I was surprised to find myself enthralled by Game of Arms. Not only was it well shot, but the storylines were engaging and showed the humanity of the athletes. When the show featured Rob Bigwood as part of his New York arm wrestling team Arms Control, they didn’t shy away from Rob’s veganism, in fact they portrayed it very fairly. It also became clear to me that Rob was the real deal, an ethical vegan. Throughout the series, both Rob and the show continued to speak openly about veganism.
Around this time of year four years ago, I had a discussion of Passover with a group of friends who are, like myself, Jewish and vegan. The discussion centered around how difficult it can be to attend seders where the dinner table is littered with the body parts of nonhuman animals. Being vegan, we not only abstain from eating meat, dairy and eggs, we also abstain from the use of all animals, whether that be for food, clothing, entertainment or animal experimentation.
We thank Chef Tigre for helping us debut a new feature, “Make us food,” in which chefs, cookbook authors, and other food industry professionals cook for us, discuss their work, and their activism. Late last year, to celebrate the Los
Grants for animal activism: $1000 to fund, start, or expand efforts to make the world better for animals.
Vegan Olympian Seba Johnson speaks out against Sochi, worldwide animal exploitation, and human rights issues.
lauren Ornelas is Food Empowerment Project’s founder and serves as the group’s executive director. lauren has been active in the animal rights movement for more than 25 years. In cooperation with activists across the country, she worked and achieved corporate changes within Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s, and Pier 1 Imports, among others. lauren founded Food Empowerment Project in 2006.
And the truth needs to be told whether people want to hear it or not, whether people are going to go vegan or not. Watering down the message is defeatist and at best presents a confusing message about what we actually want.
Like so many others, I discovered Damien Mander and his anti-poaching work from watching his TEDx talk a few months back. I was riveted to my chair as I watched him tell the story of his work in such an impassioned way, and I was thrilled when his story made the larger connection between poaching and veganism. I dug a little deeper into his work with the International Anti-Poaching Foundation and their work to combat illegal wildlife trafficking and poaching on the ground. In addition to this hands-on work of protecting many endangered species, they also work through education and awareness campaigns. Once an Australian Royal Navy Clearance Driver and Special Operations military sniper, Damien has now dedicated his life to environmentalism and animal protection. He gave up a lucrative career and used his life savings and investments to start the International Anti-Poaching Foundation. It was an honor to speak to Damien about his important work.
I’ve been thinking about betrayal a lot lately. Particularly this version of Webster’s definition - be·tray verb bi-ˈtrā, bē- : to hurt (someone who trusts you, such as a friend or relative) by not giving help or by doing something morally wrong. I’ve been thinking about this in regards to nonhuman animals.
A little over a week ago, I saw a few posts of a video of a pig go by on my news feed. I didn’t watch the video at the time for some reason. Then a friend sent me a
46 million turkeys are violently killed for Thanksgiving alone. As vegans, Thanksgiving is one of the most difficult holidays to navigate whether it’s sitting at the family table with the carcass of a dead bird or seeing the glorification of