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MUSIC BONUS on this episode! Hope has a wonderful conversation with vegan musician Brent Ratkovich. A singer and guitarist, Brent has recently been focused on a recording project that will produce three animal rights, vegan themed songs. They will be released as an EP called Three to Set Them Free in October of 2026. Listen and enjoy two of Brent’s new songs on this episode! Brent shares the challenges of writing vegan themed lyrics and his inspiration and process to create animal freedom songs. He also talks about activist burnout and the importance of finding balance and even joy in your life. He and Hope discuss how music and art can help us create the world we want to see, adding emotion and humane creativity to messaging. Brent is a passionate animal advocate who launched his solo advocacy project, One Cow Army, in 2015 donning a cow mask and taking his message to the streets. Brent has worked as an animal sanctuary caregiver, co-founded an Animal Save chapter, and participated in multiple large-scale rescues of thousands of hens from egg farms. Now based in Eugene, Oregon, Brent continues his commitment to animal protection volunteering with numerous local sanctuaries, the Eugene VeganFest, and founding A.C.E. – Animal Compassion Eugene, organizing outreach events and protests.  Brent’s Songs and Social Media: Subvert Bluesky, @elementalvegan.bsky.social  Youtube Instagram Facebook  Lyrics to Brent's Songs: Trying Searching for the perfect words Hoping their voices will be heard, I’m trying You’ll say anything to hide the truth, cuz you don’t wanna know what they go through, I’m trying Knowing they never see the sun, suffer every day  to die so young, I’m crying Why can’t you see, they struggle to be free? Make a kinder choice, just hear your inner voice I shouldn’t have to prove, they’re just like me and you You’re hoping that the farmers treat them well You’ll buy every promise they try to sell,  they’re lying If you were in their place I’d fight for you, Why’s it hard to see they’re friends not food, they’re dying Why can’t you see, they struggle to be free? Make a kinder choice, just hear your inner voice I shouldn’t have to prove, they’re just like me and you I look into their eyes and someone’s there Hoping for a world we all can share, I’m trying Brent Ratkovich  Copyright 2026     Not Enough   All they want is their freedom For every reason, that you and I take for granted Free to love and free to play To live life their own way But we enslave them every season And they tell us every day It's not enough to say humane It's not enough that we can build a bigger cage The billions pay the price, from all the welfare lies The truth is there for you to see We're told a story when we're young Of happy farms that do no harm And a sun that shines on everyone But every label tells a lie Cuz they're just babies when they die And their fight for life is never won Still they're screaming every day It's not enough to say humane It's not enough that we can build a bigger cage The animals pay the price, through all the welfare lies The truth is there for us to see It's not enough to buy free range It's not enough to hope they're killed a "better" way We're free to say goodbye, to all the welfare lies It's up to us to set them free Set them free!  Brent Ratkovich  Copyright 2026

From environmental protection to animal advocacy, on this episode we explore the connection of protecting wild animals and places to a vegan ethic of nonviolence. Jack Gescheidt created his TreeSpirit Project to use art, advocacy and activism to raise awareness of our interdependence with trees, forests, wild animals and the natural world. A lifelong nature and animal lover, Jack turned professional photographer four decades ago, environmental activist two decades ago, and in the last decade, he is now a vegan educator.  Jack and Hope talk about the program of killing half a million Barred Owls to supposedly “save” the Spotted Owl in the Pacific Northwest and what “invasive species” really means. They also discuss the Pt. Ryes National Seashore Tule Elk issue where environmentalist and animal rights advocates came together to get the dairy cow operations out of this sensitive area, and won! They also talk about the problems with grass-fed animal products, rotational grazing, and how these forms of animal agriculture use extensive land and fencing that disrupt migratory animals. They share the importance of having reverence and love for nature and an ethos of protection and not destruction. But don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom, we end the episode with a love fest.  Jack will be speaking at Compassionate Living’s Sonoma County VegFest on Saturday, September 26. He will speak about how the human tradition of treating non-human animals as inferiors, and using them for our own purposes, is not only exterminating wild animals, but all life on Earth — and ourselves. Resources:  TreeSpirit Project In Defense of Animals- Owl Petition Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube

We start this episode with a movie review from Hope of the new pro-animal film The Sheep Detective. Then we move into a conversation with Kathy Cullen, founder of Jolene's Retreat. Kathy and Hope discuss rescues and the residents of Jolene’s Retreat sanctuary. Kathy has rescued numerous small “companion” pigs and they discuss the problem of breeding “potbelly” and “teacup” designer pigs. They also talk about the importance of animal’s agency as well as friends and family units and how these are disrupted and broken up in animal agriculture and the psychological distress that can cause. But also how bonds of friendship form on sanctuaries and are not limited by species. When Kathy Cullen was 19, she decided to go vegetarian for health reasons, but morality quickly took a front seat after realizing that she no longer wanted to be a part of animal suffering. Kathy began reading about the problems with animal agriculture and the unbelievable suffering animals endure for food, entertainment, clothing, science, etc. and decided to get involved. She joined animal rights organizations, attended animal rights conferences, visited animal sanctuaries, and finally decided to start her own sanctuary. She bought 10 acres of land in Occidental, California in and in May 2023, Jolene’s Retreat became a reality with their first rescue of a family of five pigs. Kathy will be presenting at Compassionate Living’s Sonoma County VegFest on Saturday, September 26, 2026 in Santa Rosa, California.  Resources: Jolene’s Retreat Sonoma County VegFest 2026 Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube

Rev. Carol Saunders is an ordained Unity and interfaith minister and organizer of the Whole Planet Spirituality Forum and Retreat at Unity Village. She is the host of the podcast The Spiritual Forum; author of Wolf and the Lamb, an online ministry to awaken the world to our Oneness with all beings and author of the booklet, The Forgotten Teachings of Charles Fillmore: How Our Relationship with Animals Connects to Universal Love, Ethical Living, Spiritual Development and World Peace. Rev. Carol believes social movements are only truly effective when they are movements of love and peace.  Rev. Carol and Hope discuss the upcoming Whole Planet Spiritualty Forum and Retreat at Unity Village, The Unity Church and how the founders were ethical vegans in the early 1900s, and importance of bring love into our advocacy.   About the retreat: This is Carol’s sixth year leading this retreat at Unity Village. At the Whole Planet Spiritualty Forum and Retreat, Rev. Carol will lead the Thursday night “getting to know one other” gathering and officially open the retreat on Friday morning where she will discuss Whole Planet Spirituality and our 2026 retreat theme, “Above All, Love All.” Attendees  will delve into David Hawkin’s map of consciousness and engage in dialogue on love, healing, activism, planetary consciousness and the purpose that calls us to be. Resources: Whole Planet Spirituality Forum and Retreat The Spiritual Forum Podcast YouTube Channel Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube

Meet Peanut: Artificial Intelligence for Vegan Encouragement Our guest today is Jeannie Walter, she is a retired librarian, longtime animal advocate, and has created Peanut the pig, an AI coach at the center of GetYourOinkOn.com, a vegan coaching app. Peanut uses warmth, humor, and a distinct personality to help people take meaningful steps toward eating more plants. The approach is intentionally invitational: small wins, genuine encouragement, and zero guilt.  In the interview, Jeannie talks about how she got the idea to create Peanut and the importance of embracing new technologies to assist in our animal advocacy outreach. She and Hope also discuss the concerns and challenges of Artificial Intelligence, the possibilities of AI sentience, and how this could potentially support animal advocacy.  Peanut is also part of something larger. GetYourOinkOn.com exists in part to raise money to feed real animals at sanctuaries — connecting every user's journey to the animals whose lives depend on it. Peanut is one of several AI animal coaches in the Messy Barnyard ecosystem, a suite of apps built around the idea that animals are among the most powerful ambassadors for their own cause. Resources: Website to meet Peanut: http://getyouroinkon.com/ Website: Messy Barnyard The Creator (film) Humans (TV series) Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube

Why should be care about bees? Why should we avoid honey and beeswax? Vegans want to eliminate as much harm, exploitation, and killing as possible. When animals are farmed for profit, there is always compromise of their wellbeing, and bees farmed for their honey and beeswax are no exception. Ethical veganism is about getting justice over the species barrier, and in this case it’s concern for the amazing, beautiful bee. In this short episode, our host Hope Bohanec offers her knowledge about honey bees. We learn about their fascinating and complex lives, details of honey farming practices, and the truth about how our interference and manipulation of bees is hurting them and the entire planet.

Vegans are careful to read ingredients, to make sure no animal products are in our meals, we scrutinize products for animal testing, but what about a 401k? What about an investment portfolio? What kind of animal use and abuse do investments support? More than you would ever consider putting your money into if you had a choice. Our guest today is working on a solution. Claire Smith and her team have a first of its kind vegan investment option tailored to exclude any and all animal exploitation.   Claire Smith is the founder of humane investment platform Beyond Investing. She is a vegan and environmentalist with 38 years’ experience in finance and investment at top-tier banks and investment houses.  Beyond Investing creates investment programs designed for animal advocates and climate-conscious investors in both public listed equity markets and venture capital. Based in Switzerland, Claire is the founder of Beyond Cruelty Foundation, formed to campaign for zero animal exploitation and to fund safe havens for animals. This foundation will also receive a portion of profits of companies under the Beyond Investing umbrella. Resources: Websites: www.beyondinvesting.com  www.veganetf.com Social media links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondinvesting/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeyondInvest  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-investing/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beyondinvesting   Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube

Tapping into fandom with animal protection and vegan messages, The Protego Foundation accesses sci-fi, fantasy, and other other devoted fan communities to advocate for animals. Our guest is Brittany Drake, campaigns director for The Protego Foundation. Brittany talks about the foundation’s creative campaigns such as getting vegan butter beer offered at the Harry Potter theme parks, a Game of Thrones inspired campaign encouraging vendors at fan conventions not to use wild animals as props for photos, and their latest campaign around the release of the movie sequel, Wicked For Good.  Brittany and Hope go on to talk about the animal rights and vegan themes in numerous movies and televisions entertainment, unpacking the animal personhood vision of Wicked, the strong animal characters in The Wizard of Oz, disturbing animal eating parallels in Stargate Atlantis, and vegetarianism in Avatar: The Last Airbender. They also talk about how the use of fictional creatures and characters can garner an audience's imagination and empathy for animals. Brittany Drake is the campaigns director for The Protego Foundation. She has helped with countless campaigns and seen several achieve success including Starbucks’ dropping of the vegan upcharge for nondairy milks, Harvard and UMass closing their monkey labs, and Farmer John closing their Los Angeles slaughterhouse. In addition to her campaign work, she has rescued farmed animals and been arrested for civil disobedience on multiple occasions. Resources: The Protego Foundation The Protego Foundation Mailing List (related) Hope for the Animals Podcast, episode 127: From Teddy Bears to Talking Fish: Children’s Media and Animal Personhood with Cogen and Hope Bohanec   Recommended Movies:  Wicked and Wicked For Good Remarkably Bright Creatures Chimp Crazy Okja   Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube

Happy Pride Month! We’re celebrating Pride with Kathleen Gage, the founder of Vegan Visibility. Kathleen shares her experiences as a vegan lesbian and emphasizes the significance of understanding the history of the LGBT+ community and its relevance to current political and social dynamics. Kathleen discusses her business, Vegan Visibility, and her work with Blue Barn Animal Sanctuary in Creswell, Oregon. She also shares her personal way she celebrates Pride. Kathleen Gage is the founder of Vegan Visibility and a longtime business consultant, keynote speaker, marketing strategist, and podcast host. With certifications in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University, Kathleen has spent decades helping entrepreneurs and changemakers grow their visibility and impact. She hosts 2 podcasts “Vegan Visibility” and “Plant Based Eating for Health,” and is the creator of the Vegan Visibility Virtual Summit, supporting vegan and plant-based entrepreneurs worldwide. She resides with her wife in Pleasant Hill, Oregon. Resources: Vegan Visibility Socials:  https://x.com/kathleengage https://www.facebook.com/VeganVisibilityNetwork  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleengage/ Other Pride Hope for the Animals Episodes: The Vegan Drag Queen, Honey LaBronx Trans Vegan Voices

Cage-free eggs are everywhere. They are now available at most every grocery store, a muffin lists cage-free eggs in the ingredients, and a restaurant touts cage-free omelettes on their menu. Is this a win for hens? We crack into this question with Amber Canavan examining PETA’s new document called, “White Paper On the Failure of Cage-Free Housing Systems To Reduce Over All Hen Suffering”. On this episode, Amber shares why PETA released this white paper, how cage-free facilities can actually create new and worse conditions for hens, and how humanewashing eases consumers concerns about the treatment of farmed animals. Amber and Hope both share first hand experience of witnessing cage-free facilities and the reality of cage-free egg farming.  Amber Canavan is Associate Director of Vegan Campaigns at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Her victories include persuading Costco, Target, and Albertsons to stop selling coconut milk sourced from brands that used forced monkey labor in Thailand; getting Kikkoman soy source to end decades-long experiments on animals; compelling Starbucks, Dutch Bros, and other coffee chains to drop a vegan milk upcharge; and orchestrating the rescue of over 400 hens from a cage free egg facility that was shutting down. She has worked on various animal rights legislation, including the foie gras sales ban that passed in New York City.  Resources: PETA’s Cage-Free White Paper The Cage-Free Conundrum, Hope for the Animals Podcast Episode 100 The Humane Deception with Lia Wilbourn, Hope for the Animals Podcast Episode 124 Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube

Vegans are visionaries. We hold a vision of a nonviolent future where all animals are free from human imposed commodification, suffering, and killing. What if this vision was on the ballot and we could vote on it? That could be happing soon with the Oregon Initiative Petition 28 — officially titled the PEACE Act, People for Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions. This ballot initiative would eliminate the legal exemptions that currently protect hunting, fishing, trapping, and farming from Oregon's animal abuse statutes. David Michelson is the visionary heading up this historic effort and on this episode he shares insights into the campaign including why he decided to start it, why in Oregon, and what its passing would mean for animals. He also clears up some misconceptions about the campaign and talks about our vision as a movement and how we need to hold onto the hope for total animal liberation.   David Michelson is the lead organizer behind a ballot initiative campaign in Oregon that seeks to ban the killing and breeding of all animals statewide—including those on farms, in research labs, and in the wild. David started this campaign in 2020, and is currently working on qualifying it for the 2026 upcoming election.  Resources: Campaign website: YES on IP28 BOOK: Spirit Matters by Michael Lerner Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube

Joanne Kong joins us on the Hope for the Animals Podcast to talk about her new book Vegan Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Plant-Based Living. This episode  explores the how-to of living vegan.  Joanne talks about why she felt it was important to start the book with the vegan connection to social justice. She and Hope also talk about the difference between vegan and plantbased, sticky situations that vegans encounter and how to deal with them, how to avoid animal products beyond food, and some responses to frequently asked carnist questions. Dr. Joanne Kong’s new book Vegan Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Plant-Based Living provides practical tips and know-how for those on their plant-based journey. It covers a wide range of topics including ways to make the transition, stocking your vegan kitchen, meal-planning, shopping, understanding food labels, plus advice on navigating social challenges, travel, and eating out. Beyond diet, other lifestyle aspects of vegan living are explored as well.  Vegan advocate Dr. Joanne Kong has spoken throughout the United States, including talks at numerous vegfests, conferences, high schools, and universities. Her highly-praised TEDx talk, The Power of Plant-Based Eating, at over 1 million views on YouTube, is placed on numerous websites internationally. Dr. Kong is the editor of Vegan Voices: Essays by Inspiring Changemakers, released in 2021 by Lantern Publishing & Media. She also appears in the major documentary, Eating Our Way to Extinction. As a critically-acclaimed concert pianist, Joanne incorporates the arts into her animal advocacy with benefit concerts for animal sanctuaries, as well as unique Strands of Compassion events presented by VEGAN VIRTUOSI, a duo with cellist Dr. Christoph Wagner. Her new book, Vegan Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Plant-Based Living, is out now.    Resources:  Joanne’s website: www.vegansmakeadifference.com Joanne’s Book: Vegan Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Plant-Based Living Eugene VeganFest, May 3, 2026 Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube

On this episode we are tackling the cultural and political shift back to meat, saturated fat, high-protein diets and the connection to hyper-masculinity. The US is seeing a resurgence of meat-eating as a symbol of masculinity, masculinism, meat connected to identity politics and the “culture wars”. Our guest, Jan Liband, will explore the social factors driving this backlash and explore how social media, economic uncertainly, and fear are motivating this trend.  Jan and Hope talk about how toxic masculinity, a toxic subsidized meat economy, and a response to progressive advancements are components propelling the meat-heavy movement. They also talk about the pervasive myths around meat, protein, and muscle building, and how these affect men in particular. There are strong phycological factors at play that are embedded in our culture and are resurfacing in our current political climate.  Jan Liband is a fact-based environmentalist, public speaker, and former Silicon Valley veteran who has been vegan since the 1980s. He has an academic background in psychology plus decades in marketing and has studied our shifting attitudes towards food and the growing environmental and health impacts of our global food system for decades. Jan volunteers for several vegan and environmental organizations and serves as Chief Researcher and Speaker for Plant-Based Advocates, a Bay Area based non-profit and is a board member of Compassionate Living. In addition to advocacy, Jan is an accomplished athlete, martial artist, and professional musician who holds a degree in Psychology from U.C. Santa Cruz. Resources:  FILM: The Game Changers BOOK: The Sexual Politics of Meat Atlantic Article: America is Done Pretending About Meat: Plant Based Eating Has Lost Its Appeal Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube

Hope is hosting Compassionate Living’s Humane Hoax Online Conference on March 17, 2026 and to entice you to register, we are replaying a fantastic conversation from Episode 81 on humanewashing in journalism. Lisa Barca is one of the 18 contributing authors to Hope’s anthology The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy and Ethical Eggs and they had an insightful conversation that we wanted to share again. The theme of this year's Humane Hoax Online Conference is language and narrative, so this conversation reflects our focus for the conference and we hope that you will register! The link is below.  Lisa has fascinating insights into the portrayal of farmers, farmed animals, and our relationship to animals in her chapter and discusses them with Hope in this conversation. She explains the “absent referent,” or the erasing or hiding of animal’s identities and how it relates to the humane hoax. She also talks about how the new “humane” do-it-yourself slaughter normalizes violence toward animals and she offers advice to journalists, and to us all, on language that helps the animals to be seen and heard in media stories about them. Lisa Barca is a lecturer in the Honors College at Arizona State University, where she teaches humanities, writing courses, and seminars on the ethics of humans’ relationships with other animals. Her current research centers on critical animal studies, media ethics, rhetoric and ideology, and the intersections of feminism and animal rights. She holds a Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures and is a contributing author to the volume Meatsplaining: The Meat Industry and the Rhetoric of Denial and also to The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs. Resources: Humane Hoax Online Conference Information Conference Registration Order Hope Bohanec’s Book: The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs

Social media is ubiquitous. Love it or hate it, social media's influence shapes our lives and steers our culture. Johnny Oberg uses this power for the good of animals. Johnny has a social media superpower with 300,000 followers and millions of eyes on his persuasive posts. He and Hope discuss the potency of social media to transform our world to one that cares about animal freedom. They talk about how to deal with “trolls” in your comments as well as AI generated content and how it might affect the believability of animal abuse content.  Johnny Oberg is an animal advocate dedicated to making the world a kinder place for animals by utilizing the power of social media. A vegan since 2009 he became an independent advocate in 2018 funded through individual donations, focusing on amplifying pro-animal content in the digital space. Previously, he served as Director of New Media for The Humane League and as Director of Communications for Vegan Outreach. In his decade of experience in social media advocacy, he has accumulated 300,000 followers his posts have been viewed 500 million times, and he has heard from thousands of people who've been influenced by his work.  Resources: Official website: JohnOberg.org Donations: Donorbox.org/JohnOberg Instagram: Instagram.com/JohnOberg Twitter: Twitter.com/JohnOberg Facebook: Facebook.com/JohnObergOfficial Threads: Threads.net/@JohnOberg Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/johnoberg.bsky.social YouTube: YouTube.com/user/JohnOberg LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/JohnSOberg/   Article: Stop Saying Factory Farming Support this podcast: Hope for the Animals Podcast Compassionate Living Social Media: Facebook Instagram YouTube