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Jane is a TV broadcaster, author, journalist & now CEO of the animal rights non-profit Jane Unchained. She has written four books, two of which were NY Times bestsellers.

In these Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is “evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” 

We discuss:

• Jane’s career in media & journalism & now running a non-profit
• Countdown to Year Zero & making the world vegan by 2026
• Near death experiences
• Growing up in “showbiz” New York with Puerto Rican/Irish parents
• Jane’s mother gave up meat early
• Thinking the family was vegetarian but eating pescetarian
• Going to different churches as an adventure, but when things got serious, going back to Catholicism
• Dabbling rather than strong religiosity
• “Let your conscience be your guide”
• We all know what’s wrong and right. The role of guilt, shame & remorse
• Recovering from alcoholism. 26 years sober!
• Praying every morning “Turn it over – seek guidance”. Making the bed every day
• “We don’t need to have a definition of a higher power – it’s just not me”
• Ego & self-centredness is the source of so many wrongs
• Societal forces claiming that “some suffering doesn’t count” are behind most evils. Human & animal
• People talking about “peace & love, Ahimsa & loving animals”, then “ordering the hit on those animals” by buying products made from them
• The cruelty we inflict on animals is “complete self sabotage”
• “We think eating animals is our solution when it’s our problem”
• “My worst day as a vegan is better than my worst day torturing animals”
• “Breaking through the wall of denial”
• Watching video of vicious experiments on primates in 1980 and the founding of PETA
• Interviewing Howard Lyman, the “Mad Cowboy” after he had been on Oprah exposing cattle ranching
• Eating dairy until being told it’s “Liquid Meat!” then going vegan ~23 yrs ago
• Thank you for shaming me into going vegan! “I might not have heard it otherwise!”
• If you love animals, take care of your addictions first
• Getting sober gave me more time for activism
• Refusing to cover news stories that trivialised animal abuse
• Interviewing Robert Redford and other celebs about animal causes
• Using journalism to talk about animal rights
• Doing a hard-core weekly animal activism segment on CNN Headline News
• Interviewing Josh Tetrick and other CEOs/activists
• Nudging the culture through global media
• Coming out as gay
• Becoming “Jane Unchained” & being free to join protests
• Seeing the end of Ringling’s Circus due to campaigns
• Of course wild animal suffering matters too
• The harm animal agri causes even to wild animals
• Even Bill Gates sees we need to switch
• We need to “punch holes through denial”
• Environmental & conservation groups are in denial because they’re eating animals
• We’re all hypocrites to some extent. There is no perfection
• If conservation groups wouldn’t burn coal in the foyer at their conferences, why would they serve animal food?
• You can’t lead if you’re not willing to change yourself
• Media is funded by animal foods & pharma industries
• “Farm animals are eating nearly all of the food!”
• Zoonotic disease: “We have 80 wet markets in NY City alone”
• Carole Raphaelle-Davis!
• “Whatever your role or skills you can use it to help animals”
• Some seemed more willing to eat BeyondMeat because the stock was doing well!
• “The cultural shift is happening fast now”
• Even the big meat companies are investing in alternatives
• Governments have been co-opted by animal ag
• Kamala Harris & Cory Booker
• Instead of subsidising animal ag, fund a #JustTransition​
• Maybe fast growing economies will leap-frog Western economies re: plant-based protein sources
• Support Mercy for Animals, animal sanctuaries, PETA, “hire a vegan handyman!”
• Animal ag sexually violates animals. How can a feminist support that?
• Animal ag exploits the poorest & most marginalised communities. There are no slaughterhouses on Park Avenue!
• Jon Lewis’ “They’re trying to kill us” documentary
• Defending your right to animal products is self-sabotage
• Maybe climate change will bring us together. We’re all earthlings
• Ending animal agri will mark the evolution of humanity
• The next 6 years could be the most important years in the history of humankind.

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info.

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Thanks, Graham for the post-prod.