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278- New insight into where to find 'pre-vegans'...
1 Playsin 22 hours
Like gold prospectors keeping their ear to the ground, so many of us are desperate to find the optimal source of folk who are just waiting to become vegan & improve outcomes for animals...and it turns out they're all hanging around the cruelty-free lipstick aisle!
This week, Shane, Kate & Mark read behind the headlines & give their commentary on the week's animal rights & vegan news from across the globe.
Like what we do? Want to help it sound even better? Join our KoFi gang here: https://ko-fi.com/ENOUGHOFTHEFALAFEL
Thanks to Neil, Shane & Alex for their continued Ko-Fi support!
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Enough of the Falafel is a community of people who love keeping on top of the latest news in the world of veganism & animal rights. With the Vegan Week podcast, we aim to keep listeners (& ourselves) informed & up-to-date with the latest developments that affect vegans & non-human animals; giving insight, whilst staying balanced; remaining true to our vegan ethics, whilst constantly seeking to grow & develop.
Each week we look through news stories from the past 7 days in the world of veganism & animal rights.
If you spot any news stories that might catch our fancy, or have an idea for a discussion topic, get in touch via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com.
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This week's stories:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/21/hen-review-plucky-chicken-beats-the-odds-in-weirdly-uplifting-survival-story?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
https://www.theanimalreader.com/2026/05/15/france-to-move-marineland-orcas-to-spain-before-summer/
https://www.theanimalreader.com/2026/05/22/former-pakistani-official-calls-for-stronger-animal-welfare-protections-ahead-of-eid/
https://www.theanimalreader.com/2026/05/25/more-than-1600-monkeys-found-for-sale-on-social-media-in-the-us/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjep159x1njo
https://bbc.com/news/articles/c172zyqwrzdo?shem=rimspwouoe
https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/health/uk-ammonia-pollution-hotspots-factory-farms/
https://www.theanimalreader.com/2026/05/20/around-4000-sheep-and-goats-die-after-ship-sinks-near-oman/
https://www.euractiv.com/news/ireland-under-fire-for-downplaying-climate-impact-of-cattle/?shem=rimspwouoe
https://morethanmeatstheeye.substack.com/p/cruelty-free-consumers-vegan-advocacy
https://vegconomist.com/studies-numbers/plant-proteins-now-cheaper-processed-meat-germany-uk/
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Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Shane, Mark & Kate
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Transcript
Welcome to Vegan Week
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of Vegan Week. If you're looking for vegan and animal rights news, you've come to the right place.
Meet the Hosts
00:00:08
Speaker
I'm Shane, and joining me for this episode are Mark and Kate.
00:00:12
Speaker
But that's enough of the falafel. It's time for Vegan Week. So I think vegans go looking for trouble even when they're not looking for trouble. That's not what butter's used for. Brrr! Roaty.
00:00:23
Speaker
Take your flat-grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida. Should I call the media and say, hi, sorry. True education. younger generation are getting know how brutal these practices are.
00:00:36
Speaker
That leaves a lot of pizza delivery companies in problems with things. What is this? What kind of movie is this? It's comedy, gold, maybe. Any form of social injustice has
00:00:49
Speaker
As long as you don't get the wee brunions with the horns, you'll be alright. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:00:58
Speaker
cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision. and everyone, this is Mark. Welcome to the show and thank you for being here. Hello everybody, it's Kate with you here. So this is our news show and we're going to be looking through the latest vegan and animal rights news that we think you'll be interested in this week.
00:01:20
Speaker
And remember you can read the original news reports for all the stories we cover in the show this week. Just check the show notes in your podcast player and follow the links. But that's enough of the falafel, let's hear what's been going on this week.
00:01:32
Speaker
Thanks, guys. I'll start us off today with a quick summary of a few stories we were interested in
Film 'Hen' Exposes Factory Farming
00:01:38
Speaker
this week. Last week, I mentioned two new vegan animal rights related films. And this week, I have another.
00:01:45
Speaker
It's a new movie called Hen that just opened in the UK and Ireland. And according to The Guardian, where we got this story, it's the story of a hen who escapes slaughter and her adventures when and run-ins with humans. And I watched the trailer on YouTube, and I was impressed that it looks like it actually shows battery cages and some of the realities of factory farming.
00:02:08
Speaker
I will say that from what I read, the chickens in the film are not CGI. They are played by eight hens. So that may play into your decision to see it or not, but hopefully the film is eye-opening to the public who may still believe that hens live on little farms all their lives.
00:02:25
Speaker
Our second story is about the marine land orcas. I also recently covered that story, and it was about two orcas and 12 dolphins in an abandoned marine park in France.
00:02:37
Speaker
And the story is out of the Animal Reader, and it told us that French authorities have approved plans to transfer the animals to marine parks in Spain before the end of June. The two orcas will move to Lauro Parque in the Canary Islands, and the 12 dolphins will be divided between parks in Valencia and Malaga. And then our next story also comes from the animal reader.
00:02:59
Speaker
The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha just passed and ahead of that holiday, former Pakistani official Raksana Shah called for urgent reforms to improve animal welfare standards. An estimated 7.5 million animals are sacrificed for that holiday.
00:03:16
Speaker
And Shah argued that cruelty towards animals remains widespread in Pakistan, despite existing legal protections and Islamic teachings that emphasize humane treatment. Shah called for Pakistan's main animal welfare law, which is the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1890, be updated.
Online Primate Sales Report
00:03:35
Speaker
We also have a new report published by World Wildlife Fund, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums that found that during a six week period in 2025, more than 1600 primates were listed for sale on platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
00:03:57
Speaker
Many of the listings were easy to find by searching for terms like monkey adoption or rehoming. which is a way to get around the rules against commercial sales of primates.
00:04:08
Speaker
And many of the animals for sale were babies who were most likely taken from their mothers in the wild. And lastly, we have a story that was actually sent to us on Instagram by one of our listeners. It comes from the BBC who detail a report by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds or the RSPB, which recorded 921 confirmed attacks on protected rare birds of prey between 2015 and 2024, with more than half on or near land managed for game shooting. The head of the RSPB's investigations unit said the killings were about money with birds of prey targeted to stop them from taking birds that are to be shot by paying customers.
00:04:50
Speaker
Shooting organizations, of course, strongly deny persecution is widespread across the industry. They say it is carried out by a small minority and condemn it outright. But obviously the statistics speak for themselves.
00:05:03
Speaker
So that is all of our quick
End of Badger Culling in England
00:05:05
Speaker
stories. And now Kate and Mark and I will discuss a few more items in depth. The first story comes from the BBC also, who reports that badger culling has effectively ended in England. If you don't know, which I didn't, this is a practice used in farming to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis. And it resulted in the slaughter of more than 270,000 cattle in the last 10 years, according to government figures.
00:05:30
Speaker
Kate, I was wondering if you had heard about this story and what you what you thoughts were on it. Yes, I have. And ah I'm kind of thinking it's a very i'm a hopeful hopeful story. But I just wanted to say i am here in the UK, but it's really great that, Shane, you're in Texas and Mark, you're in New Zealand. So we've we're kind of spanning the whole world here, which I think is quite wonderful. So, you know, I've probably got a little bit more of a a view on this, maybe because I'm based in the UK. But yeah, i should what to say, the badger cull's just been completely appalling. About 247 to nearly badgers have been killed basically, through shooting and cage trapping.
00:06:25
Speaker
and that sort of that's about that's ah over half of the national badger population, which is really appalling. And it kind of it kind of reminds me of the story that was covered last week about the boars in um Spain. You know, the minute at wild animals cuppa come up against livestock farming,
00:06:51
Speaker
the wild animals lose. It's like, kill them all, kill them all. um So I'm hopeful that the cull has stopped and isn't going to be started again. Some of the farmers are kind of, they're not convinced, even though ah Apparently, they they tested quite a few of the the badgers for after they'd been killed and only like 5% of them had bovine TB. Note the name, bovine TB, not badger TB. So there are some people that think maybe the cow's been passing it mainly to the badgers rather than the other way around.
00:07:32
Speaker
And i think some of the wildlife trusts are thinking about stepping up to vaccinate because they're talking about vaccinating the badgers, aren't they? But um I don't know what you think, but it sounds like they're a little way off vaccinating the cattle, doesn't it?
00:07:48
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, I wonder if this is an admission of defeat scientifically but by the by the government, or or is this them saying job done? I mean, if if they've killed half the population, didn't realise that they had exterminated half the badger population. I know it's been an ongoing issue. It's similar in Ireland. They have a similar debate there. and Farmers tend, a lot a lot of farmers, not all, tend to insist it's been spread by badger poo, by cattle coming into contact with
00:08:19
Speaker
ah contaminated badger feces and so on and and therefore it's the badger's fault and therefore get rid of all the badgers and then the the badger trust type people people who understand badgers a bit bit more holistically would imagine and less uh with with less bias insist that it's it's actually often happening the other way around and and you can't get rid of a disease in one species by eradicating another species as a quote from
Farming vs. Biodiversity Conflict
00:08:44
Speaker
the head of the badger trust so i I know which side I would fall down on there, whose side I would believe. I'm not a scientist. that I haven't lived in the countryside. Both seem to have arguments that that that they stick to, but I think I would be obviously siding with the badger-cow people. It seems to have been just is one more knee-jerk reaction by by society, by species of society. if if When farming, which is completely unnatural, comes into contact with nature, it's it's a war, basically. It's a get swamped by nature and biodiversity or biodiversity is poisoned or trapped or snared or scared away or what have you. So it it underlines, and this is a theme that's gonna be coming up, I think in this show or the next show, ah underlines the um the um predatory nature of farming fundamentally. Yeah. And Kate, I'm glad that you mentioned that story from last week about the the killing of the wild boars in Spain, because that is exactly what it reminded me of, too.
00:09:47
Speaker
I just and I feel like in this story, they spent all this time and money killing these badgers instead of using this time to work on vaccines. to prevent it. And to me, that's just kind of mind boggling, really. Brian May's done some, there was a film with him in, wasn't it? Which I found so interesting. And they seem to say that animals, well, you know, cattle were being brought onto farms without being properly tested.
00:10:16
Speaker
And they were reactors, as ah what what's known as, who who've got the disease and and they were going under the radar. and that's And that's how a lot of farms were becoming infected. So hopefully they'll be bringing in better biosecurity. But then again, you know, it's still how do they carry on doing the wrong thing? you know you know, how can they carry on doing the wrong thing even longer? And, you know, just see the writing on the wall, get rid of it stop it now. I find it interesting that the ah option of vaccination or chemical into into intervention is is is being brought into this into this the discussion generally. I do know that it's been discussed in a New Zealand in relation to the invasive species here instead of killing or poisoning them. that they are sterilized. I know it's been experimented on in Germany on a small scale, and it's been discussed here as well in terms of a vaccination for cows, badgers, or both. So it is interesting that that there there is there is the the development of ah of a debate around this moving beyond let's just kill everything out there sort sort of option. you know and And I find that interesting. It's coming more to the fore now, which is good.
Ammonia Emissions Map Launch
00:11:36
Speaker
Thanks, guys. Our next story is from Plant Based News. i actually found a story in there that I liked, and it is from Compassion and World Farming and Sustain. And they launched a new interactive ammonia map in March that highlights, quote, the vast amounts of ammonia emissions from intensive chicken and pig farms that are fueling a growing crisis.
00:11:57
Speaker
Some of the regions with the highest output include North, can't it help me, Herefordshire, Herefordshire? Herefordshire. Herefordshire. you. Which has 2,992 tons per year.
00:12:09
Speaker
Gainsborough, which has 2,308 tons and adjoining area 3,763 tons. And Norfolk, more than 11,700 tons. And all the locations with the highest ammonia pollution are known for their high volume of industrial chicken and pig farms.
00:12:25
Speaker
So coincidence, I don't know. Mark, do what did you have any takeaways from this story? Well, I mean, it it sort of proves again, the the dominance of these sort of industries in the countryside and the and the absolute damage that that they do. I know that the river Y situation is is ah developing through the courts. I can't see why it couldn't happen in Norfolk and around Hertfordshire and elsewhere as well. the One of the disposal methods for getting rid of vast pits of slurry is to spread into the air as a sort of mist. yeah A mist of almost invisible droplets of slurry.
00:13:04
Speaker
and and and this And this gets into every animal's lungs in the area, and they're they're really small particles and get right into the aloe or whatever it's called. They're the thinnest little bits of the ah human lung ah causing cancer and all sorts of issues. and this And this stuff has just been spread out into the into the area as well. these These farms, these pollution factories, really, I mean, they theyre theyre they're an absolute... ah abomination and we will be looking back at these industries and in time to come. The way we look back now at kids being sent down coal mines or up chimneys or you're just sort of aghast at the brazenness of of the industrial system there. So it isn't a coincidence that all all those all those areas are are experiencing those problems. It's a matter for the courts, I think, really to to a step in and take lit to to take legal action. It'll be interesting to see the outcome of the River Y situation because that'll set a precedent.
00:14:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting that you mentioned the slurry because that's an issue also in where there are a lot of hog farms here in North Carolina. and they do that same thing where they, it's basically like ah a sprinkler that just shoots it into the air. And then the people who live around there, it coats their house, it gets in their lungs, and it's caused so many health problems there.
00:14:21
Speaker
Kate, I wondered if you had a chance to um actually use that map. I mean, and it wouldn't have, you can, because the map is interactive, you can actually plug in where you live and look at the ammonia emissions. Yeah, I did. And I live in Norfolk. Yay. So there's also, so they've also got a muck map.
00:14:41
Speaker
which i.e. shit map haven't they and ah they've got the factory farming map and lo and behold they all kind of overlap that's it that's interesting isn't it yeah so yeah i live in pig central and actually chicken central as well there's a lot a lot of ah pig farms a lot of pigs out on open fields so so-called free range and plus of course we've got lots and lots of uh factory farm pigs and chickens here sadly and we have wotton just down the road which is the home of cranswick slaughterhouse and gas chamber yay
00:15:20
Speaker
So, yeah it's really, it's it's horrible. it's but the the the thing is, this, I guess, ah my takeaway from this is it's getting, unfortunately, human beings, well, we're all quite um selfish in a way, but it's a good hook for getting people like,
00:15:42
Speaker
interested angry concerned worried for their own health for for their kids health for people who like are immune suppressed and all the rest of it and you know we've got groups like communities against factory farming doing incredible incredible work and they'll be able to use these maps including the ammonia one to to kind of show people because they go around they knock on doors they get the communities like up in arms community people people often don't even know there's a new factory farm that is planned for their area so and as soon as they do and they realize what's coming down the line i mean even just walking past a field of pigs say on a warm day and you've got the you've got the dust, you've got the filth blowing. No, it doesn't even matter whether it's slurry being sprayed, you know, just the smell and everything from an outside pig and then pig farm. And then if it's raining, you've got it all running down the roads and going into the the little streams and waterways and stuff. It is just disgusting. So yeah, hopefully this is gonna get people rather annoyed because,
00:16:57
Speaker
These three sort of areas, they are the worst, but there are plenty of others which are not far behind as well. We're just like, I guess, like a lot of places in the world, we are just intensively farming animals and it's just got to stop. I think you need people to be annoyed because I was reading that the ministers in the UK are thinking about rewriting the laws to make it easier to build factory farms. So this could be a problem in more areas. than it is of it right now.
00:17:28
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah, I've heard that apparently they're being lobbied by the chicken industry or something. But they're denying, oh, no, no, we're not being influenced by them. Oh, no, no, of course not. We're not being influenced by all their money. So, dear, it's really, yeah, it's terrible. And I have seen like, you know, local planning groups that in the past, you know, would just wave through these planning applications. not really caring about their local community, but now, you know, with the communities becoming more mobilised, they are finding it harder to kind of pass things sort of at a local level. And I guess, yeah, that the industry or industries are getting rather annoyed that their plans are being thwarted. Well, that's how they keep getting thwarted.
00:18:23
Speaker
Yes, indeed.
Live Animal Transport Dangers
00:18:24
Speaker
Our last story is kind of a sad story. It's about live animal transport. It's also from the animal reader. And they reported that around 4000 sheep and goats died after a cargo ship caught fire.
00:18:37
Speaker
and sank off the coast of Oman after being hit by a targeted strike. And it didn't really say much more about the targeted strike. I wasn't sure why they would be hit if that was like they got caught up in the middle of the war or something else. All the humans on the ship were rescued, but the animals were in the lower decks of the ship and they died either of fire, smoke or drowning. So Kate, I mean, I know that you think this is a horrific story, but it's not really a unique story, is it?
00:19:05
Speaker
No. bo Yeah, it is really horrible. doesn't, you know, hardly bears thinking about really what those poor animals went through. and I think, I can't remember if I found another thing in the Guardian or somewhere that kind of said that it had been hit by, had actually had a strategic strike and then it kind of caught fire and then i mean gosh and then sank I mean gosh um but yeah it just highlights the how just I just sort of thought my goodness how many animals are being shipped around the world and it's an awful lot and many of them um unfortunately are going to places where i guess
00:19:54
Speaker
it's harder for them to rear those animals in that they don't have pasture maybe and um although so many are like have ah fed ah imported food and stuff aren't they but apparently it's like um where's my figures all right I wrote I sketched it down 10 to 12 million sheep, goats and cows go to sea. So 5 to 7 million sheep, they head to the Middle East and cows, 4 to 5 million and they go for slaughter to feed lots and dairy breeding and goats, there's hundreds of thousands of them and apparently pigs don't because the poor little pigs They they would die on the voyage. they are They get heat stressed and all the rest. And chickens as well, they wouldn't survive. So chickens are transported,
00:20:51
Speaker
as chicks, usually by flight, apparently. So I found myself looking up all these horrible things and, you know, it just doesn't bear thinking about, does it what these poor animals must be going through. yeah like what did you what did you make of the story? Oh, it was, yeah, as you say, Shane, it's sort of more of the same. I do recall was covering a story a good few months back and I don't know what the outcome this was, I've a ship crammed full of animals that that wasn't able to to port in, I think it was in Greece, in Athens or Thessaloniki or somewhere. And it was just stranded basically in the middle of this, like a few miles off to the shore, had had been for a few months. The acc crew were going insane. The animals were probably already insane at this point, if they're still alive.
00:21:36
Speaker
ah People were saying we should just evacuate the crew and bomb the ship. I think there was a disease outbreak or something like this. It's awful. I noticed there was only 14 crew and is it yeah and and about three about how many thousands of animals? About 3,000 animals. 4,000 animals and there was 14 crew. you know So the animals were receiving ah but but no care in the first place. you know And then when this thing happens, yeah, as you say, it must...
00:22:02
Speaker
must have been awful. But yeah yeah again, sort of on it underlines the cruelty inherent in this sort of trade. that there's There's no way of doing this nicely or humanely at all. And it really comes to a crunch point in the transport of animals when they're just crammed in like this. Yeah, it's it's it's it's really depressing to read. I wonder who who i hit them. Yeah, it was all left really vague about the missile strike, ah who who they suspected it came from. i assume someone thought it was an enemy...
00:22:31
Speaker
Comet in ship, although how how how they mistook 3,000, 4,000 sheep for a military sort of threat. um just don know But yeah, it's awful. Apparently it was so a wooden ship. Wooden. know A wooden ship? Apparently it was wooden. Yeah, the photograph is of ah of looks like a ah metalwork ship. but otherwise that's what That's the thing I read.
00:22:55
Speaker
yeah I wonder if these ship these sheep were going to Oman ahead of Eid. as part of the, uh, the sheep, cause they sacrifice a lot of, um, sacrifice a sheep, um, as part of the celebration. So I wonder if that's where they're going. And then Oman is right by, Iran. Yeah.
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah. So it it may be that they were hit accidentally or, yeah um, I also remember that story that you were talking about Mark. And I also don't know the outcome because I just, I couldn't bear to, to,
00:23:27
Speaker
look up anything else about it. you know It was is so upsetting. yes yes, indeed. Yeah, yeah, it is a tragedy. Well, thanks, Mark and Kate, for your work on those
AI Transcripts for the Show?
00:23:36
Speaker
stories. In just a minute, we'll hear the picks of the week.
00:23:39
Speaker
Kate has a story about where best to target pre-vegans, and Mark has a story out of Ireland about cattle and climate change. But first, Kate, tell us about the transcripts for the show.
00:23:50
Speaker
Just remember that the transcripts are available for every show. So head over to forward slash vegan little mini hyphen in the middle week.
00:24:10
Speaker
And from there, any show you click on will have a written transcript beneath it. So ah remember that these transcripts are AI generated, so they may not be 100% accurate, but nonetheless, they make our shows more accessible. So we're delighted that they're available to anyone who's interested in consuming our content in this way.
00:24:35
Speaker
Thank you. Okay, Mark, you're up first with your pick of the week. Tell us a little bit about this story. Okay, so this is an interesting story um because it parallels what's going on in New Zealand as well. In fact, they make a reference to the same sort of plan of action in in this article. So ah Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, home to 5 million people and 7 million cows, millions more sheep.
00:24:58
Speaker
I mean, the place really is... So to give it a bit of context, really, and you'll see this if you if you go on Google Maps, right, and zoom in over Ireland and go in towards the coastline almost anywhere, maybe the far west where it's really mountainous, it isn't so prevalent, but almost everywhere else, there are farmer's fields that you can see going right up to the coastline.
00:25:23
Speaker
There's fields, fields, fields, or hedgerows, then a hedge a narrow, razor thin hedgerow, and then a cliff, and then down into the sea. you know or Almost every piece of land there is ah being farmed.
00:25:36
Speaker
In fact, right so um in the EU, the standard amount of land mass in any given country in the European Union is say between 10 and 40% land being farmed, okay either agriculture or arable, principally, obviously animal agriculture, because the land demands are so big for that. Try and have a guess, and Shane or Kate, how how much land or the landmass of Ireland is being farmed, is actual farmed fields percentage? 50 percent okay 50 k um i'm gonna say 70. over 71 percent wow oh really the entire landmass of all the you know including all the other locks all the mountains all the you know um places that are too steep or whatever it' to farm on but 71 of the entire land mass is being is farmers fields two two percent is covered in concrete
00:26:32
Speaker
2% is farms, village villages, towns, cities, right? 2%. 71% is... and seventy one percent is ah farm so it's it's always had um Obviously, it's always had an agricultural economy. It was kept that way by by the British Empire in order to supply its growing proletariat, especially during the Industrial Revolution, with cheap grain. okay So Ireland was used ah ah ireland was the the the the farm the garden, the farm really of of the empire.
00:27:01
Speaker
India was the crown, Ireland was the bread basket. was that way for a long, long time. So Irish farmers have been around for a long time. They they know what they're doing.
00:27:13
Speaker
They have extracted every bit of land that they could get their hands on to turn into profit. And it's mainly beef and dairy. So of that 71%, it's mainly beef and dairy. um ah I know I'm going sort of off of off track here. but Let's see what i'm sort of what I'm saying here is that so what the Irish farmers want to do. There there there there is no way they they have done their scientific best to minimize the environment the environmental impact of particularly dairy farming on the environment. right They've gone about half the distance that they need to
00:27:47
Speaker
ah in in order for Ireland to meet its 2030 Paris and climate goals. okay So even with the best will in the world and the best science in the world and the best expertise and hindsight and future projections, if they don't change and all of that, they can only achieve half of what they need to achieve.
00:28:03
Speaker
in order to get there. So what what they're doing instead is rejigging the sort of the way we we count the numbers. And they're saying that because methane, which principally comes from from rudiment animals, so sheep and cows, because it doesn't last as long as the environment, it doesn't last as long in the biosphere as carbon does about I think it's 20 years or 12 years, something not that, it in in instead of carbon emissions, which lasts for thousands of years. think it is much more potent, but it lasts for a lot less long. So so they wanted to be included, this cycle to be included as part of their sort of, they they want to continue producing methane because ah they've got no other choice if they're going to farm dairy cows.
00:28:45
Speaker
So they want to rejig how we count it so it looks like they're doing better than what they're doing, which is what they're doing in New Zealand. They want a baseline methane emission thing to be set in place. And then if you go above that, then there's trouble. If you stay around that mark, then it's okay. But they're just setting the methane baseline themselves and all the methane come comes from them as well. It's it's a really shoddy sort of schoolboy, sort of trick attempt to sort of hack the sort of reality,
00:29:11
Speaker
basically. And it's shameful, but they have no other choice because they've done everything else they could do in terms of minimizing their impact. It still isn't anywhere near enough, as I've said. So now they have to reject the system. So I think it's just a way that they're going to be able to say, oh, our industry is is climate friendly and we are you know helping with climate change. But By objective measures, if you're just adopting a new way of counting methane, but you're not actually reducing the production of methane, that's not climate friendly at all. The problem is still there. The problem doesn't go away, except it in in the minds of the consumers and the politicians, the dairy industry hopes.
00:29:51
Speaker
ah They know what they're doing is bullshit, but but they're but they're hoping that that it'll it'll convince enough people for long enough for them to be able to maintain their profits and so on. So it's a scam. Yeah.
00:30:02
Speaker
And I think if I recall from the article, isn't methane the gas that raises the temperature the most? Isn't that- It's 80 times more potent. It's actually 82 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
00:30:15
Speaker
Right, right. But but ah because it's got a shorter duration, They're they're ah trying to have that sort of be taken into account. So they have a certain amount to to release every 12 year cycle, and then they can release the same amount again in 12 years time, you know, and and sort of, as I say, sort of ah fool fool people into thinking that they're doing something when they can't do any anymore, basically.
00:30:37
Speaker
Yeah. it reminds me also of like a welfare standards when when factory farms will say, oh, we have these high welfare standards. And then you look and you're like, no, No, you don't. it's just It's just a lie. And you know because they hung a toy or something in one stall, that's that's higher welfare or something. Yeah, yeah. So I was i heard a really good quote from a documentary that I put a link to on our WhatsApp group, um and it was about a guy, a son, interviewing his dad. I mentioned that documentary last week. Okay, yeah.
00:31:10
Speaker
ah it It was a, yeah, I forgot the name of it too right now, but it's in last week's notes. yeah Yes, it'll in the notes, yeah. And there's a quote in it saying, ah some guy referring to the meat industry, part of their service is concealing what they do.
00:31:25
Speaker
And that's part of their product. Concealing from the consumers how big the impact that they have had is on the planet and their health and the rest of it. This is more of the same. did This is an attempt to placate the consumer, to keep the status quo happy, regardless of the inevitable outcome of not changing.
00:31:44
Speaker
So they're prepared to sacrifice pretty much everything for immediate short term gain for themselves. Yes. Well, not great. Kate, I think you have a ah more positive story. um i was going to say, could i just can I just come in a little bit on that? so yeah So, yeah, I just thought they've they've got a 15 billion euro export economy with beef and dairy. That's all it is, isn't it, Mark? They're just trying to protect that. Yes, it is. It's a huge industry. It's sort of resented by the farmers that that grow the crops and also has been historically. The beef and dairy farmer was seen as taking up too much land and not giving enough employment in the local area because it was less labor intensive than people who were growing and harvesting crops.
00:32:31
Speaker
So the beef and dairy farmer is a cut above the other farmer. would they They would see themselves as the top of the pyramid in terms of the farming scene. And they're very close to politics. They also have been. They pretty much run parts of the two main parties there, Fianna Fรกil and Fianna Gael. They have huge influence on that. So they're trying to steer government policy for the immediate short-term future for their profit.
00:32:55
Speaker
It's real naked ah quite an ugly and very potentially destructive and they're trying to argue aren't they that it's it's part of the normal cycle of stuff you know so it's fine everything's fine because it's all normal it's all normal and ah honestly it's like the biggest win that we could possibly have for the environment isn't it if we just got rid of all these methane, well, i've got rid of, you know what mean, in the vegan, nicest vegan possible way, stop farming animals um are producing the methane. And that would buy us time to tackle fossil fuel problems and all the rest of it. So, you know, it's just bonkers. These people are crazy. It's all about money.
00:33:45
Speaker
Kate, your story comes from a substat called More Than Meets the Eye and meat is M-E-A-T-S.
Targeting Cruelty-Free Buyers
00:33:51
Speaker
So tell us a little bit about your story, which is a little bit better news than this last few.
00:33:56
Speaker
Yeah. So this is enticingly named. We've been looking for pre-vegans in the wrong places. And it's by a guy called Bjorn. And he says, i ran a six month study. Here's what surprised me. So i I'm not somebody that wears makeup. Yeah, I do think about cleaning products that they're cruelty, not cool. They are cruelty free, and like sun cream and all of that. But so, you know, when I ever I'm advocating diet is normally my go to because it's something we all have to do at least three times a day. but
00:34:34
Speaker
Like all of us, I'm always wondering, you know, how to bring more people over into veganism. So i was really, you know, this kind of piqued my interest and I thought it's potentially a positive story.
00:34:47
Speaker
So this guy Bjorn, he was commissioned to do this report to evaluate a new programme from a group called te Sorry, my pronunciation will be dreadful. Te protegeo called compromiso cruelty free and in English, your cruelty free commitment.
00:35:09
Speaker
So there were 284 participants signed up for this programme over six months. And they were giving practical guides, webinars, there community groups. And it was all based in Latin America. And they're all people that said they were interested in buying cruelty-free products. It sounds like mainly makeup. And and it sounds like the the all of them or the majority were women. Yeah. So, yeah, so they had educational guides on vegan food, clothes, makeup, etc. And the guy who sent out three surveys, the beginning, middle and end, which included like food questionnaires. So, it went, yeah, like I said, it went over six months. So he says he used statistical stuff that I don't really understand to rule out confounders and stuff as far as possible. Big surprise, vegan diet followers were more likely to buy cruelty-free products. So there was actually a big dropout of people. Only 86 people remained at the end of the study. i don't know if that's a normal amount of people to fall out of the study, but that's only like 16% made it to the end. But he found that at the end of it all, 2% of the vegetarians said they vegan. 7% of the flexi people said they became vegan. But it looks like 1% of the flexi people actually started to eat more meat. So I don't know what that says. So he sort of calculated that the programme participants are now eating...
00:36:57
Speaker
uh six all day over that time they i guess collectively they ate 65 fewer pigs 163 fewer chickens 78 fewer fish and half a cow so he found out that the people who entered the cruelty free program at the beginning were more than twice as likely to be vegan at the end.
00:37:22
Speaker
So it's a tiny sample, I think. There was no control and possibly there could be other factors involved. But his hypothesis is that cruelty-free foods ah buyers of cruelty-free products perhaps should be targeted more. So he he went and looked at other surveys um about people that buy cruelty-free over the past few years to kind of ascertain, you know, potentially how many of the world's population might be interested in buying cruelty-free products.
00:37:56
Speaker
um And he found out that 39% of those are actually not vegan. And so he thinks that's a huge potential, a huge target where we might actually have some influence. So he worked out the most conservative to the least conservative. So it's about, it could be from 900 million people to a quarter of a billion people. who buy cruelty-free stuff but are not vegan. And he thinks we should cast our net wider and focus on behaviours. So, yeah, it is tiny.
00:38:37
Speaker
um There was no control. There could be other factors. But at the same time, I find it interesting. I don't know what you guys think about it.
00:38:47
Speaker
Do you think that, I don't know, have we, are there lots of people targeting people for who are buying cruelty free products already, do you think, to follow through with the other like diet and all the rest of it? Well, something that the Vegan Society in New Zealand is going to trial soon, and I know this because it was me that that i suggest suggested doing this a few weeks ago at one of our meetings, is to there there is a there is a conservation group here called the at Forest and Bird Society, and their focus is on forest and birds, but ah conservation more broadly. They're probably the oldest conservation society in the country,
00:39:31
Speaker
relatively massive day of they have tens of thousands of members which is huge for New Zealand very highly respected we're going to start plugging our 21 day to vegan challenge advertising in their publication which comes out quarterly and goes out to all the readers online as well loads of people so the the i thinking is is that someone who's concerned about forest and bird conservation is also more more liable to be open to to our message. So sort of targeted advertising, I suppose, it's sort of a more clever way to use the limited the limited resources that we have here.
00:40:07
Speaker
So I'm not sure if that sort of follows on from the cruelty free ah aspect, but yeah, it's sort of looking for recruits where the stat the statistics say it's more more likely, I suppose. I mean, it makes sense. If people are already you know interested in that, then... Somewhere down the road, yeah. yeah I will say that um I feel like makeup and skin products, um so many more of them now are cruelty-free and vegan because you can it can be cruelty-free without being vegan. I mean, I don't think it can be, but they can label it that way if they don't test it on animals, but it could still have, I guess, animal...
00:40:46
Speaker
part pieces in it or something. There are so many more available now than there used to be. And the labeling is also really easy to find. So I think that might be one reason more people are buying it. I have a 16 year old and she's always buying makeup and looking for makeup. So we're constantly at the store looking at makeup. And I mean, I've just noticed that the the labeling is a lot easier So I but I feel like people who are looking at that labeling and seeking that out um are definitely somebody that you might want to target. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:41:22
Speaker
Definitely. And I think your your thoughts there, Mark, I think he tie in with he he he has three buckets. ah three buckets of change or whatever and one of them is empathy and our active moral concern for animals outside of diet so that would be bird watchers and what have you um so individual animal especially i suppose maybe i don't know but we all know how
00:41:56
Speaker
how people like trick their brains and what have you and you know it's still really hard to get through to people but so individual animal empathy is the biggest predictor for long-term veganism apparently so another bucket is capacity people who've already changed their habits e.g they've given up plastic fast fashion flying things like that so they're not averse have already already changed something and so you know this is just another change perhaps and then there's proximity which is the targeting the flexis the veggies and all of that so you know ah ah yeah i do think it's it's interesting it certainly made me think that perhaps And actually, I do have experience of somebody when I was sharing online stuff about um animal cruelty and cruelty free products. And someone did message me privately and say, said, oh, I never thought about the animals. and you know And I'm not saying it was all me and that post because obviously there are other things going on, but they are now vegan. So you know maybe that was that was just a little extra flick. Who knows? I don't know. yes it's good to think to try and think outside of our little tram lines or what have you. I recently heard an interview with...
00:43:25
Speaker
a woman who was part of the Ridgeland Beagle Rescue, she was there when they were tear gassed and everything. And she was talking about how all the messaging of the people who were involved in that was vegan.
00:43:38
Speaker
though Even though a lot of people who were involved in the rescue were not vegan, they were just interested in helping the dogs or they worked for rescue organizations or whatever. But she said that that and naturally, they would a lot of vegans were leading, the they broke them up into different groups to coordinate and were leading those And, you know, talking about veganism and that she's had people after that that, you know, were like, oh, you know, I didn't really think about that. And we're interested then in going vegan and perhaps had gone vegan.
00:44:06
Speaker
So that's that's lovely. That's great. More of the proximity. All right, everyone, if you have enjoyed the podcast or we've said something that you object to, let us know. We're always happy to hear your opinions and you can get in touch with us by messaging us on Instagram or Facebook.
00:44:23
Speaker
or by emailing us and Kate is going to tell us what tell you what our email is okay everybody so it is enough of the falafel or one word at gmail.com we love to hear from you and we read and respond to every single email sent in by all you wonderful people And we really, really enjoy featuring them in our mailbag shows. and Unless, of course, you don't want that and you tell us not to.
00:44:56
Speaker
We've got one last story to cover. And I love to always try to end with a positive story. And this last story is from Vegconomist. And it features an analysis that was conducted by climate and the climate and food advocacy group Madre Brava using data from market intelligence from a market intelligence agency called Euromonitor International. And they found that the average meat prices have risen by between 29% and 42% across the three markets since 2019. And I believe the three markets were Germany, UK, and I forgot what the third one was, but Catermark probably know. But it's risen that much since 2019 with beef recording the steepest increases of up to 56% in the
00:45:43
Speaker
But in Germany and the UK, plant-based meat products moved from being more expensive than meat in 2019 to cheaper in 2025. So Mark, did you get a chance to look at this story? I feel like this is something we've been talking about recently. We had an article a few weeks or a month or so back on similar outcomes in specifically the UK. I think it was focusing on Tesco supermarket and comparing maybe Tesco own brand meat alternatives to own brand meat, like mints and burgers and sausages and found, I think, except for maybe burgers, everything that was vegan was staying around the same price and the meat was shooting up. You can see on their graph in in this in this article here that you were reading from, Shane, that in 2021, something happened just prior to 2021 that sent the price of meat skyrocketing and in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. and probably across the EU.
00:46:43
Speaker
And I'm sort of guessing with something to do with COVID because that was when COVID was just beginning and taking bite and so on. And it's been going up ever since. It's almost like a hockey stick from 2021 onwards to the present day. The price of meat throughout the EU, I would imagine, has shot up and it's through the war on the the Ukraine, COVID and all sorts. The price of the meat alternatives has stayed the same. It's good to see this. It's one more barrier that's been that's been knocked down. An oft-quoted reason why people refuse to go vegan is that they think it's much cheaper to eat processed meats.
00:47:20
Speaker
And they're finding out now that not only is it much more expensive on their health and on the planet, it's also costing them a lot more. And that will be a factor that will sway a lot of people. unfortunately it it it takes money but that's now beginning to happen so all you're sort of left with really in terms of excuses is tradition and culture and they're fading fast too so it's good it's good news all around i would say i agree I don't know how it is in New Zealand or the US, but I know people are generally finding it, food in general, much more unaffordable. For one of the richest countries in the world, we have a lot of people struggling with the basics, which I think is shameful, but there we are. And yeah, I think Mark's right. People... they will reach for the cheaper option and it will be the healthier option and it will be a tasty option. So I think that's all absolutely brilliant news. And the thing is, meat is just going to get more and more expensive, isn't it? Because of climate change, you know, we've been having ah a bit of a heat wave here and then apparently a cows drink water. twice as much water when it's hot who knew and so they drink 100 litres of water a day instead of 50 and you know where I live i i kind of go past pig fields and things and I see all these great big water pipes heading out across the fields to for the pigs I mean all that's unsustainable I reckon some of it's being pumped out of rivers which are you know you're just can't keep doing that. The feed's going to get more and more expensive. And and and at the minute, what with everything that's going on in the world, you know, it's harder for the feed to even get here and the fertilizer and all of that. So it's all just going to make it much, much more exp expensive. So yeah, let's just feed the stuff to the humans instead. So much better. and And if we do that, lentils and tofu and all that is even cheaper, I'm sure, than the plant-based meat alternatives.
00:49:33
Speaker
So you can really save money. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Well, I'm glad we ended it with a happy story. um That is all the news for this week. If you like the show and you have a few extra dollars or pounds or euros you want to throw our way, you can find us at ko.fi.com, ko-fi.com slash enough of the falafel, all one word. And that link will be in the show notes.
00:49:56
Speaker
You don't have to donate a lot. We're going accept as little as one pound a month. Mark, are there any other ways that people can support the show? There sure You can rate us on your podcast player, which always helps and it's free. And you can tell people about the show and share it online. Also free.
00:50:13
Speaker
Thank you everyone for listening to our truly international show. So our next Enough of the Falafel episode is coming out on the 4th of June and that's a vegan talk episode and it's going to be with Anthony, Mark and Shane.
00:50:30
Speaker
And they're going to be discussing Billie Eilish's recent comments about veganism and the public reaction. That'll be interesting. and Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thanks to Shane and Kate for your contributions.
00:50:46
Speaker
Thanks again, everyone, for listening. I've been Mark, and you've been listening to Vegan Week from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
00:50:58
Speaker
This has been an Enough of the Falafel production. We're just a normal bunch of everyday vegans putting our voices out there. The show is hosted by Zencaster.
00:51:08
Speaker
We use music and special effects by zapsflat.com. And sometimes, if you're lucky, at the end of an episode, you'll hear a poem by Mr Dominic Berry. Thanks all for listening and see you next time.
00:51:39
Speaker
This episode may have come to an end, but did you know we've got a whole archive containing all our shows dating back to September 2023? twenty twenty three That is right, Dominic. There's over 100 episodes on there featuring our brilliant range of different guests, people's stories of going vegan, philosophical debates, moral quandaries, and of course...
00:52:00
Speaker
around a dozen news items from around the world each week. So check back on your podcast player to hear previous episodes. And remember to get an alert for each new episode, simply click like or follow and also subscribe to the show.
00:52:15
Speaker
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