The Viva! Vegan Podcast and Vegan News Minisode – available every month!
In addition to the Viva! monthly Podcast, we now have a Vegan News Minisode!
Together, they’ve got you covered with the latest vegan news, the best celebrity and thought-leader interviews, expert vegan advice and more than a few laughs as well…
Co-hosted by Helen Wilson and Viva!’s head of comms Faye Lewis, each month they’ll be serving up some cracking in-depth chats with some of the most interesting figures in the vegan movement.
Each Podcast episode features a different individual – breaking down their vegan journey and recounting their highs and lows – followed by a candid chat between Helen and Faye on everything from mushroom-based leather alternatives to terrible cooking blunders.
In our Vegan News Minisode, we deep-dive into the world of vegan news and politics in a quick five-minute round-up of newsworthy events in veganism.
No matter where you are in your vegan journey, there’ll be something for you in the Viva! Vegan Podcast and the Vegan News Minisode.
Check out and listen to the Podcasts via this link:
I am sitting here in England tonight (5/11) listening to all the fireworks being let off where I live. Tomorrow is the weekend, and many areas will celebrate Guy Fawkes night by having big firework and bonfire displays. It is a special event celebrated by the English only for centuries.
Enjoy the videos explaining why November 5th is a very special night for us.
Regards Mark
London, November 5th 1605 – the gunpowder plot.
How very true – judging by the ‘lot’ we have supposedly representing us in Parliament today, Guy Fawkes is often toasted as:
Many would say that sadly it all went wrong; and that English history changed as a result.
As the English say – “remember, remember, the 5th of November – a gunpowder treason and plot; there is no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot”.
Why ? – to celebrate the ‘Gunpowder plot’ – or ‘Guy Fawkes night’.
Guy Fawkes, who had 10 years of military experience fighting in the Spanish Netherlands in suppression of the Dutch Revolt, was given charge of the explosives.
Personally, I (Mark) think the Shell CEO needs to be made to sit and watch all of the above videos; he caused it; the little children to suffer because of utter muck like him.
This person is crap; but as the activist shows in the following brilliant attack, she does not let him get away with talking crap, which he specialises in (see video below).
Or to put it another way; big shit talk from the big Shell CEO:
In a healthy environment, people would be thrilled to find out that we can end animal exploitation and improve our health and the environment at the same time. We would all be working together to close slaughterhouses immediately. So, why do people side with the animal abusers and gaslight anyone who doesn’t? Because eating and using animal products is a form of cultural narcissism.
We’re becoming increasingly aware of narcissism, but few of us know that it doesn’t only apply to individuals. Collective and cultural narcissism also exist. The problem is, however, that this can be hard to see when it’s part of our own culture. So, I’m going to unpack exactly how the meat industry and other animal industries engage in collective narcissism, and how society’s support for these industries is a form of cultural narcissism.
If you eat or use animal products yourself, then please read this with an open mind. My goal is not to call you a narcissist, but to arm you with information, so we can end this form of cultural narcissism together.
Objectification
Two thirds of US households have at least one cat, dog, or other companion animal. We don’t expect these animals to do anything for us. They’re valued purely for their company. Often, they’re considered part of the family, and we recognize that they each have their own unique personality and love them for it.
In the animal industries, however, the exact opposite happens. One of the core traits of narcissism, treating others like objects, is expressed to the fullest extent here. The industries don’t bring animals into this world to love them, but to kill them and sell their bodies. They literally turn living beings, who are just as sentient as cats and dogs, into products. The animals’ desire to stay alive isn’t even factored into the decision, only how much they weigh when they’re killed.
Entitlement and grandiosity
Entitlement is about taking what isn’t ours. And if there’s one thing that isn’t ours, it’s someone else’s life. Taking a life is the most extreme form of entitlement. Even if it was an “us or them” situation, the idea that animals should die for us would still be entitled, but it would be understandable. However, that’s not even remotely the case. To quote the largest organization of nutrition experts in the US:
“It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes.”
So, not only are all animal products unnecessary, cutting them out of our diet can actually benefit our health. And the average person has access to a wide variety of plant-based food. We even have plant-based products that look and taste like animal products. So, the industries aren’t killing trillions of animals for us out of any kind of necessity.
The fact that, even under these circumstances, they feel entitled to kill as many animals as they want so we can eat as many animals as we want can only be described as grandiosity.
I have taken this directly from the site run by one of our supporter friends Barbara.
Please have a look at it when you can. You know we are primarily an animal rights group; but when we feel it is necessary, we change hats and speak up for human rights. Here is such a case.
In the U.S., Indigenous Peoples’ Day evolved as an alternative to « Invasion Day » – Columbus Day – which celebrated Columbus’ arrival in the New World on October 12th 1492 and the beginning of the colonization of North America.
Native Americans protested honoring a man who had enabled their genocide and forced assimilation.
About Barbara Crane Navarro – Rainforest Art Project
I’m a French artist living near Paris. From 1968 to 1973 I studied at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island, then at the San Francisco Art Institute in San Francisco, California, for my BFA.
My work for many decades has been informed and inspired by time spent with indigenous communities. Various study trips devoted to the exploration of techniques and natural pigments took me originally to the Dogon of Mali, West Africa, and subsequently to Yanomami communities in Venezuela and Brazil.
Over many years, during the winters, I studied the techniques of traditional Bogolan painting. Hand woven fabric is dyed with boiled bark from the Wolo tree or crushed leaves from other trees, then painted with mud from the Niger river which oxidizes in contact with the dye.
Through the Dogon and the Yanomami, my interest in the multiplicity of techniques and supports for aesthetic expression influenced my artistic practice. The voyages to the Amazon Rainforest have informed several series of paintings created while living among the Yanomami. The support used is roughly woven canvas prepared with acrylic medium then textured with a mixture of sand from the river bank and lava. This supple canvas is then rolled and transported on expeditions into the forest. They are then painted using a mixture of acrylic colors and Achiote and Genipap, the vegetal pigments used by the Yanomami for their ritual body paintings and on practical and shamanic implements.
My concern for the ongoing devastation of the Amazon Rainforest has inspired my films and installation projects. Since 2005, I’ve created a perfomance and film project – Fire Sculpture – to bring urgent attention to Rainforest issues.
To protest against the continuing destruction, I’ve publicly set fire to my totemic sculptures. These burning sculptures symbolize the degradation of nature and the annihilation of indigenous cultures that depend on the forest for their survival.
Shell and BP, which together produce more than 1.7bn tonnes of greenhouse gases a year, have not paid any corporation tax on oil and gas production in the North Sea for the last three years, company filings reveal.
The oil giants, which have an annual global footprint of greenhouse gases more than five times bigger than Britain’s, are benefiting from billions of pounds of tax breaks and reliefs for oil and gas production.
Shell and BP paid no corporation tax or production levies on North Sea oil operations between 2018 and 2020, and claimed tax reliefs of nearly £400m, according to annual “payments to governments” reports analysed by the Observer.
Over the same three-year period, they paid shareholders more than £44bn in dividends.
A petroleum revenue tax of 35% was effectively scrapped by the then chancellor, George Osborne, in 2016 and oil giants can claim billions of pounds in taxpayer handouts for decommissioning rigs.
The North Sea is now one of the most profitable areas in the world for oil and gas production, after tax cuts by the government to encourage production.
Shell and BP have set targets to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 by investing in cleaner energy, but say the UK will continue to need oil and gas from the North Sea, which also supports thousands of jobs.
Climate campaigners are now challenging the UK tax regime in a high court case. They want the payouts to be scrapped and a ban on any new oil and gas projects in the North Sea to help cut carbon emissions.
Philip Evans, oil and gas campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “It’s outrageous that as the UK prepares to host global climate talks in Glasgow, we still have one of the lowest effective tax rates in the world for oil extraction.
We’re giving tax breaks worth billions of pounds to companies that have been fuelling the climate emergency for decades.”
There are about 180 oil rigs in the North Sea and the sector has generated about £360bn in net tax revenues since 1970, which is about £7.2bn a year.
The UK has some of the lowest oil tax rates in the world. An analysis by research company Rystad Energy in January found the UK is now the most profitable country in the world for the development of oil and gas “mega-projects”.
Taxpayers will foot a bill of more than £18bn for the decommissioning of the oil and gas infrastructure in the North Sea up to 2065 – made up of tax repayments and a reduction in offshore corporation tax. Campaigners want the handouts to be scrapped and used for investing in clean energy.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, faces a legal challenge over the tax handout to oil and gas operators by campaigners. Paid to Pollute, a group of environmental organisations, says that the taxpayer handouts to oil and gas companies are unlawful because they conflict with the UK’s legal duty to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. A judicial review is due to be heard before the end of the year.
Gabrielle Jeliazkov, a campaigner at Platform, a UK group that investigates the social and environmental effects of the global oil industry and is supporting the legal case, said: “The government has spent too long backing oil giants through tax breaks and subsidies. It has had devastating consequences for the climate.”
Shell and BP also face strong opposition over new projects in the North Sea. A report published last week by Friends of the Earth and the New Economics Foundation found that the oil and gas industry is preparing to seek approval for 30 offshore projects by 2025.
Shell has defended plans for the Cambo project, a controversial oilfield off Shetland that contains about 800m barrels of oil and is awaiting approval from the Oil and Gas Authority, a government licensing body. Greenpeace lost a legal bid this month for the government to revoke the permit for BP to drill at the Vorlich oilfield in the North Sea, which started production in November last year.
It was reported by Reuters last week that Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning had rejected Shell’s plans to develop the Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea after considering its environmental statement.A Shell spokesperson said: “Our total oil production already peaked in 2019 and we expect it to continue declining, including through divestments. We’re already investing billions of dollars in low-carbon energy. The North Sea Transition Deal agreed earlier this year also maps out how the sector will reduce emissions in line with the government’s net zero targets.” The company said it paid no corporation tax on North Sea production last year because of tax losses in previous years.
A BP spokesperson said: “All BP’s North Sea assets are owned by companies that are subject to UK tax in accordance with UK law. Over the years, BP has contributed over £40bn in taxes to the UK government from its North Sea business.
“In recent years, in line with longstanding UK tax regulations, tax relief on the significant investments we have recently made in the North Sea business and the challenging price environment, including the steep oil price falls in 2015 and 2020, have meant we have paid no North Sea corporate taxes.”
A government spokesperson said: “The UK oil and gas industry has paid around £375bn in production taxes to date – with companies in the North Sea subject to headline rates that are more than double those paid by other businesses. Relief for decommissioning costs is a fundamental part of the UK’s tax system.”
Does the industry dog wag the government tail ?; or the tail wag the dog ?
‘You Can’t Be A Meat-Eating Environmentalist’ Declares New Campaign Aimed At COP26
WAV Comment: Credit where it is due – we know its politics and votes at the end of the day, but we will say clearly that Boris Johnson – UK Prime Minister (and NO relation – a surname only thing !) is trying his best to do something about the global environmental issue. It is the Chinese and Russian leaders who are not even attending who are showing their real national colours about a situation that effects the entire planet and every one of us.
Other leaders, like Scott (I love fossil fuels like coal) Morrison, the PM of Australia, have been hauled kicking and screaming to the conference; not wanting to, but being given little choice really by HM the Queen, and other (British) commonwealth politicians who are all doing their bit to improve the global situation.
Scott Morrison – I love coal !, sod the climate.
Anyway, the excellent bus campaign now adorning buses around the streets of Glasgow, venue for the conference; urging people to go vegan for the sake of the planet; is sending a message loud and clear on the streets of the conference venue.
Well done all concerned.
Regards Mark
COP26 has come under fire for its decision to serve meat, including beef, at the upcoming summit
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has launched a campaign aimed at the world leaders attending COP26 this year. The initiative urges them to go vegan for the sake of the planet – a message that’s sent loud and clear via the sides of half a dozen buses.
PETA, said to be the largest animal rights organization in the world, launched the campaign in Glasgow, where the United Nations’ climate change conference is being held this year. It’s the 26th event of its kind.
The advertisement will appear on buses that run through the city center, including past the Scottish Event Campus where COP26 will take place from October 31 to November 12, 2021.
“You can’t be a meat-eating environmentalist. Take Personal Responsibility: Go Vegan,” the bus ads reads. The campaign will run until November 14.
COP26
COP26 unites world leaders with the shared goal of protecting the planet from the escalating climate emergency. There, they will conjure up strategies to reduce emissions, pollution, and deforestation, for example.
But some have criticized COP26 for overlooking the food system’s impact on the planet. Animal farming practices, in particular, are resource-intensive and responsible for huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
As a consequence, environmentalists have called on the conference to serve only vegan food.
However, despite promising to focus on plant-based meals, COP26’s menu still features dishes like turkey, salmon, and beef. The latter has repeatedly been identified as one of the most destructive foods to produce.
“The UN has stated that a global shift to vegan eating is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change,” commented PETA Senior Campaigns Manager Kate Werner. “PETA’s ad blitz is a wake-up call to anyone who can look at a plate of sausage or black pudding without considering the environmental impact of these foods – or the animals who suffered for them.”
Regards Mark
AND ….
Shoppers Caught Out By Hand Sanitiser ‘Filled With Blood’ In Vegan Stunt
With the government not ‘taking the climate crisis seriously’ the activists took it into their own hands – by getting fake blood on others’
Vegan activists are hijacking hand sanitizer stations outside meat and fast-food stores with fake blood. It’s hoped the ‘caught red-handed’ scheme will encourage people to rethink their food choices and go vegan.
Hand sanitizers filled with fake blood
Activists took to south London this week, where they positioned hand sanitizer stations outside McDonald’s and KFC outlets, as well as a butchery.
As customers left venues in Brixton and Clapham high street, they went to clean their hands only to be met with fake blood.
While many were shocked, others welcomed the stunt. And one shopper reportedly said they would consider cutting down their meat intake.
The activists, known only as Jane and Gaby, said the point was to leave people’s consciences stained as well as their hands.
Moreover, McDonald’s and KFC were chosen as meat features heavily on their menus.
Activists encourage public to go vegan
In a statement sent to PBN, the activists said: “We thought that if the government isn’t going to take the climate crisis seriously and the role that the consumption of meat plays in this, then we would have to get the general public to take notice.
“We thought hand sanitizing stations were perfect as it taps into a current everyday behavior.
“And, also doubles up as a metaphor to show that the responsibility of eating less meat is in everyone’s individual hands.”
European Parliament AGRI Committee vote fails to promote animal welfare
27 October 2021
In a disappointing move for animals, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament adopted draft implementation report by Jeremy Decerle (Renew Europe, FR) on on-farm animal welfare.
Contradicts Farm To Fork
The report calls for future EU-wide animal welfare legislation that would be uniformly transposed in all Member States, but falls short of the Farm to Fork (F2F) ambition for a strong, improved animal welfare acquis with a broad revision of all existent regulations and directives.
Concentrates on economic interests of farmers
Whilst it promotes the European Citizens’ Initiative to end the cage age, it continuously refers to farmers’ compliance with animal welfare standards as an “extra burden”.
WAV Comment – Burden !!!
Promotes further cruel production of foie gras
A disappointing amendment downplaying the intensivity and suffering of animals subjected to foie gras production wriggled its way into the report. The amendment claims that foie gras production respects animal welfare criteria.
WAV Comment – RESPECTS animal welfare ! – what planet do you people come from ?
An overtly contradictory statement considering ducks and geese subjected to foie gras production are force fed and their bodies pushed beyond their biological parameters, resulting in intense pain, fear and suffering.
Amendments addressing the tragic practice of killing male chicks were also voted down.
Labelling remains voluntary
Labelling is a fundamental tool to ensure farmers receive fair compensation for improved animal welfare measures on farms and enable consumers to purchase products that align with their animal welfare ethics. A mandatory “Method of Production +” (MOP+) label across all animal products and including rearing, transport and slaughter is key. Unfortunately, MEPs decided to let the labelling of animal products remain voluntary, leaving dangerous room for manoeuvre to farmers and the industry.
Despite being a report on “on-farm animal welfare”, it does not go the distance to reflect its title. Instead, it tries to sugarcoat the realities of the changes that truly need to be implemented. We need farmers to be ambitious and take a main role in implementing the F2F goals. The report will be voted on in plenary, possibly during the December session.
So; get out of the EU and make your own national legislation !
Sometimes, human rights are as important as animal rights.
This is one such case. Here we deal with a human rights issue.
WAV Comment:
“Is this going to be a wake-up call for the Government? Maybe, maybe not. One of the challenges I find with this Government is that it doesn’t deal with problems until they become crises”.
We give our full support to Richard in making a stand (and hunger strike) outside of the (British) Foreign Office, London, regarding the unfair detaining of his wife Nazanin since 2016.
She is a British citizen, a mother and must immediately be allowed to return to the UK by Iran.
As usual, the British Government is not really doing enough on this issue for an innocent lady. Liz Truss talks the government talk; but the reality is there is no progress. We suggest that Liz Truss is sent to Iran in an exchange deal – oh boy, then see how quickly there are changes and actions !
Full support to Richard
Regards Mark
British Government ‘does not deal with problems until they become crises’
Richard Ratcliffe gave the comments after a strategy meeting with the Foreign Office.
The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has criticised the Government’s handling of his wife’s case, stating that it “does not deal with problems until they become crises”.
Richard Ratcliffe said he held a strategy meeting with the Foreign Office on Friday as he was concerned something would happen to his wife’s appeal during the autumn.
The next day, by coincidence, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was informed her appeal had been rejected, meaning she could now be sent back to prison at any point to serve a sentence of one year imprisonment plus a one-year travel ban for “spreading propaganda against the regime”.
Mr Ratcliffe said he had urged the Government to take quicker action over trying to get Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe home in their meeting on Friday as he was concerned about the outcome of her appeal.
He told the PA news agency: “The longer we waited, the more chance of bad news. I didn’t expect the next day to get bad news, but we did.
“That’s [the rejection of the appeal] the Iranians signalling they’re not prepared to wait forever and they will do what they need to do.
“Is this going to be a wake-up call for the Government? Maybe, maybe not. One of the challenges I find with this Government is that it doesn’t deal with problems until they become crises. This is Iran threatening a crisis. One hopes that the Government takes it seriously.”
Mr Ratcliffe, who has been campaigning for his wife’s return home since her original incarceration in 2016, said he was left surprised by the update on Saturday.
He said he thought her appeal would have ended up being rejected in November after a “drawn-out court process” as Iran was “always going to confirm guilt, regardless of whether there is any”.
In a statement on Saturday, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the nation’s decision to proceed with the “baseless” charges against the mother-of-one was an “appalling continuation of the cruel ordeal she is going through”.
She added: “We are doing all we can to help Nazanin get home to her young daughter and family and I will continue to press Iran on this point.”
Mr Ratcliffe said Ms Truss had spoken to Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe on the phone on Saturday after her appeal was rejected.
Responding to the statement, Mr Ratcliffe said: “Nazanin said that she sounded angry on the phone and I can hear the anger in her words.
“But at this stage I am interested in her latest sentence, ‘the actions she is taking beyond more pressing Iran’.”
PETITION TARGETS: Joe Biden, Congressional Leaders, and the Food and Drug Administration
Millions of animalsare infected, poisoned, blinded, shocked, and tortured in experiments each year globally.
The majority of dogs, monkeys, mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, ferrets, and other animals suffer these agonizing procedures without the use of painkillers or comfort of any kind.
The “safety” tests are not only cruel; due to genetic differences between people and animals, they also are inaccurate and dangerous.
More than 90 percent of drugs deemed “safe” in animal tests fail once they hit human clinical trials.
Other animal-tested drugs get withdrawn from human markets after harming people — including the drug Lipobay, which passed animal trials but then led to kidney failure and death for more than 50 people.
But the cruel and inaccurate tests are federally mandated, by provisions established in 1938 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). And that law needs to change now.
H.R. 2565, or The FDA Modernization Act, is a major step in the right direction and would open the door for emerging, superior testing methods based on human biology to be seen as equally valid options for safety testing.
The European Parliament recently demanded a phased-out end to all animal testing. It’s time for the United States to follow that precedent.
Sign our petition urging lawmakers and the Food and Drug Administration to end the outdated mandate of animal testing as the “only” acceptable safety testing method and allow proven, human biology-based methods to take their rightful place in human evolution.
World Animals Voice 