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November 17, 2009 Voice of the Voiceless: Online and Offline Activism With Peter Young Through avenues such as facebook, blogging and twitter, the internet has arguably become a powerful avenue for activists to share information, debate topics, and organize themselves. Though many (including Peter Young) would question the value and worth of online activism, it is for many veterans in the animal advocacy movements a new and necessary tool for getting the word out about emerging issues and getting people fired up. On this week’s program we get an update on his Voice of the Voiceless website, a tool which he hopes will provide “actionable” information for activists who wish to get off the internet and hit the streets. We also discuss the Morgan, Utah, a small town that holds 13 fur farms in its tiny territory and which will be the site of the upcoming Fur Free Utah convergence. 
Peter Young is a veteran animal liberation activist and former political prisoner convicted for his role in liberating thousands of animals from fur farms across the country. Emerging from a grand jury indictment, 7 years of being wanted by the FBI, a federal prison sentence, and nearly 15 years in the animal liberation movement; today Peter is a frequent lecturer at universities and events, writer on liberation movements, and unapologetic supporter of those who work outside the law to achieve human, earth, and animal liberation. News links:
Download mp3s of the interview: Tags: Direct action | Farmed Animals
August 11, 2009 No Easy Answers: McWilliams Takes on Locavore Logic 
Food movements have been gaining serious momentum lately. The meanings of "just", "ethical," and "sustainable" food are all contentious. Biotechnology, organics, "free range" meat, vegetarianism and localism are but a handful of issues currently marinating in the proverbial stew. Historian James E. McWilliams, author of Just Food: Where Locavores Get it Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly, specifically cautions us against diving too eagerly into that bowl of current popular assumptions espoused by local food proponents. With a respectful nod to the locavore movement, and the many excellent points it raises, McWilliams reevaluates the logic of food miles as the sole criteria for ethical eating. Instead, the lauded scholar underscores the importance of life cycle analyses, and points to issues such as scale as key factors to consider by consumers. Further, McWilliams demonstrates why vegetarian food offers the greatest ecological benefits.
Download mp3s of the interview: Tags: Farmed Animals | History
July 28, 2009 Filling the Ark: Dr. Leslie Irvine discusses animals in disasters 
When disaster strikes, news reports come fast and furious with constant updates and around the clock coverage. However, the coverage of earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and floods is almost always human-focused; where animals are concerned, the media often has little to say, especially if those animals were to become food or be used as research subjects. In this interview Dr. Leslie Irvine explains how some animals are deemed more worthy of coverage than others, and how an animal’s sociological status affects how they are - or are not - protected when disasters occur. Covering both “natural” and “human-made” disasters, Dr. Irvine discusses the current state of animal protection in times of crisis, and gives practical suggestions for how the plight of animals can be ameliorated in the future. Leslie Irvine is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She received her Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her research focuses on the role of animals in society. She has studied animal sheltering, human-animal relationships, and most recently, animals in disasters. Her book, titled Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters, urges us to rethink our use of animals that put them in harm’s way. She is also the author of If You Tame Me: Understanding Our Connection with Animals, and numerous articles on our relationships with other species.
Download mp3s of the interview: June 30, 2009 Friends or Dinner?: A Toronto Subway System Campaign Stops the Public in Its Tracks 
“Why love one but eat the other?” is the provocative slogan of the recent campaign launched by concerned citizens of Toronto and the U.S.-based animal advocacy organization, Mercy for Animals. This ambitious initiative, running June 9th to August 15th, involves a series of visually-striking subway posters that centrally juxtapose images of animals typically considered pets in North America against images of animals raised for food. Accompanying these images, text provides stereotype-busting information about “farm animals”. Additional images and commentary highlight contemporary factory farm conditions and animal treatment within the industrial food system. In this program, Kimberly Carroll, a key organizer of the campaign, shares her thoughts on these highly-viewed public education materials, including people’s reactions to the posters and a few background stories about the animals featured in the heart-rending pictures. News links:
Download mp3s of the interview: Tags: Companion Animals | Farmed Animals
January 13, 2009 Not Asking for Permission: Former ALF Activist Peter Young Join us for a conversation with former Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activist, Peter Young. Now famous for a series of raids on mink farms across the U.S. Midwest during 1997, and the liberation of thousands of animals, Young was indicted by a federal grand jury in 1998, on "Extortion by Interfering with Interstate Commerce", and two charges of "Animal Enterprise Terrorism". In 2005, he was arrested and convicted (though the extortion charge was dropped), serving two years and hours of community service. In this interview, Young talks about a range of issues, from his activist roots to conquering a fear of prison. We also hear his statement to the court on his day of sentencing, his reflections on that unplanned and powerful piece of prose, and a few responses to his critics. Uncompromising and unapologetic, Young takes us back to those nights—ones that he has called the most rewarding of his life—including his interactions with the mink and what it felt like seeing them taste freedom for the first time. News links:
Download mp3s of the interview: Tags: Direct action | Farmed Animals
July 15, 2008 Animals Asia Foundation: Sanctuary and the Struggle to End Bear Bile Farming 
Photos from animalsasia.org Jill Robinson, founder and CEO of Animals Asia Foundation, joins us from Chengdu, China. Tune in to hear Robinson describe her work with Chinese and Vietnamese animal activists to provide sanctuary for moon bears (Asiatic black bears), and their efforts to stop bear bile farming. Robinson provides detailed first-hand accounts of bear rescues, painting vivid pictures of the farms and the conditions that the bears endure. From mutilations and physical pain, to emotional and psychological damage, rescued bears face significant challenges in their recovery. Some do not make it. Others manage to thrive at the two Moon Bear Rescue Centers, one in Tam Dao, Vietnam, and the other in Chengdu, China. Listen in for some of the bears' stories. Also in this interview, Robinson outlines the economics of bear bile farming, traditional medicines (TM), successful lobbying techniques, and the stumbling blocks the Foundation works to overcome.
One of our favourite interviews to date!
Download mp3s of the interview: December 18, 2007 Skin Trade: An Interview with Shannon Keith 
This week we catch up with Shannon Keith, filmmaker and activist, to talk about her upcoming film Skin Trade: Fur, Fashion and Truth. After her highly successful and critically acclaimed documentary Behind the Mask, Keith is back planning and shooting her next film. This time, she sets her sights on farmers and clothing designers, to challenge the fur industry and the fashion world at its core. Though the production is still in its early stages, we learn what viewers can expect from Skin Trade, which is sure to be a provocative and intense piece.
Download mp3s of the interview: May 8, 2007 The World Peace Diet: Interview with Will Tuttle 
"Food, like all apparently physical matter, is energy and vibration and is a manifestation of consciousness, and though it is important to prepare, eat, and share food mindfully, we can see that it's important to look more deeply than this, to the actual source of our food," writes Will Tuttle, in his new book The World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony. "When we instigate violence and slavery with our food purchases, it is inevitable that the consciousness of violence and slavery will be planted in our psychological being, dulling our feelings and undermining our possible attempts to prepare and eat the food mindfully and thankfully." In this provocative book, Tuttle argues that much of the social unrest and violence manifest within Western culture, and its imposition on others, can be traced back to the violence exercised against farmed animals. Drawing together a variety of spiritual traditions, historical texts, and psychological perspectives, The World Peace Diet offers an ambitious call for reconnection and compassion.
Download mp3s of the interview: Tags: Farmed Animals | Philosophy
April 3, 2007 Cows, Colonialism, and Capitalism: Interview with David Nibert 
Well-known within the animal movements as the author of Animal Rights/Human Rights: Entanglements of Oppression and Liberation, Dr. David Nibert is a professor of Sociology at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. Historically grounded, and passionately argued, Nibert's theory contends that oppression is primarily underpinned by economic gain and supported by state ideology. His scholarship offers both an economic analysis of oppression, including animal oppression, and a strong call for socialism. Beyond simply considering the roles animals have played within human society, significantly, Nibert also attempts to account for animals' experiences and perspectives throughout history. His recent paper entitled "Cows, Profits, and Genocide: The Oppressive Side of 'Beef' Consumption," recently presented at Brock's "Thinking about Animals: Domination, Captivity, Liberation" conference, carries forward Nibert's economic critique through a sustained case study. Focusing on capitalism, colonialism, and their intimate connection to the exploitation of cows, Nibert explores how the colonization of the Americas was intertwined with the growth of the "beef" industry. Provocatively, he ties his historical insights into contemporary examples: "The entangled oppression of devalued humans and cows is most obvious today in Brazil and the Darfur region in western Sudan — where murder and displacement are tied to the expansion of the profitable 'beef industry.'" Tune in to hear more about this and related arguments.
Download mp3s of the interview: June 13, 2006 The Way We Eat: Jim Mason Interview 
We connect with Jim Mason, co-author of the book The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter. Written with the controversial philosopher, Peter Singer, this new text gives readers an updated version of their previous ground-breaking book Animal Factories, which investigated North American factory farming in the early 1990s. Yet, The Way We Eat does more than provide recent statistics or chronicle the latest cruelty cases: Mason and Singer provide a lucid analysis of how our food choices dramatically affect others, including animals, labourers, and the environment. Structured around three families who eat different diets (the Standard American Diet, an organic foods and "humane" meats diet, and a vegan and organic-leaning diet), Mason and Singer trace these consumption patterns back to their origins, which leads them out of the kitchen and into the troubling world of modern food systems. Here they research and observe the conditions required to produce each family's food, and speak with those directly involved with the production processes. The Way We Eat invites us to meet three dynamic and personable families, poke around in their cupboards and fridges, and ponder the ethics of conventional agriculture, organics, local production, veganism, and "free range" and "humane" meats. Through their efforts, the authors hope to inspire more informed and conscious decisions for not only ourselves, but for others whose interests are too often cast aside in the name of profit. On this show, Jim Mason, attorney and activist, will tell us about his journey with the book, and what he had for breakfast!
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