Life on the Vedge - The Vegan Edge Podcast Rob Cogswell

Dr. Sailesh Rao is the founder and the Executive Director of Climate Healers, an organisation dedicated to healing the earth and stopping a climate catastrophe.

Dr. Rao is an Earth and Animal Liberation activist, a husband, a father and since 2010, a proud grandfather. He has made a bold promise to his granddaughter, Kimaya, that the world will be largely Vegan before she turns 16 in 2026, in his own words to his granddaughter, so that people will stop eating her relatives, the animals, not just for ethical reasons, but also out of sheer ecological necessity.

Dr. Rao started his career as a systems specialist with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and in the early days was one of the internet pioneers who was instrumental in changing from the slow analog connection to a more robust digital one.

In 2006, he had an about-turn in life and threw himself, full time, into solving the environmental crises.

Dr. Rao is the author of two books, Carbon Dharma: The Occupation of Butterflies and Carbon Yoga: The Vegan Metamorphosis.

He is also an Executive Producer of four documentaries, The Human Experiment, Cowspiracy, What The Health, and A Prayer for Compassion.

In the podcast we discuss:

Dr.Rao's early life as a systems specialist working on the early internet and how his work was instrumental in changing from the slow analog connection to the more robust digital one we have today.

His work with Al Gore and how he became disillusioned with Al Gore's message as it only focussed on fossil fuels and not the greater danger to global warming posed by animal agriculture.

Dr. Rao sets out a plan on how we can reverse climate change and he uses his scientific knowledge to argue that a vegan world would avert a looming climate catastrophe.

We talk in detail about his organisation Climate Healers and he argues that if we adopt Gandhi-like methods to our campaigning we can become a powerful movement for both social and economic change.

It was a real honour that I got to sit down with Dr. Rao and chat with him about his life, his beliefs, and his hopes.

To find out more about Dr. Rao:
Climate Healers website: https://climatehealers.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/climatehealers/
The Animal Agriculture position paper: https://climatehealers.org/the-science/animal-agriculture-position-paper/
Cowspiracy: https://www.cowspiracy.com
What the Health: https://www.whatthehealthfilm.com
A Prayer for Compassion: http://aprayerforcompassion.com

Jane Velez-Mitchell is a television and social media journalist and author and has been at the forefront of many headline news stories for decades.
In early 1990, Jane Velez-Mitchell was a co-anchor on the debut of an industry-first prime time three-hour news broadcast on KCAL-TV, a local Los Angeles TV station.
She is the founder of JaneUnChained a digital news network for animal rights and the vegan lifestyle which uses more than 60 volunteer contributors from around the world to showcase vegan festivals, animal rights conferences, organizations, vegan restaurants, and cooking.
The JaneUnChained Facebook page from where the videos for her website originate had 16.5 million video views in 2017.
In 2019, Jane launched "New Day New Chef", a vegan cooking series for Amazon Prime Video.
Also, in 2019 Jane Produced and Directed the documentary "Countdown to Year Zero" which details the unfolding global disaster and argues how a plant-based diet can stop climate change.
Jane has received numerous awards including the Farm Animal Rights Movement award in 2009, the Celebrity Animal Activist Award in the same year. She has also received two Genesis Awards from the Humane Society. In 2013 Mercy for Animals awarded her their Compassionate Leadership Award. In 2014 she was honoured for fighting animal abuse by the Animal Legal Defense Fund and in 2014 she received the Nanci Alexander Award at PETA's 35th-anniversary celebration.
In the podcast we discuss:
Janes early life and why she became vegetarian and why a conversation with a former cattle rancher convinced her to go vegan
Her disillusionment with the mainstream media, which drove her to create her own social media organisation
We talk in detail about her JaneUnChained network
Jane is a tireless campaigner for animal rights and the environment, and it was a real honour for me that she agreed to be interviewed for the Podcast.
To find out more about Jane:
Janes website: https://janeunchained.com/
Her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaneVelezMitchell/
Vegan Social: https://plantbasedneighbor.com


 

Juliet Gellatley is a British writer and an animal rights activist. She is the founder and director of Viva, an animal rights organisation based in Bristol, in the UK who also has an office in Warsaw, Poland.

Viva focuses on promoting veganism. It was founded by Juliet in 1994 and has grown to be one of the most influential and effective organisations campaigning today.

Viva's campaigns have included End Factory Farming, Eat Green, Foie-Gras free Britain, Exotic Meat, Ban the Farrowing Crate, Dark Side of Dairy, and youth campaigns.

Viva also carries out innovative undercover investigations to expose the abuse of farmed animals. Their most recent undercover investigation against Hogwood pig farm has been made into a short film called 'Hogwood - A modern horror story', the film is now available on Amazon Prime.

In the Podcast we discuss:

How a visit to an intensive pig and battery hen unit when she was 14 years old made her question how we treat animals and led to her going vegetarian.

Juliet leaves the Vegetarian Society and sets up a new organisation, Viva, we talk about her motivation in setting up Viva and what she is trying to achieve.

The Viva Incredible Roadshow that toured the country and in many respects was the forerunner of the many vegan festivals we have today.

How Viva is gaining a reputation for conducting effective investigations and how they use footage from their investigations to campaign against the animal agriculture industries.

Juliet has devoted her life to fighting for the rights of nonhuman animals, she has years of experience and her longevity in the animal rights movement has gained her a reputation as a skilled and effective campaigner.

To find out more about Viva:
The new-look website: https://viva.org.uk/
Watch the Hogwood Investigation video: Click Here
Want to go Vegan: Click Here

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Jordi Casamitjana is a Catalan on a mission to change the world. Jordi has first-hand experience of oppression having grown up under General Franco's Fascist regime which might explain why Jordi has dedicated most of his adult life fighting for the rights of non-human animals and has been an outspoken advocate against their oppression.

Jordi is best known today for bringing a legal case for unfair dismissal against the League Against Cruel Sports. Jordi argued he was dismissed from the League because he was an ethical vegan.

In a landmark ruling, the judge ruled that ethical veganism is a philosophical belief and therefore ethical vegans should be afforded legal protection from discrimination in Great Britain.

Jordi has been involved in different aspects of animal protection for many years and has worked for a number of organisations which have included The Born Free Foundation, The League Against Cruel Sports, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and PETA UK.

Some of his professional achievements include the closure of several zoos, securing the first successful prosecutions of illegal hunting under the Hunting Act 2004, and his participation in the banning of bullfighting in Catalonia.


In the Podcast we discuss:

His early life living in Barcelona, and the oppression he faced living under the regime of the Fascist Dictator General Franco.

How an encounter with a wasp made him question his attitude towards animals.

His life in the UK and his travels around the world fighting for the rights of non-human animals.

His new book, the Ethical Vegan, a personal and political journey to change the world, part autobiography and part history of the origins of the vegan movement.

We talk about his legal case against the League Against Cruel Sports and how it resulted in a landmark legal ruling for vegans in the UK.

To find out more about Jordi:
His website: http://jordi-casamitjana.animal-protection-consult.com/
Buy his book: https://www.septemberpublishing.org/product/ethical-vegan/
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Tobias Leenaert is a Belgian vegan activist an author and speaker who gives lectures and workshops on vegan advocacy around the world.

He is the author of the 2017 book How to Create a Vegan World: A Pragmatic Approach. In his book, Tobias leaves a well-trodden animal advocacy path and looks at the strategies, objectives, and communications of the vegan and animal rights movement.

In his book, one of Tobias's main arguments is that there should be a greater emphasis on persuading people to reduce their consumption of animal products, rather than focusing on getting a smaller number of people to become 100% vegan. He bases this argument on the fact that a large number of people eating less meat will save more animals than a few people going vegan.

In the Podcast we discuss:

Why Tobias thinks that the animal rights/vegan movement needs a greater emphasis on a more well-funded professional approach to campaigning.

He argues that a more pragmatic approach to campaigning is one where we don't just argue from a purely ethical perspective, but we also include health and environmental arguments in order to get people to go vegan.

We talk about a fictional town called Veganville that Tobias's uses as an analogy of a vegan world in his book and how we get the maximum number of people to reach the town and how we can help their journey.

Tobias talks with conviction, there will be some people in the movement that disagree with his approach, however, what can't be in doubt is that Tobias's has a strategy and a well laid out one at that and one worth listening to even if you don't necessarily agree with his approach.

To find out more about Tobias:
His blog: www.veganstrategist.org
Co-Founder at Proveg International: https://proveg.com/
CEVA vegan advocacy trainer: https://veganadvocacy.org/

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Sarah Bentley is the founder of the award-winning charity Made In Hackney. Made in Hackney was set up in 2012 and is a community-based kitchen and cookery school that inspires and gives people the skills to prepare and eat healthy food.

The school promotes food that is local, seasonal, organic, and 100% plant-based.

Today the cookery school has worked with over 15,000 people across London inspiring people to grow, cook, and eat more plants. Their work aims to tackle health inequalities and inspire people to transition to a more planet-friendly diet.

The female-led charity has delivered over 50,000 healthy, local meals to London’s most vulnerable during COVID-19 so far – and even had help from The Crown actress, Olivia Colman!

Sarah started her career as a music and culture journalist for titles like The Face, ID, Sleazenation, The Fader, Music Week, and black music titles such as Touch, Blues & Soul & Straight No Chaser. Her specialism was reggae and dancehall music culture. Sarah has also made radio documentaries for the BBC World Service.

In the Podcast we discuss:

Sarah's early life and how she went veggie at an early age.

Her life as a Reggae music journalist and how her introduction to Rastafarian Ital food in Jamaica was the catalyst for her to go vegan.

We talk to Sarah about why she set up Made In Hackney and how they have had to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sarah talks with passion about the people she works with, the spirit of solidarity that has been built up, and talks with respect and fondness for the people they have been able to help.

Find out more about Made in Hackney: https://madeinhackney.org/
Watch Sarah's TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7ab3eN9qPo 

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If you enjoyed the episode please leave a review on iTunes so Life on the Vedge - the Vegan Edge podcast ranks higher and becomes more discoverable for other listeners. Please also consider sharing the podcast with your friends and family.