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
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
From her study near Dallas, Texas, tucked within stacks of notes, files, and various translated editions of her books, author and activist, Carol J. Adams, talks of a time when her work was not so well-received. Between faint barks from rescue-dogs Inky and Holly, Adams speaks of how her now-famous book, The Sexual Politics of Meat, was widely ignored upon first publication, and how “80% of the reviews were negative,” she says. “I mean really, feminist vegetarian theory,” she jokes, “what does that mean?” Of course Adams, and much of the rest of the world, couldn’t know then just how much her work would come to mean, in both the womxn’s and animal rights movements. 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
On Mother’s Day, many animal rights allies pay respects online to all the parents who had their children stolen by violent industries who don’t respect their bodily autonomy. But those social media posts are harder to find a few weeks later when Father’s Day rolls around.
I’ve talked before about how the reproductive injustice of forced breeding is not limited to only the parent who bears the child, and how semen collection is a violation of the other parent as well. But beyond the sexual violence carried out by human hands, there is a passive erasure of male relationships with their offspring that also occurs.
Father-child bonds exist throughout animal societies, but they are commonly overlooked. Western society often discourages human men from expressing complex emotions other than anger and aggression. 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
Ellie Laks is the Founder of The Gentle Barn Foundation, a national nonprofit organization that rescues and rehabilitates unwanted animals and heals people with the same stories of abuse and neglect.
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 a truly menschy move, more than 70 rabbis from around the world and from across the spectrum of denominations have signed a declaration urging Jews to switch to a vegan diet. The new statement comes at a great time; Jewish people are observing the High Holy Days right now and are getting ready to fast on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, this Saturday. They will break their fast with a huge meal on Saturday night—and there is no better way to ring in a new, more ethical year than with a feast that excludes all animal suffering.
“We, the undersigned rabbis, encourage our fellow Jews to transition toward animal-free, plant-based diets. This approach to sustenance is an expression of our shared Jewish values of compassion for animals, protection of the environment, and concern for our physical and spiritual well-being.”
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.
On the morning of Saturday, July 4th, one day before we were scheduled to welcome our five rescued cows to VeganLand, we arrived to discover that eight of the condemned cows who graze on our neighbor’s land had somehow made their way onto our property.
Our first thought was that we must have left a gate open, but a quick look revealed they were all closed.
We could hear their herd mates calling from the field next door, and as we tried to understand how they had managed to get through, eight dispirited and mistrustful mothers stood staring back at us, with what we confirmed, in retrospect, was accusation in their eyes.
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
Leigh Sanders is the Founder of the Art of Compassion Project, an international art collective of vegan artists from all over the globe and across every continent. The art collective raises funds through various art projects and donates 100 per cent of profits to a variety of vegan non-profit organizations, at least one large and one small organization every year.
When she started the Art of Compassion Project, Leigh had a mission. “I wanted to build a strong international network of vegan artists that all share the same vision–to use their art to spread the vegan message. I also wanted to effectively use the art as a means of touching people’s hearts and opening their mind to living life the vegan way. Sometimes we can be surprised just how much a painting, poem or piece of music can affect us. Art speaks to the soul even when the mind doesn’t quite grasp what’s being said.”
We held the online memorial for the Animal Victims of War through Facebook here, at 11am (PST) November 11th, 2020.
To begin, let there be no mistake that the lives of non-human animals lost to war are lives taken, not given. Humans can make a choice to sacrifice their lives for a cause or some greater purpose. Animals are not able to sacrifice themselves because they cannot comprehend why they are being forced into war by humans. Furthermore, this article discusses why animals are not “heroes” either and why the promotion of such a notion is harmful in our society. Read more
Beginning January 1, 2021, the streets of Chicago are going to look a little more animal-friendly. Gone will be the horse-drawn carriage operators who have been plying their cruel trade in the Windy City for 150 years. On April 24, the Chicago City Council voted to ban them. Chicago joins other cities in banning horse-drawn carriages, including Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Biloxi, Mississippi; Camden, New Jersey; and several cities in Florida. (Despite years of protesting, horse-drawn carriages still operate in New York City.)
Instrumental in getting the ban passed was the Chicago Alliance for Animals (CAA). For more than three years, this grassroots animal advocacy organization frequently documented horses being denied water and forced to pull carriages in heavy traffic through extreme heat, thunderstorms, and blizzards. Read more
At Freedom Farm, a kid goat rescued from a ritual Passover slaughter mingles with pigs and hens so overfed they cannot stand.
Nir lost part of his leg but can now jog around thanks to his prosthesis. Billy has his own wheelchair. Gali, who is blind, has been reunited with her mother Angela. And Roni was rescued from a ritual sacrifice and now loves nothing more than to jump on the trampoline and make mischief.
These five animals rescued from the livestock industry are living out their days being loved and pampered at the Freedom Farm in Moshav Olesh, on central Israel’s Sharon Plain. Read more
Last month, it was written that Donald Trump Jr. went abroad to western Mongolia to, in the words of Matt Stieb for New York Magazine, “combine two of his favorite things: benefiting from his father’s presidency and killing endangered animals for pleasure.”
A ProPublica report said Trump Jr. went on a hunting trip to shoot an argali—a giant sheep with curved horns up to six feet in length—and received a retroactive permit once coming in from the field.
The story reminded me of a quote from King Leopold’s Ghost: a Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild. It’s a remarkable historical text. It follows in part the exploits of explorer Henry Morton Stanley. The quoted account was from one of his officers
It was most interesting, lying in the bush watching the natives quietly at their day’s work. Some women…were making banana flour by pounding up dried bananas. Men we could see building huts and engaged in other work, boys and girls running about, singing…I opened up the game by shooting one chap through the chest. He fell like a stone…Immediately a volley was poured through the village.
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
These days, many of us tend to think that human nature is inherently competitive and destructive. We hear about “selfish genes,” as if our genetic makeup predetermines that we will be egotistic people and that we will fight with one another. We’re told that our species contains a built-in “killer instinct,” that we are descended from apes who needed to be brutal and ferociously aggressive to survive the hostile conditions of prehistoric times. According to such notions, the natural world is an unrelenting battle for survival, and it is mere wishful thinking to believe that people can live in peace with one another and with their environment for any significant length of time. “War,” said Dick Cheney, seeking to justify the invasion of Iraq, “is the natural state of man.” Read more
“The following chapter is excerpted from Tongue-Tied: Breaking the Language Barrier to Animal Liberation by Hanh Nguyen (copyright 2019). It is reproduced with permission of Lantern Publishing & Media.”
MOST AMERICANS LEARNED IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THAT A NOUN is a person, place, or thing.
Where do other animals fit in, then?
They are not places. And lest one is tempted to put them in the “person” category, which of course means only human persons, one is reminded that to do so would fundamentally contradict humans’ self-aggrandizing view of our own species. So other animals remain a forgotten category; in reality, though they are not things in the same way the computer I’m using to type this sentence is a thing, most of them are treated not much better than inanimate objects. According to grammar guides, they are “somethings.” We ought to say “The fox that jumps over the fence,” not “who.” After all, they are “just animals.” In the world of law, many of the most vulnerable other-than-human animals aren’t even “animals” at all: the U.S. Animal Welfare Act, the only federal law regulating the treatment of animals in experimentation, exhibition, transport, and by dealers, uses an absurd definition of “animals” that excludes birds, rats and mice bred for vivisection, horses not used for “research purposes,” and a broad category of “other farm animals.” 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
While pollution is almost everywhere, certain communities are burdened with a disproportionate number of facilities that fill the air, soil, and water with contaminates. Typically found in black and brown communities and low-income communities, industrial polluters such as landfills, trash incinerators, coal plants, and toxic waste dumps affect the well-being of residents. Their health is also often compromised due to a lack of access to healthy foods in their neighborhoods. Those who work on environmental justice issues refer to these inequities as environmental racism.
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
Part One:
“Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Buttercup and Ellie
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.
Leigh Sanders is the Founder of the Art of Compassion Project, an international art collective of vegan artists from all over the globe and across every continent. The art collective raises funds through various art projects and donates 100 per cent of profits to a variety of vegan non-profit organizations, at least one large and one small organization every year. 
wanted to build a strong international network of vegan artists that all share the same vision–to use their art to spread the vegan message. I also wanted to effectively use the art as a means of touching people’s hearts and opening their mind to living life the vegan way. Sometimes we can be surprised just how much a painting, poem or piece of music can affect us. Art speaks to the soul even when the mind doesn’t quite grasp what’s being said.” 
streets of Chicago are going to look a little more animal-friendly. Gone will be the horse-drawn carriage operators who have been plying their cruel trade in the Windy City for 150 years. On April 24, the Chicago City Council voted to ban them. Chicago joins other cities in banning horse-drawn carriages, including Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Biloxi, Mississippi; Camden, New Jersey; and several cities in Florida. (Despite years of protesting, horse-drawn carriages still operate in New York City.)
These days, many of us tend to think that human nature is inherently competitive and destructive. We hear about “selfish genes,” as if our genetic makeup predetermines that we will be egotistic people and that we will fight with one another. We’re told that our species contains a built-in “killer instinct,” that we are descended from apes who needed to be brutal and ferociously aggressive to survive the hostile conditions of prehistoric times. According to such notions, the natural world is an unrelenting battle for survival, and it is mere wishful thinking to believe that people can live in peace with one another and with their environment for any significant length of time. “War,” said Dick Cheney, seeking to justify the invasion of Iraq, “is the natural state of man.” 
MOST AMERICANS LEARNED IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THAT A NOUN is a person, place, or thing.
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. 
