Animal Voices

Atheists and Rational Thinkers: How a Facebook Phenomenon Opened its Mind to Animal Rights

Taking Care of (Vegan) Business: An Interview with Vegan Mainstream’s Stephanie Redcross

Since founding Vegan Mainstream in 2009, Stephanie Redcross has provided consulting and marketing services to vegan entrepreneurs in sectors as diverse as publishing, food, fashion, retail, and travel. Today, Redcross joins Animal Voices to talk about how vegans turn their passion and talent into successful businesses. We’ll cover defining your market (hint: for vegan products, the target market is never just “vegans”), understanding how ethical consumers buy, and navigating the tricky territory of aligning your brand with specific activism. Tune in and you’ll also hear about the niche Redcross thinks is just waiting for business-savvy vegans to fill. Budding animal-friendly entrepreneurs, this show is for you!

So was Jesus a Vegetarian? A Faith Embracing All Creatures addresses Christian Vegans’ Most Frequently Asked Questions

Andy Alexis-Baker discusses A Faith Embracing All Creatures, a new edited volume that addresses some of the most common questions asked to and by Christian Vegetarians and Vegans. Authors such as Carol Adams and Stephen R.L. Clark tackle such questions as “Didn’t God give man dominion over animals?”, “Doesn’t Christianity regard humans as superior to animals?” and, of course, “Was Jesus a Vegetarian?”

Whether you’re a Christian trying to reconcile your compassion for animals with your faith, an animal activist trying to engage with Christians, or just fascinated by religious history and the nuances of Christian scripture, this interview is sure to captivate!

Driving the Fur Trade Out of Ireland: Laura Broxson of the National Animal Rights Association

Laura Broxson, founder of the National Animal Rights Association (NARA) in Ireland, joins Animal Voices to speak about campaigning against fur.

Last year, Ireland came within a hair’s breadth of banning fur farms, only to see the national government suddenly replaced by one friendly to fur farming. Undeterred, NARA is preparing for a busy year ahead. Building on impressive successes in Dublin — convincing stores to stop selling fur and convincing the city council to ban fur sales at its own fairs and markets — NARA will be taking the fight to the countryside: protesting and lobbying in the counties where mink farms exist, and pressuring the farms’ suppliers to quit dealings with them.

Broxson will also tell us about NARA’s work on circuses and vivisection, and share her best tips for staying safe while doing activist work.

animalvoices:

Animal Voices is a radio show and podcast that maps out the animal advocacy scene around the globe and provides a platform to showcase the work of animal advocates. The show explores the intersections of the animal, environmental, and social justice movements, bridging activism and scholarship, while highlighting topics often neglected and views little known.

We’re now in our 17th year of animal liberation radio programming, and we’d love to continue the public dialogue and educational outreach made possible through the show and podcast. Ultimately, though, our work doesn’t keep the show on the air: You do!

Every six months CIUT 89.5FM asks us to fulfill a minimum quota of new membership donations ($25 per membership, renewable every half year).

The success of the fundraising drive is crucial for the continuation of the program: CIUT considers the response during the fundraising drives to be indicative of the overall support of the program. In other words, without your financial support, Animal Voices will get the axe!

We know that support for the program is there, but many of you access the Animal Voices as an archived podcast rather than a radio show, and miss the opportunity to donate. Fortunately, though, your generous support and pre-pledge donations have helped us meet past quotas.

Please help keep AV on the air and support campus/community radio!

Check out donation options here:
http://www.ciut.fm/about/donate-today/

When donating, make sure you put “Animal Voices” in the favourite show box, and email animalvoices@gmail.com to let us know!

If you can’t donate, please spread the word!
Thank you for all of your support!

It’s that time of year again!

(via taybook)

A Travelling Animal Rights Fest: Open The Cages Tour Combines Education, Music, Activism

Today, Animal Voices gets the scoop on the 2013 Open the Cages East Coast Tour from tour director Mike XVX and volunteer coordinator Jenny Bundock.

Inspired by the Primate Freedom Tours of the 1990s, Open The Cages is “a travelling animal rights fest” featuring art, music, workshops for activists, and screenings of the documentary Maximum Tolerated Dose. The tour combines education with action: after learning about animal experimentation, people can immediately attend a protest at a local laboratory.

Join us as Jenny and Mike discuss highlights and lessons from the successful 2012 west coast tour, getting past the secrecy surrounding animal experimentation, and bucking the trend of exploitive elements in demonstrations. And after you listen, visit openthecagestour.com to find out how you can participate in the tour stop nearest you.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Vegan Nutrition But Were Afraid to Ask, Part 2

In December, dietitian Jack Norris sat down with Animal Voices to answer some of our listeners’ questions about vegan nutrition. But there were just too many questions for one interview, so we brought him back!

Are some nutrients harder to absorb from supplements or certain kinds of foods? Will taking EFAs make you smarter? Is fasting good for you? Does soy do weird things to sexual development? (And does cows’ milk?) Should everyone be on a low-fat diet? What are good foods for vegan kids? And what foods should you add to your diet right now, if you aren’t already eating them? (Some of them may surprise you!)

Norris has a gift for boiling down the latest research into easily digestible advice. If you’re interested in improving your own diet, or in becoming better at fielding others’ questions about vegan diets, don’t miss this interview!

A New Take on Animal Testing: Filmmaker Karol Orzechowski on his powerful documentary, Maximum Tolerated Dose

Past host Karol Orzechowski returns to Animal Voices to talk about his feature-length documentary on animal testing, Maximum Tolerated Dose. From the website: “the film charts the lives of both humans and non-humans who have experienced animal testing first-hand, with hauntingly honest testimony of scientists and lab technicians whose ethics demanded they choose a different path, as well as the simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of animals who have seen both sides of the cage.”

If you haven’t attended a screening yet, tune in to find out about the film’s unique (and non-gory) approach to the subject matter. If you have seen it, here’s your chance to hear some of the stories behind the film, like what it’s like to go undercover as an animal dealer in Laos. Even viewers with extensive knowledge of the vivisection industry are likely to find something new to think about in this challenging documentary.

The Animal Activist’s Handbook: Veteran Activist Matt Ball Shares the Secrets of Effective Advocacy

Can one hour with Matt Ball make you a better activist?

Today, Animal Voices gets an hour to pick Matt’s brain about the lessons he has learned from 20+ years of activism — lessons he summarizes in The Animal Activist’s Handbook (co-authored with Bruce Friedrich).

Matt co-founded Vegan Outreach, an organization with a simple focus: they hand out leaflets and talk to people. This may be “not sexy” work (his words, not ours!) but there’s a lot involved in doing it well. Matt will tell us about the psychology behind the leaflets’ message, and about conversational techniques he has practiced for overcoming skepticism, defusing hostility, and saving a discussion from getting derailed or sidetracked.

Matt will also touch on the subjects of “financial activism”, what can be learned from corporate advertising, and why he doesn’t talk about health benefits of veganism. Don’t miss this chance to hear an animal rights hall-of-famer share all the things he wishes he’d known from the get-go.

A Chill in the Niagara Air: Marineland Lawsuits Target Activists, Whistleblowers

2012 was a tough year for Marineland. The Toronto Star ran a series of damning articles in which former Marineland employees told of neglect, chronic water quality problems that caused pain and even blindness in the animals, and mass graves on site. The revelations bolstered public opposition to the embattled park, culminating in an 800-person demonstration in which chanting protesters spontaneously flooded into the park.

Now, Marineland has lashed back by filing two $1 million-plus lawsuits: one against Dylan Powell, longtime community organizer and a major voice in Marineland Animal Defense, and another against Christine Santos, a former Marineland trainer whose criticism of the treatment of killer whale Kiska was featured in the Star.

Tune in as Powell talks SLAPP lawsuits and legal strategy. (SLAPP = Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, a lawsuit designed to intimidate and silence critics.) Powell will also reflect on the activism successes of 2012, and tip us off about what Niagara activists have planned for 2013, including a speaking tour about Marineland and an anti-vivisection campaign at Brock University.