episode of positive energy this isn't lightning television for your involving soul are you curious about meeting it from athletes to celebrities to everyday people this global shift in the rise of plant based diet is here that for me personally reaganism is so much more than a trend it's making conscious choices that are ethical and do no harm being in other words it's a commitment to a kinder gentler world ready to learn more i'm joined by susan adrian susan of the environmental animal rights team of hoboken we're going to have a dialogue about what it truly means to be of the date soon as positive energy starts right now he says and so welcome to positive energy thank you for having me it's nice to have you here and i'm excited to talk about veganism which has really gone mainstream being an animal lover and a vegan myself it just makes sense on so many levels but i understand it's very takes a long time for people to change and change our thinking and make actual shifts in the way we've been doing things for such a long time we've been eating a certain way and killing animals and eating them for a really long time so let's talk a little bit more about this let's talk and start with your story with the with feeling is i'm well let's see of envy going for seven years one year prior i was vegetarian i became a vegetarian so no meat for almost a decade eight years feeling good not having any issues not lacking protein which i don't even know what that name of that disease is by the way there is a disease for a lack of protein but it's only in third world countries so it was it was a bit of a transition because i grew up in a meat and potatoes family my mom actually fed me the deer my brother hunted and killed without telling me so i had to see the face in the living room and it bothered me but i always said la la la la la i don't want to know how and then a few years back i met somebody who i admired and who was an inspiration to me and i said wow what is this all about and how can i love animals and eat them so here i am today yeah so you were led yes led in that particular way but right from the beginning it just didn't feel right never felt right so define ism for people who might not be crystal clear about what it is ok reaganism is not a diet that's what a lot of people think it's a way of life it's a way of life where you were specked all animals and you don't consume them or use them or exploit them in any way that goes from not only meat dairy eggs because those industries are also and slaving animals but it is also going toward our products what do we use on our beauty products i read the labels all the time of the cruelty free do they test on animals and also leather i stopped wearing leather my shoes are  really good about them so what are the most common misconceptions about being an ism one the first one is there's many but the first one is protein yeah protein well you had to go to argument where you get your protein so many of us begins here that all the time it's it's not that we are annoyed with it but it's just a little tiring people say well i would go vegan i totally respect you but i mean my protein but i don't so just in f y i everybody there are reagan body builders they exist  need our protein and if you don't mind me saying the government we get the protein in in in beans knots and investable so and that one of the best forms of protein is hemp seeds so you could spring to sprinkle it on the salad and i'm not lacking any protein so yeah feeling good another misconception would be we don't have anything to eat  you know then there's a demand and there are media consumers are being met with these new products that are great yeah absolutely i remember when i first became vegan i'm like what is this small temp a it was on a sandwich and it was it's not a matter of missing out on anything it's you know it's not a sacrifice and i would say i think that's what people tend to think and with that they're thinking more about them themselves and in their thinking if it if you think it's a sacrifice and it might be but when you think about how much you're helping the animals it's a whole different way of thinking about it the animals get them ourselves yeah and the planet so talk a little bit sure yeah mother nature our home we want to sustain our home for a very long time to come a s we're starting to look at that more and more seriously so what do you see maybe as the long term impact of going in are not going anywhere in terms of the future of our planet and our overall well humans as well well a lot of people say we're all where are all the animals going to go if we're going to stop eating them it's not going to happen overnight people you know it's going to be a slow transition but it is happening and you know those animals they have feelings too they don't have or give their lives to us we take they run they squeal they scream we have emotions so that's why you know one thing that about going where we are actually showing compassion to an animal if we show compassion to animals we can show compassion to each other and i think we'll have peace yeah i do but not going be again is going to really hurt our planet because we have a water supply that's depleting and it's not bless showers that we need to take or not watering our lawn it's  eating meat stop eating anything that's animal because twenty sources are doing the rounds of water takes it make one pound of beef so you've got that there too so we need to think about our mother earth because she's hurting you know you can't sustain that you know you can't she can't so as people are becoming more conscious in that particular way making better choices and being as it is on the rise you know what do you see you know we talk about sort of for most of soul level or from a really bigger picture level in terms of how we're evolving what we want to see happen in terms of us as sending beings relating to other sending beings is there is will be will this represent a shift in consciousness or we're looking for maybe a critical mass which which would move things in another direction well i sure hope so i can't see how somebody could welcome a dog into their home and bring it in as a family and look into their eyes and then eat it it's just it doesn't make sense to me true animal lovers love all animals animals you're eating agony and there's a some kind of chemical thing that goes on physically and scientifically that you're putting into your body you're putting fear into your body even death you know people are in a little bit of denial around that right there is that this is an act because they don't see it and maybe some magical thinking that it goes from this beautiful living being to that flesh on their plate yes there's a lot we're going to cut that put it all together so people at least have their eyes open and there's just lots of conditioning it's been like this for a long time and it's sort of easy to justify it that way thank you wish we have some opinions you have some opinions but all for the greater good i so people are thinking about this what can they do what are some small first steps so they can make that you know again maybe not overnight drastic changes but those small steps towards making as well there are some in the begin community that say no baby steps you got to go right into it i didn't do that i took baby steps so i haven't eaten pork in like since one thousand nine hundred nine because i saw something on t v so that was off the table a long time ago literally off the table off my plate then one month i decided not to to stop eating red meat the next month i stopped eating chicken and then the month after that no fish so that's three months and then it took me a year to become very good so i was still drinking milk i was a big milk fan and cheesemonger right and ice cream but i didn't know the connection that was when i went to woodstock farm animal sanctuary and they had a crate that showed the it was a calf crate where they put baby calf after being ripped away from their mama's taken that's the dairy industry is there is death and dairy is well and eggs i think for a lot of people if they saw that it would just only take one time rafer their you can't unsee yeah well as i think it was even paul mccartney said if the walls of slaughterhouses were transparent made of glass a lot of people would think differently they would they would go vegetarian now put the glass also on the dairy farms and the and the egg farms where they actually the baby chicks are known not needed and they there's a demise for them a very terrible one yeah if anybody's interested they can look that up you know it's so on pleasant of course and nobody wants to think about it and so we don't want to dwell on that and what makes everybody really uncomfortable and the reason for that is that in our hearts we know it's not ok it bothers our conscience and often people will get very defensive around that because it's so uncomfortable that they just want to sort of project that out we're not totally get that right we're all we're all part of and it's not a matter of judging anyone in their choices it's just a matter of holding a higher vision you know and putting ourselves in their shoes in the animal's health and feet and having empathy and then following up on that with action you know aligning our actions with our our beliefs and you know if we say we love animals you know making that fully within integrity to do that yes so so you actually are part of an animal rights and animal advocacy group if you want to talk about that her and that's an acronym for fire mental animal rights team of hoboken and i put things together help with two friends of mine oh well  and me how klein and they put together things like mixers social events we also do protests we've done the animal i'm sorry the circus protest i think it was an edison garden brothers and just recently the nosy log came through so if i understood correctly it's not on the agenda but then they're not allowed to have animals and circuses in new jersey anymore i think i heard something about that yeah that's huge because those elephants are not treated well and i don't want to discussed that as i know men it's hard to to understand but that's what our group does and there's other animal rights communities as well in new jersey and new york city also a lot of you know i think israel is big on big an ism by the way you europe england i think for sure definitely israel but there's going to be a big animal rights march september first and we had one last year there were i think it's worldwide but in new york city think we had about three thousand people and it was not televised didn't make and i mean might have been one small segment in the local channel but it was it should have been to for me i think it should have been a new york times yeah well ask me you know but there but there you know they are they have advertising that they need to withhold with their with their clients so they invented the crowd in social media social media is our yes grassroots we can really get it out there so when you're out there with these movements and these protests are you seeing receptivity are you seeing well the numbers of protests are increasing but some people stop they ask questions they take the pamphlets we we did something called for well this was for f well as i said goodbye to the first that i had i used to wear fur so we donated them to a rehab for baby animals orphaned animals possums and rec who owns and squirrels and sometimes we thank you for to them because thank you for not wearing fur you know so many people are not at the first term is an issue it's still for it's so pervasive in everything that we take for granted yeah people don't even think about it yet we don't what we're wearing  doing or using sacco so people want to get involved they can certainly reach out to your going to zeeshan they can also search warrants ations at or near them and also made it be great to support some of the animal sanctuaries that i've seen popping up all over that is also something that is so hopeful and beautiful and makes me cry all the time when i see how amazing it is that people are dedicating their whole life to opening these beautiful sanctuaries to give animals a forever home to give farm animals often abuse often neglected often saved and rescued and there are nonprofits and they can use our help as well and at these beautiful sanctuaries animals are all given names just like you and i treated exactly the same you know and they get to be known for their names and their hearts and allergies and they get to be known as beings no different so there they make me cry every time it's a wonderful place you can look the animal in the eye and see your see another soul bit from now yeah yeah i say to my dogs all the time for you i'm doing this for you i know you're like their house so we're staying on this hopeful track right now we're staying inspirational or staying hopeful we're keeping our energy up in our vibe up around this topic is it really is important to do that because it would be really easy to just sort of get mired and get really depressed and i really really heirloom i think right now what's happening with the right currently as we sit here comfortably seeing right now so we're not going there but we're sending them light love right now and we're also wanting to take action so what's a great takeaway for people w what would you what would be if you had one thing to say that you hope would ring a bell with people resonate with them what's that hopeful inspirational message from this once again you could do baby steps it doesn't have to be overnight the other thing is there's so much it's plentiful now the vegan food yeah plentiful that worry right that's not something to be concerned it's good for the health of your health it's good for the planet it's fantastic for the animals and you just reach out to a local reading community and need up you can find us earth environmental animal rights team of hoboken on facebook we are always posting things that are not just local but worldwide and just so you don't feel alone not isolated right right part of because sometimes you do especially on holidays like thanksgiving yeah people can  already yeah check out the the animal sanctuary sometimes they have thanksgiving and you were telling me about that the opposite doing the opposite has feeding the turkeys making them the stars of the meal as those of you know living beings great so excited their father's fluffed up and it's like wow it's a different you seeing them as like i said before a soul yeah so that we share the the planet with i think if we all did that right i die hard to heart so beyond the feathers and the fur that in that skin is an equal beautiful being with the right to live for us out their lives the way that they choose to so that's all why give me the feathers because i love them so much and i want them on the animal happily as they walk around vegan do it for the animals thank you susan so much for everything that really wonderful thank you for having me thank you for the work you're doing in the world recently i visited the touch mother earth festival at the mountain retreat war wrapping up another enlightening show if our topic resonated for you i encourage you to learn more and seriously consider going whatever you do remember to spread a little kindness of both people and animals and pay it forward today thank you monday morning flowers for the beautiful floral arrangement thank you for watching visit michelle gram