Good news for vegans and animal advocates (#6)
Plus: Christspiracy screening this Sunday!
Hi friend,
Just a quick reminder that this Sunday (Dec 15), Christspiracy is hosting 3 screenings with Q&A with directors on the 15th. You can get your tickets here:
- 12pm ET: https://gathr.com/events/e9c22ef2/christspiracy
- 4pm ET: https://gathr.com/events/729a4615/christspiracy
- 8pm ET: https://gathr.com/events/42252606/christspiracy
I haven't watched it yet. If you have, how did you like it? Would you recommend it for people who are already are vegans or animal advocates?
Good news from around the world
Positive developments for plant-based food in Türkiye
Cihan Baltepe, the founder of the plant meat company EatVappy was recently interviewed and shared some very hopeful things (emphasis added):
“Based on our sales data, we can say the plant meat sector in Türkiye is growing steadily. Until recently, our products were more expensive than animal meat. However, when we brought our production of plant meat up to scale, the price fell significantly. […]
When we began our work in 2017, there was no market for plant meat in Türkiye. Over the past seven years, we have shaped a viable sector in Türkiye, so people can enjoy healthy and delicious plant meat.”
You can find the full interview here on vegconomist.
And, the Turkish Food Codex Guide for Food Labeling and Consumer Information just introduced regulations for vegan products labeling for the first time.
While there are shortcomings in this regulation (for instance, plant milk — except coconut milk — cannot be labeled milk), it overall is a positive step for veganism in Türkiye.
Greyhound racing will be outlawed in New Zealand
New Zealand’s government plans to ban greyhound racing due to animal welfare concerns! This decision was announced by Racing Minister Winston Peters.
Greyhound racing will be phased out over a 20-month period to allow for the rehoming of approximately 2,900 racing greyhounds. Urgent laws are also being passed to prevent the killing of these racing dogs.
This ban is a great success of animal rights organizations including Save Animals From Exploitation (SAFE), the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Helping You Help Animals (Huha)!
You can read more about the ban here.
Greyhound racing is becoming more and more rare. In Scotland, a law banning Greyhound housing is before Parliament.
SPCA’s Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Arnja Dale stated:
“We hope Mr. Peter’s leadership on animal welfare inspires the very few remaining countries who still have a commercial greyhound industry to follow New Zealand’s brave example.”
New Zealand’s decision certainly puts pressure on Australia to follow suit. The ban has already sparked an opinion piece in an Australian newspaper with the title: “As NZ moves towards ban, Australia looks increasingly lonely as a haven for dog torture and abuse.”
Veganism growing in Australia
Speaking of Australia, according to a 2024 The Food Frontier consumer survey, 5% of Australians now adhere to a vegan diet.
Can you guess the most popular diet in Australia? Meat reducer (21%)!
And guess who motivates people to reduce their meat intake? For people interested in reducing their meat intake, friends and family are the most common sources of information.
Looks like Australian vegans are doing some impressive PR work!
Seriously, though, this shows relationships play an important role in shaping food choices. It’s also good news because it indicates that personal connections can effectively counteract the meat industry’s influence propaganda.
You can find the whole survey report here (I found it very uplifting to scroll through it).
💡 If you want to become a more effective vegan advocate, the Center for Effective Vegan Advocacy has you covered (with free courses and communication hacks). 💡
🤗 How you can help animals
It feels great to read through positive news. What’s even better is to contribute to them!
Remember, the whole animal advocacy movement is still in its early phase, and we can use all hands on deck. That means that your contribution is uniquely valuable and important at this time.
Here’s how you can be a part of the solution:
You can donate to an organization that effectively helps animals, such as the Animal Charity Evaluators or the Animal Welfare Fund. You can find out more about effective animal welfare donations here.
You can volunteer for animals. If you don’t have a lot of time, the Humane League’s Fast Action Network might be a good choice, as it allows you to contribute when you can (for instance, while waiting in a queue). If you have more time, you can find a lot of volunteering opportunities here.
If you are not yet a vegan, you can become a vegan ally (see this YouTube video for an explanation) and support the cause by reducing your consumption of animal products. If you want support in becoming more vegan, there are many vegan challenges, such as this one.
If you would like community, you can join Hive Newsletter’s Slack channel and connect with 3000+ animal advocates. I recently joined and it’s amazing! My only regret is that I didn’t join earlier. :)
Warmly,
Louise