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Juliet Gellatley joins the podcast today and we seriously couldn’t be more excited about this conversation. She’s the founder and director of Viva!, a campaigning charity that has been a foundational force for the advances for veganism and animal rights in the UK and elsewhere (and also kicked off Jasmin‘s career in animal rights!). Long before many others got on board, Viva! was focusing on ending the abuse of animals exploited and killed for food and promoting a vegan diet.
Among other things, we discuss HOGWOOD: A Modern Horror Story, a short film that details a groundbreaking investigation of a notorious UK pig “farm” by Viva!, along with the subsequent campaign that led to the to the facility’s demise. Part of that discussion is how to overcome the fundamental problem of animal rights campaigning — what is happening to animals is so awful that people can just shut down and refuse to watch films depicting it. Perhaps most importantly, we talk about how Viva! managed to bring enormous attention to the film and the horrors it depicts, and to distribute it via the major streaming platforms. This is incredibly effective activism! Juliet also discusses why people in the UK, a country known for, and proud of, its love of animals, believe that they have much better standards for the treatment of farmed animals than most countries, why they are sadly mistaken, and how to disabuse them of that false notion.
Juliet directs all aspects of Viva!, from campaigning, to writing articles, to giving public talks, and organizing fundraising events. She also founded and directs its health arm, Viva!Health, which concentrates on campaigning on health and nutrition. She has investigated many farms, revealing devastating animal cruelty, and is also the author of several books, including the The Livewire Guide to Going, Being and Staying Veggie, Born to be Wild: The Livewire Guide to Saving Animals, and, along with Tony Wardle, The Silent Ark.
In this week’s “Our Hen House Supports Vegan Businesses” segment, we’re shouting out Fineapple Vegan and its Liquid Gold Vegan Cheese Sauce, as well as, just in time for the holidays, Vegan Gift Shop, an online store with cruelty-free & eco-friendly vegan gift ideas plus everyday vegan grocery items!
“The truth is that because people are so brainwashed into thinking that it’s normal to consume animals, they are much more uncomfortable with confronting what happens to those animals because they are part and parcel of that cruelty.”
– Juliet Gellatley
This Week in Our Hen House:
- Why Viva! chose to focus on campaigning for animals raised for food and why it was important to Juliet to start a charity that could connect with people individually to raise the issue of animal equality
- The aftermath of the Hogwood investigation and what a major British supermarket did with the information Viva! brought them
- Why The Truth About Vegans was made to discredit Viva! and how it had completely the opposite effect
- Exploring the role of agricultural veterinarians in factory farming
- Whether Juliet thinks that there will still be a move towards a vegan lifestyle by increasing numbers of people despite a move towards reform in animal agriculture
- Why campaigning matters and why it is so important to educate people on the climatic effects of choosing a vegan diet
- The growth of veganism in the UK
- How factory farms contribute to the spread of viruses
Connect with Juliet Gellatley:
- Viva! – The Vegan Charity Website
- Juliet Gellatley on LinkedIn
- Viva! – The Vegan Charity on Facebook
- Viva! – The Vegan Charity on Instagram
- Viva! – The Vegan Charity on Twitter
- Viva! – The Vegan Charity on YouTube
Connect with Our Hen House:
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This episode is brought to you in part through the generosity of A Well-Fed World. A Well-Fed World provides the means for change by empowering individuals, social justice organizations, and political decision makers to embrace the benefits of plant-based foods and farming. Learn more at awfw.org.
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Don’t forget to tune into Our Hen House’s other two podcasts: The Teaching Jasmin How to Cook Vegan Podcast, and The Animal Law Podcast.
The Our Hen House theme song is written and performed by Michael Harren.