✌️ VEGAN VICTORIES MONTHLY #19
Factory farm ban, new study on Vegan proteins, and more!
Hey, teammate! ✊
If you’re in the US, happy belated Turkey Sentience Day!
Let’s celebrate by reading the most positive Vegan newsletter on the internet - the only free source for all of this month’s most positive Vegan news from around the world! 👇️
🇺🇸 Berkeley, CA, Bans Factory Farms
Earlier this year, animal rights activists put Measure DD on the ballot in Berkeley, California.
This month, we made world history by passing it.
Berkeley is now the first city in the world to ban Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs AKA Factory Farms).
We did it.
We set the precedent.
🇧🇪 Belgium Permanently Bans Dolphinariums
Belgium just became the seventh country in the world to ban dolphinariums. They also banned the imports and breeding of dolphins.
Right now, there’s only one dolphinarium in Belgium left, and it must shut down.
Following the ban, only specialized shelters will be be allowed to take in injured or sick dolphins and other cetaceans. The sole purpose is to care for them until they can be released back into their natural habitats.
A big win for Dolphins!
🇫🇷 French City Bans Foie Gras
Pessac, FR, has joined municipalities including Bordeaux, Poitiers, and Montpellier in banning foie gras from being served at schools and municipal events. This makes it the the third city to do so this year, and the fifteenth overall in the country.
An epic victory for the thousands of ducks once force fed to harvest their fatty livers..
The mayor of Pessac announces that plant-based alternatives to foie gras will be served at all Pessac’s schools and catered city events instead! Maybe eventually they’ll use the new cultivated foie gras (keep reading)!
🤑 A Vegan Diet Saves You $657 Per Year
A new study found that when compared with a standard American diet, a low-fat Vegan diet has 19% lower food costs for a savings of $1.80 per day ($657 per year).
The biggest cost savings come from no longer paying $2.90 per day on meat, 50 cents per day on dairy products, and 50 cents per day on added fats. These savings were found to outweigh the increased spending of 50 cents per day on vegetables, 30 cents per day on grains, and what’s more, 50 cents per day on meat alternatives.
Imagine if the meat industry wasn’t subsidized… Still, the saving of money and the saving of animals makes a Vegan diet win once again!
💪 Beef Industry Study Finds Plant Proteins Equal to Meat
The study divided 17 healthy women into three groups and measured their muscle protein synthesis after a meal: group #1 would consume beef, group #2 would consume beans and whole wheat, while group #3 would consume what the study called “incomplete” vegan protein (straight up bread).
Obviously the meat heads expected the meat to win, but it turns out that when you match for amino acids, there was no significant difference between ANY of the groups’ muscle protein synthesis…
That’s because - say it with me now - PLANT PROTEINS ARE NOT INCOMPLETE!
They are just limiting in certain amino acids depending on the food. If you’re getting enough total protein (opinion - 1.2-1.6g/kg) from a variety of foods, you’re a winner!
Here’s a bonus report that came out this month showcasing how most plant-based alternatives are healthier than animal proteins anyways. ;)
🥇 Vegan Team Wins 48 Golds at Mr. America
Hey look, it’s a bunch of obviously protein deficient Vegans from PlantBuilt casually winning 48 gold medals across bodybuilding, powerlifting, olympic weightlifting kettle-bell, and strongman competitions!
How on earth do they get enough protein?
Now you know :)
🌆 New Cities Make “Most Vegan Friendly” List
Mexico City and Ho Chi Minh City, Viet-Nam, just landed on Happy Cow’s annual “Most Vegan Friendly Cities” list for the 1st time ever!
Here’s more proof that the world is slowly turning Vegan.
🧓 UK Care Homes See 24% Increase in Plant-Based Eaters
Vegetarian for Life, a leading UK charity working on behalf of older Vegans and vegetarians, recently published a report showcasing that 1/3 of all care homes in the UK serve at least one Vegetarian or Vegan - a 24% increase from last decade!
It’s never too late to go Vegan, and it looks like even our elders are realizing this.
🌱 Another Success for The 2nd Annual Veganic Farming Summit
Veganic farmers taught attendees techniques that can be implemented by anyone in their own garden - including you. Get the recordings to the sessions here!
Advancing cell agriculture is important, but improving traditional organic agricultural practices is essential, too. Spreading free information on how to grow plant foods without the use of synthetic fertilizer or feces as fertilizer is key to building a VEGAN WORLD NOW!
🧾 1st Cultivated Meat Sale in Hong Kong
Derived from Japanese Quail cells, Vow has created and commercially sold cultivated foie gras in Hong Kong. They call it “Forged Gras,” and you can get it in select restaurants in the region.
You’d think something like this would work better in France.
Soon!
🍗 Cultivated Chicken Reaches Price Parity
Right now, Good Meat’s cultivated chicken costs around $20/lb (€3.23/100g), which is significantly more expensive than the $11.79/lb (€2.39/100g) that “premium US pasture-raised chicken" costs.
However, another cultivated chicken company - SuperMeat - announced that it is able to produce 100% cultivated chicken (85% muscle and 15% fat) with the same cost, taste, and texture as “premium US pasture-raised chicken” in just 4 days. It takes on average, 42 days to raise, kill, and “process” a chicken for consumption.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
It’s only a matter of time before the animal agriculture industry becomes obsolete!
🐶 Dogs Get to Enjoy Cultivated Chicken
It’s awesome that our companion animals get to experience this tech before we do.
According to feeding safety trials by Meatly, the Dogs were found to enjoy the cultivated chicken as much or even more than their normal diet. 50% of the Dogs continued licking the bowl after completing it and 75% of owners reported higher enjoyment than the Dog’s baseline diet.
It’s even more awesome that they enjoy it! We’re up next.
🏅 TIME Recognizes Cultivated Meat as a “Best Invention of 2024”
Check out the list here.
🐠 Activists Shut Down Major Aquarium
Dozens of animals were neglected and killed in SeaQuest’s care.
Following whistleblower reports of animal cruelty and pressure from PETA, SeaQuest Fort Worth in Texas, US, was forced to shut down.
Finally, marine animals may experience some relief after this win!
🦀 Crabs Freed from Cruel Drug Testing
Drugs need to be tested to ensure they’re free of contaminants including endotoxins. An enzyme found in the blood of Horseshoe Crabs clots in the presence of these endotoxins. It follows that we’ve bred and killed thousands of Horseshoe Crabs to ensure our drugs are safe. And yes, they do feel pain.
Except, we haven’t needed to use Horseshoe Crab blood for a long time… It’s not even very effective compared to non-animal tests! It was simply required…
Thousands of Horseshoe Crabs have already been spared as a result of this change!
🎥 You Can Now Stream Christspiracy For Free
Christspiracy comes from the same creators as other popular Vegan documentaries like Cowspiracy, Seaspiracy, and What The Health.
It originally came out in theaters earlier this year. However, enough people donated enough money for Vegans like you and I to watch it for free!
You’ll be armed with the ideas that defuse religious “arguments” for carnism.
Pay-it-forward for others and/or simply watch it here for free!
🎨 Dog & Chicken Killer Turns Paint Seller
After 20 years of dirtying his conscience, Mr. Cuong, a former Dog and Chicken killer, said this to the International Humane Society’s International (HSI) Model for Change Program Coordinators:
“I don’t want to kill these animals anymore … I’m looking forward to a business where I have a clear conscience and I am not involved in slaughtering dogs.”
With this simple resolution and help from the HSI, 16 dogs were relocated out of Mr. Cuong’s slaughterhouse (and restaurant) and he is now selling paint and gas cylinders to local residents.
Another one down. Many more to go! For now, let’s take this for what it is: a win.
To the 25 new subscribers added to our now 365-strong Vegan team (one for each day of the year :D), I hope these Vegan Victories have left you feeling as hopeful and inspired as the rest of us!
I write for who I believe are the most important group of Humans in the world: those who stand up for non-Human animals. ✊ As a Vegan doing animal-rights activism on the streets myself, I know this non-Vegan world can leave us feeling hopeless, burnt out, and like we’re losing. We’re not. We just need the proof! If you relate, I’m honored you’ve given me your attention. You could have given it to animals, and you chose to invest it with me. I take it in the highest regard.
If I’ve made you feel a little more hopeful, please consider sharing this with a fellow Vegan! It’s a free, 15 second, fun surprise gesture of goodwill that will make them see you as their source of Vegan inspiration. I guarantee you’ll be making their day a little more hopeful and our movement a little more positive. :)
Thank you.
Until every animal is free,
Dani ✌️
Also, happy belated Free the Animals Friday! Did anyone protest yesterday?
I love these monthly reminders that yes, there is a lot of work still to do, but there is hope!