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As the vegan movement explodes on the world stage, how can anyone keep up with everything that's happening? Enter Vegevents.com. VegEvents bills itself as the world's largest vegan event calendar. The website has over 1,000 vegan events around the world listed at any given time. Before the pandemic, there were over 3,000 events at any given time. And, every week, 3,400 people around the world receive an email specific to them with vegan events near them or online. The website is built in such a way that vegan events are automatically pulled in from hundreds of Meetup.com groups, Eventbrite hosts, and websites with exportable calendars. And events are also submitted directly by vegan event organizers. Now, meet the brilliant mind behind this extraordinary resource... Jason Schramm.

Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and one of the world's richest and most influential businessmen, recently made headlines by declaring that rich nations should shift entirely to synthetic beef because of the cattle industry's impact on climate change. Now that the establishment has begun acknowledging what vegans have shouted from the rooftops for years, it's fair to ask: how do we accomplish this? Answer: make delicious plant-based meats. Enter Hungry Planet. This company declares it's on a mission to bend the curve on personal and planetary health with the only full range of delicious, nourishing, plant-based meats. The company, hungryplanetfoods.com, makes it easy for consumers to switch to plant-based meat, including plant-based iterations of pork, chicken, beef and sausage, without any compromise in taste. Now, meet the movers and shakers behind this amazing culinary adventure!

Veganism is skyrocketing. More and more Americans are identifying themselves as plant-based. Reports from publications, like The Beet, say veganism is growing fastest in the African-American community! Today, we’re talking to powerful leaders of that movement who are involved in the Veguary campaign. Veguary is a FREE month-long pledge campaign encouraging people to commit to vegan living during the month of February.  “This campaign is purposefully situated in the month of February - Black History Month in the United States - to highlight the contributions of Black trailblazers, and the many benefits of vegan living in communities of color.” To learn more visit afrovegansociety.org/veguary.

“‘Ethical veganism’ is a protected class akin to religion in the U.K. after a landmark ruling.” So blared a headline in the Washington Post. Now, meet the man who made that happen! Jordi Casamitjana argued that he was fired from his job at an animal rights organization after telling colleagues that the group’s pension funds invested in companies that experiment on animals. The United Kingdom’s Equality Act says, in order to be covered as a protected class, the belief must be “genuinely held; be a belief and not an opinion or viewpoint based on the present state of information available; be a belief as to a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behavior; attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance; and be worthy of respect in a democratic society, compatible with human dignity and not conflict with the fundamental rights of others.” Well, that certainly defines veganism. JaneUnChained.com founder Jane Velez-Mitchell interviews Jordi.

Former Pittsburgh Steeler Weslye Saunders talks plant-based health with Better Food Foundation’s Laura Cascada! Jane Velez-Mitchell hosts. DefaultVeg is the simple idea of reframing what we think of as normal to plant-based foods. This strategy, which is simply setting the default to be the plant-based option instead of the other way around, has been adopted by 50+ institutions from Harvard Sustainability to the American Lung Association to reduce their environmental footprints. Now, DefaultVeg has a campaign featuring rapper Grey, actor Jillian Rose Reed, former NFL player Weslye Saunders, famed race car driver Leilani Munter, and TV host Stephanie Gerard encouraging folks to start a more resilient default with their holiday meals. For more, visit: betterfoodfoundation.org

What would Jesus say about modern-day, industrialized animal agriculture, where 60,000 hens are crammed into a giant windowless warehouse, where baby calves are ripped from their bellowing mothers, where chickens are debeaked, where tails are sliced off because they just get in the way? Here's another question. What's it like to be a vegan minister in a time of such massive, yet widely accepted, cruelty? That's the question we address in this broadcast as we speak with a modern reverend who is also a vegan. Now, meet Reverend Sarah Bowen for a life-changing discussion.

White Coat Waste is a powerhouse advocate for animals in our nation's capital, focusing on ending unnecessary, wasteful, and horrifically cruel experiments on animals that are taxpayer-funded. The organization has had a lot of success exposing how absurd most of these experiments are. From constipation to cannibalism, the excuses these pseudo-scientists use to subject animals to extreme suffering would be laughable... except that the torture these animals endure is tragic. If an individual did to one animal what these fake scientists do to thousands, they'd be arrested on animal cruelty charges. We're talking about agencies like the Veterans Administration, National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Food and Drug Administration, to name a few. Now, learn about how this organization is speaking truth to power, while exposing and ending these barbaric practices. Visit whitecoatwaste.org to get involved.

BeVeg is the world’s leading vegan certification company, founded and led by prominent attorney Carissa Kranz, today's interview subject. The BeVeg vegan standard is the benchmark for vegan assurance, giving you the confidence you need to access new markets and establish new business that meets vegan consumer expectations. BeVeg is ISO accredited and recognized by the world accreditation community for its vegan standard. ISO is the International Organization for Standardization that develops and publishes international standards. As the world’s leading vegan verification and certification firm, BeVeg ensures the quality and quantity of products conform to the internationally recognized vegan standards in scope. They research, inspect, verify, and analyze through ingredient research, supply chain investigation, surveillance sampling, on-site inspections, lab testing, and follow up as dictated by findings to ensure conformity.

Pandemic: that's the word that best defines 2020. It held us all in its grip, some more tragically than others. What can we learn from this experience? How can we prevent it from happening again? What is the connection to veganism? COVID-19 is a zoonotic illness that jumped from animals to humans. Whether you believe the likely scenario that it first cropped up in a retail slaughter market in China or not... it is a zoonotic illness. The details don't change that essential fact. If we lived in a vegan world, where animals were not exploited, tortured & killed for food, clothing, industry. etc, we would not be experiencing this crisis. Now, meet some of America's vegan leaders: Systems Analyst/Engineer Dr. Sailesh Rao of ClimateHealers.org, Journalist/Filmmaker Donny Moss of TheirTurn.net, Animal Alliance Network's Ellen Dent, NYCLASS's Edita Birnkrant and our host Jane Velez-Mitchell, founder of JaneUnChained News Network! Hear their take on 2020 and predictions for 2021!

Written by VegNews Senior Online Features Editor Jasmin Singer, this book makes a bold promise! You can look good, feel good and do good in just 30 Days! Sounds like a plan, right? The VegNews Guide to Being a Fabulous Vegan makes personal evolution a fun adventure. It's won praise from Joaquin Phoenix, Daisy Fuentes, Mena Suvari, Mayim Bialik, Evanna Lynch, Tig Notaro and your host Jane Velez-Mitchell, among others. First of all, Jasmin is hilarious and you will chuckle your way through this. Fabulous vegan recipes abound. Additionally, given that VegNews is a global leader in all things vegan, this book offers the best tips for living a compassionate lifestyle that's also likely to give you more energy. If there's one thing the pandemic has taught us: the human race needs to change. Why not make it fun? This book does that in spades.

It's a breakthrough in the fight to end animal testing! The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just launched Innovative Science and Technology Approaches for New Drugs aka ISTAND. This pilot program will help reduce and replace animal testing as part of drug development. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has worked toward this goal for several years by meeting with the FDA and Congress and providing expert input, hosting Congressional briefings, and leading drug development stakeholders in advocating for a pathway for the approval of nonanimal, human-biology based drug testing methods. PCRM's Elizabeth Baker breaks down this breakthrough!

We know how crucial it is to get enough water. Now, a new product gives the hydration space a superfood blast. RDCL Superfoods has just launched two plant-based, superfood-packed drink mixes: Passion Fruit and Dragon Fruit Superberry. Just add water and you’ve made that essential, but sometimes a tad dull, drink a colorful, flavorful delight. This new product was co-founded by Donny Makower, the CEO of RDCL Superfoods who says the COVID-19 pandemic has made the need for energy and immunity-boosting ingredients all the more important. Donny has his finger on the pulse of the vegan space and is known for his popular lecture ”The Blindspot of Compassion.” He is also the board chairman of California’s Gentle Barn Sanctuary, which has adapted to COVID with a safe drive-through event every Sunday. How has the pandemic energized the vegan/compassion movement? Find out!

HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene is an unflinching book of photography documenting our relationship with non-human animals in the 21st century, as depicted through the lenses of 40 award-winning photojournalists. It focuses on the invisible animals in our lives: those with whom we have a close relationship and yet fail to see. They are the animals we eat and the animals we wear. They are the animals used in research and for entertainment, as well as the animals we sacrifice in the name of tradition and religion. The stories within its pages are revelatory and brutal. As we enter a new decade, about 80 billion land animals continue to be used and consumed by humans each year. The majority of these animals are raised and killed within industrial agricultural systems. GET THIS BOOK FOR THE PERSON YOU RESPECT ENOUGH TO SHOW THE TRUTH: INFO HERE: https://weanimalsmedia.org/our-work/hidden/ MORE HERE: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hidden-animals-in-the-anthropocene-by-we-anim

As a scandal swept through the meat industry, a summit was held to end animal agriculture by helping farmers and ranchers thrive on their land without using animals. As vegan leaders were brainstorming with ranchers and farmers about how to transition out of sending animals to slaughter, a leading meat company was making headlines for all the wrong reasons. A lawsuit alleges Tyson slaughterhouse managers were placing money bets on how many of their workers would come down with COVID. Tyson's CEO says the allegations upset him and are not in keeping with the company's core values. What do our panelists think?

Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in High Falls, New York is a state of the art farmed animal sanctuary where every Thanksgiving is celebrated with a touching and joyous ThanksLIVING ceremony. In this scenario, the turkeys, rescued from the horrors of modern day, intensive, factory farming, are not eaten. Instead, humans feed THEM delectable treats like cranberries and pies. The turkeys really enjoy the celebration. The humans get to see these magnificent beings for who they are: individuals, each with a unique personality. Woodstock Farm Sanctuary has a host of really innovative programs. During COVID, you can get a digital tour! You can also sponsor a turkey, chicken, cow or one of the other farm animals. It makes a great gift. Sanctuaries are one of the few places, in the modern day world, where people can experience animals that are otherwise treated as mere property. Often, people leave with a totally different attitude toward animals. They stop eating them!

We live in a finite world where we are consuming resources at a rate that is simply not sustainable. We will run out of life's essentials if we don't adapt. Having Kids is an organization that urges vegans to expand their view of the practice to include advocacy for better family planning: https://havingkids.org/real-animal-rights-starts-with-fair-start-family-planning. Led by famed attorney Carter Dillard, the organization would love activists to go beyond consumption and think in terms of building nonhuman inclusive futures. Having Kids is accomplishing this through implementation of a universal family planning model called Fair Start. Groups like PETA are signing on to the effort here: https://havingkids.org/organizations-joining-for-world-population-day-at-the-u-n/

PlantBasedNeighbor.com is a new APP, currently in beta testing as a website. A project of JaneUnChained News Network, which is a 501c-3 non-profit, its mission is to connect vegans and vegetarians with like minded individuals in their own neighborhoods and beyond. It is set to become an APP in early 2021. But, YOU can sign up now! It's lots of fun. Find out how many vegans and vegetarians there are in YOUR neighborhood. In the meantime, we're kicking it off with a word contest. A lot of common phrases are extremely anti-animal. They use animals names as insults, encourage violence against animals and, in general, show complete disrespect for non-human animals. It's no wonder that humans often act out this prejudice against animals. So, today, we're coming up with kind alternatives to the following 6 phrases: Weasel Out, Not My First Rodeo, Fishy, Pig Out, Whack-a-Mole, Bigger Fish to Fry. Join us and come up with your own kind alternatives!

We all seek the fountain of youth. But, is there really such a thing? Well, yes, and you don't have to take a ship around the world to find it. It's right there staring you in the face 3 times a day.... on your plate. Yes, it's your food. Now, meet a vibrant woman who defies age. Karyn Calabrese is one of the most innovative leaders in the health and holistic world. A vegan, she is an expert in how to cleanse your body and then replenish it with nutrients, antioxidants and superfoods in the form of fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. Really, it's that simple. Get rid of the junk, the dead animals, the breast milk of another species... and bring in the Garden of Eden. When it comes to Karyn, listen and you will find yourself saying: I'll have what she's having!

On October 13th, 2020, the New York Times held a virtual talk entitled: Feeding the World! The world’s most influential newspaper has huge power to shape cultural norms. So, four vegans attended. What we heard shocked and dismayed us. There was little discussion of global hunger. According to the NYT’s own reporting, “an estimated 265 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by year’s end.” There was scant discussion of big picture solutions and more talk of the availability of turkeys and other animal products. There was no proactive mention of plant-based solutions even though at least 36 percent of the world's crop calories are used for animal feed. Animals are an extremely inefficient food source, eating far more than they produce as food. Why no mention? Vegan product sales are booming across the U.S., outpacing overall food growth by more than five times. The Times is invited on to respond at any time, as are any of the NYT panel speakers.

Sales of vegan food products are skyrocketing. The Good Food Institute reports that the plant-based food category has grown five times faster than overall U.S. food sales, which also saw an increase of 2.2 percent in 2019, So, what are the products propelling us to a plant-based culture, for human health, climate change reversal, the eradication of world hunger, the prevention of future pandemics and compassion to animals? Cool Beans, the latest innovation in the fast-growing whole-food, plant-based, frozen foods category, now has three of its portable wraps for sale at Sprouts Farmers Markets nationwide. Cool Beans describes its wraps as a wholesome, delicious, minimally processed product that focuses on taste and nutrition.“ As Americans strive to get healthier and slim down, they are turning to the increasing number of plant-based options in supermarkets! Now, learn how the frozen food section is rapidly going vegan.