Sarah Blaine: How to see an elephant

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

31 Touko 202336min

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

24 Touko 202351min

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

17 Touko 202330min

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

10 Touko 202326min

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

4 Touko 202335min

"What I did not expect to see from farmed monkeys being bought and transported into the US, were monkeys who were coming in with things like Ebola like viruses, malaria, tuberculosis, simian retrovirus, herpes viruses, salmonella, Yersinia, Campylobacter, unnamed deadly diarrheal diseases. They were coming in with Tier 1 Select agents. I mean, we're talking pathogens so deadly that the government has identified them as potential bioterrorism threats." – Lisa Jones-Engel In 2022, 1000 long-tailed macaques were stolen from the wild in Cambodia. They were then illegally imported to Charles River Laboratories in Texas. Illegal because they were wild caught and not born in captivity, which is the law for importing primates into the US for research and experimentation, they are required to be captive bred. These macaques are now caught in the middle of an ongoing federal investigation into primate importers. Charles River wants to send them back to Cambodia, which means that from there they'll go to labs in other countries. PETA is fighting hard to get them sent to Born Free's Primate Sanctuary in Texas. One of the leaders in this battle is Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. A couple of weeks ago, Lisa came on the show for a live episode to talk about the fate of these monkeys and what could be the beginning of the end of importing primates for experimentation. Because we did this interview as a webinar and Lisa was in a remote part of Alaska, the sound isn't the best, but this is a super important episode. Lisa spent many years working in biomedical laboratories with primates. She knows everything that goes on on the inside of these facilities and knows first-hand that no one in there is looking out for these animals. In 2019, when she couldn't take it anymore, Lisa left the biomedical world and joined forces with PETA. She's PETA's Senior Science Advisor, and not only leading the fight to save these 1000 monkeys, but also to end all imports and then, to end the use of primates in animal research and experimentation period. I think that she can do it. Links: PETA Petition https://support.peta.org/page/50306/action/1?locale=en-US PETA https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/trafficked-monkeys-still-stateside-peta-pledges-1-million-for-sanctuary-placement/ PETA: https://headlines.peta.org/primatologist-perspective-monkey-experiments/ Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/31/primates-monkeys-scientific-experiments-peta-stop-testing

26 Huhti 202354min

"I also heard the sounds of killer whales. They were calling to each other loud and clear. these melodious whistles and calls which went right into my ear pieces. I realized that even if I couldn't see them, they were there somewhere beneath me in the ocean. They were communicating with each other. They were staying in contact. It was like a big family." - Hanne Strager Hanne Strager is a biologist, whale researcher, and author. She is the co-founder of the Andenes Whale Centre in Norway and she has served as the Director of Exhibitions at the Natural History Museum of Denmark. She's written many books. Her most recent, The Killer Whale Journals, was released on April 3rd. It's a compilation about killer whales, killer whales in Hannah's life and killer whales throughout history. And it is extraordinary. Links: Hanne Strager The Killer Whale Journals

19 Huhti 202348min

"Our cultures are built around stories, right? We connect through stories, we learn through stories and stories are often stronger when they have characters, characters we can connect with. And I think that that been a struggle for many, many animals, all kinds of animals, that they don't have a face or a character that people can connect with." – Mark Elbroch Before I met Mark Elbroch and read his book, The Cougar Conundrum: Sharing the World with a Successful Predator, I thought I knew at least a little bit about mountain lions. After meeting him and reading his book, I realized that I had actually known very little and much of what I thought I knew was wrong. Mark on the other hand, knows a lot about mountain lions, more than just about anyone on the planet. Mark is an ecologist, author, storyteller and the Director of the Puma Program for Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization. He's also an animal tracker working to preserve ancient skills and elevate their applications in our modern world. His research has challenged everything we thought we knew about the social lives of mountain lions. Maybe you know a thing or two about them, but I would bet that just about anyone who listens to this conversation learns a great deal about these mysterious and extraordinary animals. LINKS: Mark Elbroch Panthera Mark's Books Cougar Connundrum

12 Huhti 202335min