly vulnerable to bacterial putrefaction. Damaged or spoiled fish are also added to commercial pet foods.
Brands from countries such as the US also contain rendered dog and cat carcasses sourced from animal shelters. Similarly, toxic flea collars are not always removed. Unsurprisingly, a 1998 US Food and Drug Administration study detected the euthanizing solution sodium pentobarbital, which is specifically designed to kill dogs, cats and other animals, in 43 randomly-selected varieties of dry dog food. Read more
Every so often, the story about soy causing men to grow boobs reemerges. It is a story as uniquely suited for our era as anything: Sensationalistic? Check. Fear-mongering? Check. Factually unsound? Check. The notion of soy causing “man boobs” is silly on the surface but it is still one that doesn’t seem to be able to be contained—not by underwire, not by racerback, and certainly not by push-up. One could certainly say it’s been abundantly padded, though.
Susan Hargreaves is the Founder of Animal Hero Kids, a charity that empowers youth by providing them with school presentations that highlight animal rescue, advocacy, and promotes a cruelty-free existence by youth. She has been an animal advocate for over 40-years and has been revered by World Leaders and Celebrities across the globe.
Susan Hargreaves of Animal Hero Kids
FWM: What does activism mean to you?
Activism runs the gamut of speaking to the person at the grocery store looking for lactose-free milk, why cows milk dairy is the product of animal cruelty, educating at schools, protesting animal abuse, and speaking up at every opportunity you can, where it may make a difference.
Empathy is the first building block of kindness. Compassion is fostered in the “Animal Hero Kids Voices for the Voiceless “ book and education programs. I present stories of animal rescue and advocacy by youth. These stories, like all well-told stories, put you in the other’s place; understanding of another’s situation is vital-today more than ever.
Compassion being taught to youth is cruelty prevention, bullying and violence prevention. When empathy and kindness are taught at an early age it has the power to change the world. My life’s challenge is to increase compassion for all beings on a large scale. Read more
Rip Esselstyn spent a decade as one of the premier triathletes in the world. He then joined the Austin Fire Department where he introduced his passion for a whole-food, plant-based diet to Austin’s Engine 2 Firehouse in order to rescue a firefighting brother’s health. And discovered dangerously high cholesterol levels among his firefighter comrades. He led a station wide revolution of dietary change that resulted in markedly better health, which he detailed in his bestselling book, The Engine 2 Diet which shows the irrefutable connection between a plant-based diet and good health. He is featured prominently in the famous documentary Forks Over Knives: What if one simple change could save you from chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease? Take a deep dive into the plant-based diet documentary that has influenced millions around the world. Read more
In 2009, I was part of a UCLA study comprised of cyclists and triathletes that looked at how endurance exercise impacted bone density, testosterone and the production of inflammatory cytokines produced during long, frequent periods of exercise. Some of my cycling teammates were enticed to sign up because the tests included a free body fat percentage scan, but it turned out that the DEXA scan’s most important feature for me was its ability to measure bone density.
We are helping dairy farmers get out of the dairy trade, and providing them with a new business model to become 100% plant-based milk producers. At the same time, their farmland is turned into an animal sanctuary for their herd to enjoy the rest of their lives free of exploitation. Crazy? It’s happening! See below for one of our stories of farmers who have already made the transition.
We are a new plant-based drink subscription service, sourced lovingly from ex-dairy farmers. Read more
How well we know the stereotype of the rugged Plains Indian: killer of buffalo, dressed in quill-decorated buckskin, elaborately feathered headdress, and leather moccasins, living in an animal skin teepee, master of the dog and horse, and stranger to vegetables. But this lifestyle, once limited almost exclusively to the Apaches, flourished no more than a couple hundred years. It is not representative of most Native Americans of today or yesterday. Indeed, the “buffalo-as-lifestyle” phenomenon is a direct result of European influence, as we shall see.
Among my own people, the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi and Oklahoma, vegetables are the traditional diet mainstay. A French manuscript of the eighteenth century describes the Choctaws’ vegetarian leanings in shelter and food. The homes were constructed not of skins, but of wood, mud, bark and cane. The principal food, eaten daily from earthen pots, was a vegetarian stew containing corn, pumpkin and beans. The bread was made from corn and acorns. Other common favorites were roasted corn and corn porridge. Read more
Originally published by Sentient Media February 26, 2020
Noah Bergh was in pre-primary school when he came home one evening in March of 2019 with a permission slip to visit a Brownes Dairy farm. Noah, already vegan for two years, felt sad when he heard about the planned excursion. According to his mother Natalie Bergh, “When he got home, he asked me, ‘Don’t the other kids know they take away the cows’ babies and kill them?’” Noah told the kids in his class that he wasn’t going because he is vegan and “loves cows.” He added, “I thought the farm owners might tell me it was good to kill and eat animals and drink their milk and it’s not even true.” The permission slip outlined that children would learn how “happy, healthy cows give us more and better quality milk.”
Noah is part of a minority of children who understand how much suffering occurs in the dairy industry. Read more
Our world is waking up to the injustices, not only in our backyards, but all over. The inability of adults to care for the health of the planet has left too much responsibility on our children. They are growing up in a scary world. No child should be placed in this scenario. But is it a case of too little too late?
As a mother, I often wonder: how do I reassure my child about the future when what they see around them is terrifying? Years ago, I realized then if I wanted the world to change for the better, it needed to start with me. I needed to reduce the negative impact I have on the world around me, and to share what I learned in an easy and accessible way.
Teaching Kids Empathy and Compassion
As I personally moved towards a compassionate lifestyle, I thought more about the books that could be written to share with others. By reading to your children, books from the Compassionate Press collection, you become a champion in your child’s eyes. Read more
Katrina Fox is the Founder of Vegan Women’s Leadership Network. She has worked as a senior reporter, features writer, sub-editor and editor, both on staff and as a freelancer, on a broad range of print and online media in the UK, US and Australia. Since becoming an ethical vegan in 1996 after “a school teacher called Kay opened my eyes to the countless ways animals are used, abused and exploited for human consumption or entertainment,” her mission has been to educate, inform and inspire as many people as possible to embrace a vision of a world in which all beings are free to thrive.
You sacrifice eating from dawn to dusk. To show how strong your faith is. The point is to remind people of the need to be humble. Through the fast, you feel the hunger and remember poor people. You realize what it means to not have food. It brings you down to the ground.
At the end of the one month fast, you donate 4% of your money to poor people at the end of the fast. It isn’t just faith, but also charity. You celebrate observing the fast in the correct way it should be done.
After the prayers are said, you make friends with your enemies. You shed everything that’s between you two and hug that person, thereby finish any grudges and bad blood. It’s an overflow of emotions, and I end up feeling very light at the end of it.
Eid is about sacrificing something you love the most. People buy animals and sacrifice in the name of God. I don’t see the connection at all. Read more
Let’s look at the reasons behind the growth of veganism in India, as a small yet vocal section of the population turns towards this diet and lifestyle in the largest milk producing country in the world.
India is expected to produce 175 billion litres of milk in 2019, making it the largest milk producer in the world. Forecasts suggest production of this commodity will increase by 4 per cent in 2020, which equates to an additional 9.7 billion litres. Having said this, a new movement is growing in India – veganism.While absolute figures on the number of vegans aren’t available due to the sheer novelty of this dietary and lifestyle choice, there are ample grounds to show that the shift towards veganism in India is growing at an unprecedented rate.
Despite the rise of plant-based meat and ‘Veganuary,’ only 3 percent of Americans are vegan. It’s more than double that among African Americans.
(Washington Post illustration/iStock)
Rapper Stic.man was a 20-year-old in Brooklyn trying to get a record deal, deep in what his wife calls the original hip-hop lifestyle: burgers, blunts and booze.
“I had picked up some bad habits, smoking herb all the time, drinking every day in the urban obstacle course,” says Stic.man, a.k.a. Khnum Muata Ibomu but born Clayton Gavin. “I woke up one morning and my ankle was gigantically swollen, and I found out I had gout. That was my wake-up call. It was a blessing that revealed my path.”
Stic, one-half of the political duo Dead Prez, has been a vegan for two decades since then. Read more
As we have written about in the past, conditions for those working in abattoirs are horrendous.
It was inconceivable to think this situation could become worse, however, that’s indeed what has happened with COVID-19, and the scientific community is in consensus that what was an appalling situation is now so much worse. Slaughterhouse workers are being exploited at unprecedented levels due to this pandemic.
Early in the spread of COVID-19, it was clear in many places throughout the world that slaughterhouses were a magnet for the spread of the virus. In May 2020, Bloomberg published an article showing that many of the communities that have a slaughterhouse in the vicinity were experiencing the spread of COVID-19 at twice the national average. Read more
We are all birthed from Water. Ecosystems and human communities evolve around Water. As humanity rebirths itself at this critical juncture in human history, we align with Nature to honor, protect and restore the one Water body that nourishes all of Life.
How do we, as humanity, evolve to align with the principles of Life and co-create an oppression-free and vitalizing world for all?
The proposal for a World Water Law and World Water Year 2021 are citizen-led initiatives that offer a unifying and holistic framework for rapid and radical whole-system healing. These initiatives are based on the understanding that when we collectively prioritize the healing of our planetary waters and water cycle, we will activate an exponential healing process that will benefit all of Life simultaneously. Read more
About Nation Rising: It’s time for an agricultural revolution!
Nation Rising is a political advocacy group that is bringing together individuals and organizations across Canada who are concerned about the environment, health, and animal rights to rally on Parliament Hill to demand the government shift subsidizing away from animal agriculture and towards healthy, sustainable, organic food for the good of the planet, the people, and the animals. Read more
When Amazon.com bought Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion in 2017, some vegans assumed it would be a massive boost to veganism. It’s easy to see why: Self-described vegan CEO John Mackey remained in his position, and with such an enormous infusion of cash from Amazon’s winner-take-all Jeff Bezos, additional Whole Foods Market stores would expand public access to vegan food. More Whole Foods Market locations equal more vegans, right? Not necessarily. There’s a missing ingredient in Whole Foods’ recipe I’ll get to in a moment. Read more
Most American adults, and even children, believe they should aim for three servings of dairy a day—thanks to the US Dietary Guidelines. From a young age we are taught to believe that by devoutly consuming dairy on the daily, we will be protected from brittle bones and grow up “big and strong.” A new scientific review published in one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals, The New England Journal of Medicine, has put the benefits of milk into question. Humbly titled, “Milk and Health,” the thoroughly comprehensive review concludes point-blank that despite our government-trained devotion to milk, humans simply do not need it and are far better off without it.
I, like many others, was both impressed and confused with the release of Game Changers late last year. For those unaware, this James Cameron-produced, Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring documentary shook the fitness industry with claims that vegan diets were not only healthy for you and the environment, they could also help you build muscle and strength.
A common, and somewhat lazy, accusation against vegan diets is that they don’t provide the requisite protein and calories needed to excel in sports or in the gym. Showing athletes, strongmen and bodybuilders thriving on the vegan lifestyle, Game Changers forced coaches and trainees to seriously consider their diets.
What confused me about Game Changers was not its scientific claims, but the general public’s reaction. For the most part, people seemed perplexed at the claim that athletes and lifters could be vegan.
But this is not a particularly new idea. Far from novel, Game Changers represents the latest in a series of efforts over the last 150 years to prove the benefits of plant-based in modern times, or in the past, vegetarian diets, for strength seekers. Read more
Welcome to The Humanitarian Church! Our Mission is to introduce the Whole Food Plant Based Diet to impoverished, unhealthy communities throughout the world, to provide freedom from illness, oppression via dependency on the medical community, and cease the consumption of animal products to honor the commandment, “THOU SHALT NOT KILL.”
On a regular basis, we drive up to the New England Produce Center in Chelsea Massachusetts, on the north side of Boston, and purchase several thousand pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables. The Produce Companies that supply us with so much food, do so at dramatic discounts because they know we give the food away at no charge to so many families. We regularly buy 4,000 pounds,(two tons), of real food at very reasonable prices, less than half of what a supermarket charges, so how can we not buy everything we can carry?
Publisher’s Note: The term Ahimsa is an important spiritual doctrine shared by Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It literally means ‘non-injury’ and ‘non-killing’. It implies the total avoidance of harming of any kind of living creatures not only by deeds, but also by words and in thoughts.
Thanks to the hard work and donations of many people, In Defense of Animals’ Interfaith Vegan Coalition, co-founded by Lisa Levinson and myself had a well-received presence at the Parliament of World Religions. The theme of the Parliament was “The power of love and the promise of inclusion.” Eight thousand people from around the world attended this historic event. Plenaries, talks, and panels went on all day and into the evenings from November 1 to the 7th in Toronto, Canada. We felt it was essential for the animals and the vegan message to be represented there and to reach as many people as we could. Read more
Animal rights and vegan activist Genesis Butler, 13, is shown with rescued duck at the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach on Thursday, February 13, 2020. Genesis has started a non-profit, Genesis for Animals, to provide funding to animal sanctuaries. In addition, Genesis will be featured on Marvel’s Hero Project which will air on Disney +. Marvel presented Genesis with her very own comic book starring herself as the Super Hero. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Every superhero has an origin story. Genesis Butler’s started with chicken nuggets.
Like most kids she loved chicken nuggets, and as a 3-year-old she ate them almost daily until her mom told her something about her favorite food that horrified her. Read more
LUV4ALL: Mother Earth Warns! Wake Up Your COMPASSION
Cece, a rescued pig. All living beings deserve to be loved and to live free.
Until we, the human collective, fully awaken–from within our hearts–to acknowledge the Absolute Truth that we are One with ALL Life, ONLY then can we ensure the survival of Mother Earth and her Universal Family.
To evolve to the inner consciousness of ONENESS means living with the full understanding that ALL Life is sacred and must be treated that way.
ONLY then can we bring our normalized violence–which separates and targets any being, human or nonhuman, deemed “NOT LIKE US” and therefore, “LESS THAN US–to an end.
ONLY then can sustainable social change take place–in our outer world–to ensure that institutionally oppressed INDIVIDUAL lives matter. To transform systematic racism, sexism, heterosexism, speciesism, transphobia, etc., we, the human collective, must now awaken within us a new COMPASSION for ALL that will reflect an inclusive culture, honouring the interconnectedness of life. Read more
My name is Sheanne Moskaluk. I live in Naramata, British Columbia, Canada, and, along with my husband Dan, we have experienced changes in our lives that we never would have believed possible. We started by changing our minds and the rest followed.
In 2010, my 14 year old son became interested in weight lifting and body building. He joined a local gym, where he was told he would never put on muscle if he did not consume protein powders and lots of meat. So, being what I thought was a good mother, off to the local health food store I went. What happened next would drastically change our lives. As I was browsing the selection of whey protein, a sales clerk inquired “was I buying this for myself?” I explained it was for my son, to which she quickly replied “you need to do some research before giving that to your kids”. Read more
I’ve had the wonderful opportunity recently to spend time and absorb a bit of the brilliance of systems engineer Sailesh Rao, PhD, who spent most of his career developing a little thing we’re all familiar with: the Internet! When Dr. Rao, a lifelong vegetarian, learned about the climate/agriculture connection, he went vegan immediately and left his high-status engineering position to devote himself full time to saving this planet. He founded ClimateHealers.org and has joined the production teams of several vegan documentaries, including Cowspiracy, What the Health, and A Prayer for Compassion, set to debut in October. Read more
Ever since I hit puberty, due to cultural conditioning; mass opinion, taste, convenience and tradition, I ate as many animal products as I could fit in my stomach. I heard that was “how you built muscle.” This lifestyle consisted of, for my junior college year before going vegan, eating 27 eggs, a pound a half a ground turkey, multiple glasses of milk and several cups of shredded cheese a day. I believed that animal protein was an essential building block, not only for human life itself, but for the goals I had regarding my physical development. Read more
The Baby and Toddler Vegan Feeding Guide by Julia Feliz Brueck is a to-the-point guide for parents looking to raise their little ones safely on plant-based diets. Evidence-based information and dietitian approved! Book trailer below.
Raising a vegan child in a very non-vegan world is certainly no easy task – not because it’s not doable. Remaining strong in one of the most vulnerable times in our lives because of the pressure to conform to what the majority of society deems we should do is no easy feat.
I’ve now been in the midst of raising two little vegans since conception for over four years. Early into that journey and years later I still feel confident that:
“One of the best and most important decisions I have made is choosing to raise both my sons with vegan values. As a vegan of almost a decade, I want to pass on the same values that have made me question my everyday life choices and choose to make my impact on other living beings as small as possible. Apart from helping them develop a connection to other living beings, the most natural way to help them start their own vegan journey is through what they eat.Read more
Sean O’Callaghan is widely known as a key influencer in the vegan community under the moniker Fat Gay Vegan. His Instagram account, showcasing a colourful array of vegan food and events, has close to fifty thousand followers and he also runs a drool-worthy blog.
Sean’s distinct no-fuss approach highlights the ease and accessibility of the vegan movement, attracting vegans and non-vegans alike. He’s also put his popularity to good use by launching the highly successful Hackney Downs Market, a weekly community market with aim of supporting vegan businesses. If all that didn’t keep him busy enough, Sean has also found time to release a brand new book, Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t, which looks at veganism beyond the plate and explores how we can all live a little more compassionately.
We caught up with Sean to discuss what motivated him to write the book and to find out what life is like for Fat Gay Vegan. Read more
Dr. Orestes Gutierrez gave this free lecture sponsored by Eugene Veg Education Network (EVEN). Hear this fascinating and informative lecture to learn how a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle can help you avoid premature aging, prevent and reverse chronic disease, and promote abiding joy and happiness.
Having trained as a homeopath, and being a homeopath at heart, I’m always looking at things from a holistic point of view. As homeopaths, we see a patient as a whole, and disease as a result of problems at the level of body, mind, and spirit together. Homeopathy is based on Nature’s laws and requires a practitioner to have a very deep insight into everything connected with nature, the state of the human mind and, of course, medical knowledge of the human body. Homeopathy, to my mind, is a process of growth of mind and body, to reach a higher spiritual purpose. As a homeopath, I was fascinated with the connection between nature and the human mind and body. Patients would get better miraculously if their remedy were clearly found. To take a medical case and to find the right remedy was exhilarating. Read more
According to the CDC, by 2050 an astounding 1 out of 3 Americans may have diabetes. Furthermore, CDC statistics show 29.1 million people or 9.3% of the population have diabetes in the United States. This article will summarize ways to prevent and reverse diabetes type 2 and prediabetes. The tools to accomplish this are in your hands! Through dietary habits and maintaining an appropriate weight, an individual can prevent and even reverse diabetes.
Diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) is a condition of abnormal blood sugar metabolism. The word diabetes comes from greek root meaning “passing through”. The word mellitus comes from the Latin root meaning “honey-sweet”. Diabetes mellitus literally means “passing through” the urine “honey-sweet”. Indeed, in ancient times that is how physicians diagnosed diabetes, namely, by tasting the sweet urine of patients that were very sick. Read more
Vegan Psychologist Dr. Clare Mann Interviews Dr. Michael Klaper, a gifted clinician, internationally recognized teacher, and sought-after speaker on diet and health, on the concept of her book, Vystopia.
Below read about Vystopia: The Book by Psychologist Clare Mann: Read more
Yesterday was a fabulous day and this morning I woke up feeling as if I could change the world! I attended the Health & Fitness, Empowered by Plants day of education in Penticton. It was put on by the Okanagan Health Forum, which is a group organized in 2005 to provide cutting-edge research in lifestyle medicine to health care professionals and the general public. It was also formed to “bring internationally acclaimed authorities on plant-based diets to inspire and motivate our residents to make choices that support exceptional health and well-being”.
Well, that they sure did! They had a professional line up of plant-based speakers covering topics ranging from how to heal yourself from lifestyle diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes and cancer, to the plant-based diet of a world class athlete and stories of how changing to a plant-based diet helped a couple from Naramata, BC overcome obesity and stage 4 kidney cancer. Read more
We have less than one decade to fix our destructive lifestyle before our planet crosses a terrible threshold. And you can be part of the fix with one simple decision! Climate Healers leader, environmentalist and engineer Sailesh Rao, an amazing activist who’s been a force in hit films like Cowspiracy & What The Health, gives an extraordinary talk at the Rowdy Girl Sanctuary in Texas! It’s life changing! Originally on JaneUnChained.com Click on video above to see and listen to this moving talk.
Walking out of the doctor’s office, reality had finally sunk in. I was not going to be around for another year. My wife and kids would very likely not have a husband or father within the year. My blood pressure was 255/115, I was on three medications to bring it down. My cholesterol (300) and triglycerides (279) were off the charts (literally). I was on a ton of heavy medications, I was also self-medicating, and I struggled with addictions of all kinds. My weight became so out of control that the doctor could no longer weigh me in his office. I was having trouble breathing and had severe sleep apnea. I was born with a genetic disorder called Elhers Danlos Syndrome and my joints are very loose and hyper mobile. The excess weight was too much for my already destroyed joints to handle.I was constantly on crutches, canes, and immobilizers. I was cast and fitted for very expensive leg braces that would stop my legs from buckling. My wife was actually putting my socks and shoes on me in the morning. Nothing was working and my life was spiraling out of control. I was going to die and I don’t know if I really cared. Read more
Part One:
“Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Rip Esselstyn spent a decade as one of the premier triathletes in the world. He then joined the Austin Fire Department where he introduced his passion for a whole-food, plant-based diet to Austin’s Engine 2 Firehouse in order to rescue a firefighting brother’s health. And discovered dangerously high cholesterol levels among his firefighter comrades. He led a station wide revolution of dietary change that resulted in markedly better health, which he detailed in his bestselling book, 
We are helping dairy farmers get out of the dairy trade, and providing them with a new business model to become 100% plant-based milk producers. At the same time, their farmland is turned into an animal sanctuary for their herd to enjoy the rest of their lives free of exploitation. Crazy? It’s happening! See below for one of our stories of farmers who have already made the transition.
Our world is waking up to the injustices, not only in our backyards, but all over. The inability of adults to care for the health of the planet has left too much responsibility on our children. They are growing up in a scary world. No child should be placed in this scenario. But is it a case of too little too late?
Katrina Fox is the Founder of 
I, like many others, was both impressed and confused with the release of 
Thanks to the hard work and donations of many people, In Defense of Animals’ Interfaith Vegan Coalition, co-founded by Lisa Levinson and myself had a well-received presence at the Parliament of World Religions. The theme of the Parliament was “The power of love and the promise of inclusion.” Eight thousand people from around the world attended this historic event. Plenaries, talks, and panels went on all day and into the evenings from November 1 to the 7th in Toronto, Canada. We felt it was essential for the animals and the vegan message to be represented there and to reach as many people as we could.
Natalie Portman is not just an A-list actress, she’s an outspoken advocate for human and animal rights, and most recently, a children’s book author. 
In 2010, my 14 year old son became interested in weight lifting and body building. He joined a local gym, where he was told he would never put on muscle if he did not consume protein powders and lots of meat. So, being what I thought was a good mother, off to the local health food store I went. What happened next would drastically change our lives. As I was browsing the selection of whey protein, a sales clerk inquired “was I buying this for myself?” I explained it was for my son, to which she quickly replied “you need to do some research before giving that to your kids”. 
I’ve had the wonderful opportunity recently to spend time and absorb a bit of the brilliance of systems engineer Sailesh Rao, PhD, who spent most of his career developing a little thing we’re all familiar with: the Internet! When Dr. Rao, a lifelong vegetarian, learned about the climate/agriculture connection, he went vegan immediately and left his high-status engineering position to devote himself full time to saving this planet. He founded 
Raising a vegan child in a very non-vegan world is certainly no easy task – not because it’s not doable. Remaining strong in one of the most vulnerable times in our lives because of the pressure to conform to what the majority of society deems we should do is no easy feat.
Sean O’Callaghan is widely known as a key influencer in the vegan community under the moniker Fat Gay Vegan. His 
Having trained as a homeopath, and being a homeopath at heart, I’m always looking at things from a holistic point of view. As homeopaths, we see a patient as a whole, and disease as a result of problems at the level of body, mind, and spirit together. Homeopathy is based on Nature’s laws and requires a practitioner to have a very deep insight into everything connected with nature, the state of the human mind and, of course, medical knowledge of the human body. Homeopathy, to my mind, is a process of growth of mind and body, to reach a higher spiritual purpose. As a homeopath, I was fascinated with the connection between nature and the human mind and body. Patients would get better miraculously if their remedy were clearly found. To take a medical case and to find the right remedy was exhilarating. 
According to the CDC, by 2050 an astounding 1 out of 3 Americans may have diabetes. Furthermore, CDC statistics show 29.1 million people or 9.3% of the population have diabetes in the United States. This article will summarize ways to prevent and reverse diabetes type 2 and prediabetes. The tools to accomplish this are in your hands! Through dietary habits and maintaining an appropriate weight, an individual can prevent and even reverse diabetes.
Yesterday was a fabulous day and this morning I woke up feeling as if I could change the world! I attended the Health & Fitness, Empowered by Plants day of education in Penticton. It was put on by the 
