How To Be An Activist & Find Your Voice | The Bite Size Vegan Story 2

Have you ever been passionate about a cause
but unsure of how to voice your beliefs? Do

you want to take action but just don’t know
how? Well I’m going to share with you how

I dealt with those very struggles in my journey
to becoming a digital activist.

Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to
another vegan nugget. If you’re familiar

with my channel you’ll know that most of
my videos tend to be around the 5 minute mark.

This video is an exception, which I only make
in special cases, like when I posted Gary

Yourofksy’s life-changing speech and Q&A
session on my channel. The following footage

is from my speech at VegFest Orlando. A couple
quick technical notes: During the talk I play

several of the Bite Size Vegan videos and
I’ve included those within this video to

give you the full experience of the presentation.
However if you want to skip over those inserted

videos, you can do so by clicking on the time
stamps that are provided in the video description

below.. This presentation, and the recording
of it, are far from perfect. But I’m gonna

to share it with you with all of its imperfections
and quirks and my extremely apparent, though

hopefully endearing, awkwardness. Because,
as I'll say in the speech, the message doesn’t

have to be perfect, it just needs to be said.
So bear with me through the hiccups and I

hope you enjoy this unconventionally large
bite of a vegan nugget, and perhaps take from

it some courage and motivation to start your
own journey towards activism.

So I was already kind of given an introduction,
but my name is Emily Moran Barwick and I’m

the creator of Bite Size Vegan, which is a
vegan educational video series.

'Emily hold that microphone right up'

Can you guys hear me? Is that better? Okay

So, my channel is centred around ... is a
resource for vegan information of all kinds,

and today I’m going to share with you a
little bit about the development of Bite Size`

Vegan .... and then I'm also going to tell you a
little bit about my journey of becoming a digital

activist as well as speak to the effectiveness

of video as a means of conveying a message.
So part of what was actually already said in my bio,

so now you get to hear it again 'cause I already
wrote this is that in this day in age you know

we all connect through

digital means and social media. and we are a visual
culture with a waning attention span. So my hope

is that by sharing my experience, perhaps
some of you out there will find your voice

to take your own action. And I'm gonna be
speaking specifically about vegan activism, but

I believe my story can speak to anyone who
is trying to find their voice and speak for

a cause that they, you know, are passionate about.
Believe me- if I can do it, anyone can do it. I am a very

unlikely person to be talking about activism,
and especially digital activism, which, if you couldn't

already tell from the technological faux pas,
I will talk more about that coming up.

And also don’t worry- it’s not going to be just
be an hour of me standing up here and talking

at you with PowerPoint
slides- I’m also be playing some of my

Bite Size Vegan videos, which are of me talking
with some PowerPoint slides.

And you are going to have to forgive me if I'm kinda awkward up
here, which i am...while I do speak to thousands

of people 2-3 times a week on my YouTube channel
it’s through the lens of a camera and in

my studio...which is actually my closet.

Before I get into my story, I’m gonna
start you off with the so-called trailer to

my channel. This is not the first video that
i ever created, but it will give you a taste

of what my channel is about- and just to note
that this was really early in my experience with

technology and the video quality will reflect that.

Hi, and welcome to Bite Size Vegan where you
can find fun, friendly information on veganism

in under 5 minutes every time. Do you want
to know more about a vegan lifestyle, but

have the attention span of a toddler? Do you
have questions about veganism, but are overwhelmed

by the results of your Google search? Are
you curious about a vegan diet but utterly

traumatized by Tofurky? (we've all been there)
Have you ever wanted to ask a vegan a question

but are afraid that you're going to get punched
in the face because you are not vegan? Do

you think that in order to be vegan, you have
to think certain way, vote a certain way,

change absolutely everything about yourself
and forge an intimate relationship with trees?

Is that...is that just me? Ok. Has your only
interaction with vegans left you with the

impression of an exclusive, elitist club of
douches? If you answered yes to any of these

questions, or have just completely mentally
tuned me out until this point, you've found

the right channel. I'm Emily, your resident
vegan. And this, is Oobi. And together we're

here to offer brief, digestible, and approachable
videos on various aspects of veganism. For

people from all backgrounds and any dietary
persuasion. Each info packed nugget is kept

purposefully brief for your modern attention
span. Hence the name Bite Size Vegan. You

see it stands not only for the videos short
length, but it also doubles as a colorful

commentary on my diminutive stature and vegan
status. I thought it was clever...So feel

free to ask questions, leave comments, and
check out BiteSizeVegan.com for more information.

I'm always working on the next video, so be
sure to subscribe to the channel so that you

don't miss out on the next nugget. So whether
you're vegan already, vegan curious, or have

absolutely no interest in veganism, but enjoy
yourself an adorable bulldog and video content

dripping with biting sarcasm, you've come
to the right place. So sit back, relax, and

enjoy some fun, fast, info packed videos with
facts that hit you right in the nuggets.

So that was my intro video. I'm a lot smoother
on camera because I can edit things. You guys

get to see me up here fumbling around. ... 'Cause
yeah, behind the scenes, I have to do a

lot of takes for all my videos, but.. Anyways, so
that’s kind of the goal of .. Bite Size Vegan-

is to offer vegan education that's approachable
and fun, and mingling hard-hitting facts with

sarcasm and humor and also condensing really complex
topics into videos around 5 minutes in length.

Despite the editing of that video, this was
not a concept I just threw together. It took

me several years to find my voice and it’s something
that I’m still developing.

I’m going to tell you a bit of my personal
journey and it may seem like I’m wandering around

a bit but I’ll wrap it up nice at the end.
From a very young age I was a bit of an activist.

I was not raised vegan but my mother tells
me that around the age of 4 I started to refuse to eat meat

Which I don't actually remember

She said that if I could tell it had been alive,
I would refuse to eat it, and this is a policy I still stand

by. So I went to nature camp every summer and
would come home and paper the walls of my

room with endangered species pictures.
I was a member of the Dian Fossey Foundation

by age seven and would go door-to-door telling
my puzzled neighbors about the tragic plight

of mountain gorillas in Africa, while other
kids were selling girl scout cookies.

I was very passionate, I was
very serious, and I was also very bitter. I couldn’t

understand how humanity was so cruel
and uncaring. And honesty, I was not very

fond of my own species. Needless to say, I
was a pretty intense kid.

Really my frustration and anger came from
the fact that I wanted to make a difference

but felt so overwhelmed by all the suffering
in the world. And I felt small to do anything about it

My heart broke for the animals.
Throughout my formative years I

struggled to find my voice. Part of the
problem was my perfectionism and my fear-

I didn’t want to start a discussion about
animal rights or veganism and then not know

how to answer something that someone said
back to me. My emotions would always take

hold in these conversations and I’d either freeze
or I'd yell something at them

or I’d completely back down altogether,
but I always felt like I was failing the animals.

So I got older, but not taller, and I became
consumed with school and work and family issues,

and you know just the distractions of life. But I
always felt this nagging doubt inside of me.

About how to speak effectively about my beliefs.

So one day I saw a video by a vegan activist
-Gary Yourofsky and the way he spoke just

floored me. He was calm, rational and grounded.
He stated facts and he didn’t become emotionally

overwhelmed, but he was still emotionally invested..
He was effective and powerful and it just blew

my mind, basically. At this point I was in the last year
of graduate school for art and in the middle

of writing my thesis and installing my show
in the gallery.

But the spark of activism within me had been
reignited. A couple months later and before graduation,

I stumbled across a video of three vegan activists
in Israel being branded with a cattle iron

in a public square in Tel Aviv. This was the
beginning of the 269 movement. And for

people who aren't familiar with them, these activists

had encountered a calf in a factory farm with
the number 269 designated to him and basically they staged

this event to put a face to the billions of
faceless animals that are slaughtered every year for

the animal products industry.
I was really moved by this performance and I decided

to be a part of it. I kind of saw it as s natural
union of my artwork with my desire to be an activist.

I spent the next 4 months planning this event,
scouting locations, reading up on how to brand

human skin, which brought up some interesting websites..
and I was also struggling to find people to

film and participate, because not a lot of people
will jump in on doing something like this.

I came up against a lot of roadblocks, including
the local press getting wind of what I was going to do

and me being kicked off of the site that I already gotten
the permission for, but then it became too political.

So the day came
and we had freezing rain. This was in Iowa,

by the way. Freezing rain is something that
happens there ... Regardless of all these hiccups

and these crises, everything had came together. So
I'm going to show you that video.

That was really my first foray into video
activism, I still have the scar here.

This was also my first foray into fielding
really negative responses to what I've done.

The one thing I heard time and again about this event was how
extreme it was. And to me, it really didn’t

seem that extreme at all. Before it happened,
I actually responded to this criticism in an editorial

for the local paper because they got wind
and written about this crazy girl who is

going to do this extreme branding, so to
read my response I'm about to quote myself ..

but this is what I wrote in the paper,
so I said to them:

"I find the realities that

I’m bringing to light to be shocking and
extreme; however, my actions are rather banal

in comparison. Let’s look at Sunday’s
performance piece, for example.

I will willingly, consciously, and with
full consent be branded with a cattle iron.

I will be executing a carefully-planned, well
researched action during which I will experience

pain, granted most likely extreme. I will
receive medical care for my burn. I will

return home safely.
This voluntary action of mine may seem shocking

and extreme to some; however, the reality
I’m hoping to shed light on is most certainly

both. If we are so outraged, so upset over
my voluntary choice to have myself branded,

why are we OK with the enslavement,
torture and murder of other animals? How is

my act of momentary discomfort more offensive
than the daily murder of millions?”

So this sounded perfectly rational to me
and I still stand behind this reasoning. But

I was not completely convinced that this branding
or actions like it were going to reach that many

non-vegans, or people not already concerned
about animals. Despite my eloquent article,

and everything it was very easily
written off as extreme and just brushed

aside by people. Still, it did bring the
issue to the table. It was through this

branding performance and then seeing

Gary Yourofsky’s speech that I started to
see the effectiveness of online activism,

particularly in the video format. I just
needed to hone my approach.

So something that Gary said really stuck with
me- he said something about how vegans

talking to vegans about why you should
be vegan is not really going to go anywhere.

It doesn't really create a lot of change
and I wanted change. I tried to think of all

of the things that limit someone from learning
about veganism. One thing I found personally

challenging when trying to learn about anything
new was the overwhelming amount of information

out there especially in the day of google.
You google something and there is more

results than you know what to do with. Most
of us barely have a moment to spare these

days, let alone pour over pages of research,
texts, and endless Google searches. So I wanted

to take complex topics surrounding veganism
and somehow offer them in a condensed and

engaging format. And thus Bite Size Vegan
nugget was born.

Another issue that I found potentially limited
non-vegans from learning more about veganism

was…vegans. I’m sorry, but some of us
can be a little off-putting at times. And I know this

because my whole childhood, adolescents, and
a good portion of my adulthood, and sometimes

still now, I was that person. Knowing the
truth about what animals go through can be

so infuriating and heartbreaking that you
lose it a little when confronted with someone

who is blind to all of it. But I found in my
personal experience that aggression and

exclusion, and elitism were not effective
teaching tools. I determined to make Bite

Size Vegan relatable and approachable and
even poke some out of the vegan stereotypes.

That kind of brings up another point. There
is this idea that to be vegan you have to

be liberal, or upper middle class, or a hippy,
or any of the myriad of stereotypes that are out there.

So another goal became to show that veganism
is non-exclusive and it's a lifestyle available to

everyone. There is not an official membership
initiation ritual for veganism. Another one of

my early videos addressed that. And once again,
get ready for awesome video quality. This

video will also reference some of the early
videos about reasons on veganism but you'll

still be able to get something out of if without
seeing those. Also, when I first started,

I sat way to close to the camera, so I'm sorry
about that. My early videos are a giant head.

Some people seem to think that when you go
vegan you have to change everything about

yourself, like we’re a cult you have to
be initiated into with some sort of lettuce...tofu...melon...sacrifice

ritual. I’m here to tell you, that’s not
the case. I mean...come on...it’s not like

we are going to rob you of your identity by
shaving your head and branding you as one

of our own. Okay, that was a bad example but
in all seriousness you don’t have to change...

your religion, movie preferences, the music
that you like, the books you like to read,

your favorite activities, your political outlook,
what you do in your down time, your sense

of humor, your job, which side of the street
you drive on – frankly, I would not advise

changing that whatsoever. Let’s take the
reasons for going vegan that we have gone

over so far: First was the Environment. Maybe
you don’t care about the environment. Guess

what? You can be a vegan and still drive your
SUV and still take really long showers. Going

vegan doesn’t mean that you instantly have
to carry around pocket mulch and use a solar-powered

cell phone. Now for our second reason, Health.
Maybe you are not a health nut. Get ready

to take on the full meaning of couch potato.
There’s a wide array of vegan junk foods

out there so you can go vegan, have a cruelty-free
diet and still give your health the big FU.

This brings us to our third reason, Morality.
Maybe you are not concerned about the suffering

of animals. In fact, maybe you don’t like
animals at all. Veganism is the best way to

have absolutely nothing to do with animals
whatsoever – you don’t have to eat them,

you don’t have to use them, you don’t
have to interact with them at all! So, if

you hate animals... vegan is actually the
way to go. Concerning World Hunger, the National

Debt and your Colon – If you don’t want
to stop the aggressive bleeding out of the

country’s finances or help the starving
children of our world -- YOU -- might be an

asshole... which means colon health is going
to be the very most important reason for you

to go vegan. Even those of us who are giant
assholes need to care for those holes

properly and nothing does that better than
a healthy vegan diet. Lastly, some people

think that veganism just doesn’t jell with
things like – I can’t be vegan because

I’m athletic, I mean... I need energy and
endurance and everyone knows that vegans are

weak, you can’t be strong without meat...I
want to have muscles – I mean, real muscles

– I want to look like an absolute beast
and I know that I have to eat meat in order

to do that...the only way to get big is to
load up on animal protein and vegans definitely

can’t jump. I can’t go vegan, I’m the
funny one...vegans always take themselves

so seriously and have absolutely no sense
of humor whatsoever they’re just no fun

at all. I can’t be vegan I’m in a band,
I’m a singer, a guitarist, a bassist, a

musician...everyone knows that bad ass musicians
can’t be vegan and hasn’t it been scientifically

proven that musical talent is directly related
to meat, dairy and egg consumption? I’m

going to be an actor and outside of acting
like I’m vegan I don’t think it’s something

I can do. Well I’m a scientist, a biochemist,
an entrepreneur, a writer, a physicist, a

dancer, a civil rights leader ...but I love
Jesus ...I can’t be vegan I’m lazy I want

the hardest part of my day to be deciding
when to lie down.’ So, as you can see, there

is no typical vegan. Go ahead and keep all
of your opinions, your personality, just stop

being a dick to the animals - you don’t
have to become one of us. Join me next time

when I will go over the secret vegan handshake,
this month’s password and the new location

of our headquarters.

Thanks, it's honestly kind of painful for me
to watch my early videos, I think 'ooh, that's just awful'

The information is still valid I guess.
So before I played this video and

actually right now I made another
disparaging remark about my video quality.

And this is actually a huge part of my story-
I am not a tech-savvy person. I'm actually very

tech-phobic. I basically harassed Charlie the poor
gentleman who set everything up here by

calling him several times before this event
to make sure that my computer was going to work

and the videos was going to work. Technology
scares me and it always wins. I finally got

a smartphone recently and begrudgingly started
a twitter account and instagram for Bite Size

Vegan, terrified the whole time. But here
is the takeaway of this. To be effective in activism,

I knew that I had to use whatever platform
would reach the most people. And the internet

was that platform. So despite my fear and
my crippling perfectionism, which still leads

me to do things like preface my videos with
a disclaimer about their low quality, I jumped

in with both feet. I started making videos
before I knew what I was doing. The important

part was that I took action. And I don’t say
that to show how fantastically awesome I was

because honestly, I stumbled a lot and I still
continue to stumble a lot today. Even in this

speech in front of you that you got to see.
I say it basically to emphasize that

you don’t have to wait to be perfect or
polished before you take action.

Even with my rough start and total lack of
tech skills, I started getting responses to my videos,

which kept me going and trying to improve.
In the early days I was making about a video once month

because it took me that long to produce
a 2-5 minute video. My impact was very small,

but I was hooked. I was always working on
my next video and constantly thinking about

the content in my head.

I started addressing more difficult topics
like the real meaning of the humane, free-range,

and cage free labels, the true environmental
cost of animal products and their affect on

world hunger, and the moral and philosophical
foundation behind veganism. Honestly, I was

rather terrified about taking on some of these
topics as I could already hear the rebuttal

arguments. I obsessed over how to hit every
point of contention someone could possibly

find within any of my arguments.

Today I know that there will always be something
that someone somewhere can find that’s wrong

or missing from my message. But that’s actually
a good thing because it helps me grow and

change how I phrase things and how I approach
my activism. Going back to vegans talking

about vegans about being vegan- if I was only
speaking to people who smiled and nodded the

whole time, then what was changing? So I welcome
criticism and feedback because starting a

dialogue is what this is all about.

One piece of feedback I received was regarding
my use of graphic undercover footage.

Several of my videos have this kind of
footage in there and in the early days

I would just kind of slice it in there.

This was something I had
gone back and forth on, myself. I worried that

people would simply either refuse to watch
the video when they got to the graphic content,

and then they would miss out on
information. However, I also

felt that the animals deserved to have their
stories told. The atrocities that happen to

animals in our food industry, our fashion and medical
industries, they always happen behind closed doors.

We don’t want to see where our food or our
products come from. We like to hide that reality away.

Undercover footage is a chance for those who
have suffered and died in silence to have

their voices heard. And for that reason I
do use graphic footage. However I have adapted

the strategy of how I use it over time.
The video I am about to show you

is my answer to the question of
whether wool is vegan.

This video does contain disturbing footage, but
there is ample warning for those who want

to look away. Nothing will jump out at you,
I promise you. ..

Is wool vegan? And what’s the big deal about
it anyways? Isn’t it just like shaving your

legs or trimming your beard? Well, get ready
to have the wool pulled off from over your

eyes! (see what I did there…I’m proud
of that one)

Hey there it's Emily from bite size vegan
and welcome to another vegan nugget. Today

we’re going to talk about wool. This is
a common question about veganism and I think

it's an important topic to address. Recently
I was asked by vegan jen “why don't some

vegans wear wool? My parents used to have
sheep, so my mom could spin the wool, and

the sheep seemed as if they really enjoyed
the haircut. I've always wondered but don't

know any vegans personally to ask."

So the main reason people wonder if wool is
vegan is that sheep don’t die from being

sheered. I’d like to address that concern
first. You see, veganism, in general, is about

opposing the use of animals for our personal
gains in any form. So even if we assume that

nothing negative happens to sheep who are
used for wool, we are still using them for

our own purposes. And that is the case regardless
of how well the sheep are treated.

Now outside of the few individuals who might
sheer their own sheep, there exists the wool

industry, which is far from idyllic and humane.
Just as the diary and egg industries implicitly

support the meat industry by supplying them
with diary calves for veal, “spent” dairy

cattle and layer hens for meat, and the practice
of grinding up male layer chicks alive, so

it is with the wool industry. When sheep get
older, they stop producing as much wool and

they're sent off to slaughter as they are
seen no longer “profitable.”

However, even life before slaughter is inhumane
for the sheep of the wool industry. Regular

sheering causes nicks and cuts, and in order
to prevent the excess attraction of flies

and a condition called flystrike, the wool
industry practices “mulesing.” This is

a cruel procedure in which part of a sheep’s
flesh is cut off of his or her hindquarters

without anesthesia. The most insane part of
this practice is that it's used to prevent

flystrike, or maggot infestation, but the
resulting wound form the procedure can itself

attract maggots and flies and cause deadly
infections.

The whole reason that flystrike is an issue
within the wool industry is due to the practices

of industry itself. The sheep are selectively
bred to have wrinkled skin so that they have

more skin and thus produce more wool. This
is more profitable for the industry, but detrimental

to the sheep themselves. That is the hallmark
of exploitation- manipulating another being

to suit one’s own needs, especially when
doing so results in the suffering and death

of that being. This is the case within all
the animal products industries: we manipulate

the lives, living conditions, and even genes
of these animals to better suit our needs.

And it's always at the expense of their quality
of life and, ultimately, their lives themselves.

Just a quick note, some of the footage i’m
going to show may be disturbing. I would urge

you to not look away so as to allow these
animals to have their voices heard and their

stories told. But, if you so choose, you can
just listen to the audio. I’ll play this

sound [tone] when the footage is about to
start and this sound [higher tone] when the

footage is over so you know when you can look
again. But again, especially if you choose

to wear wool, I would urge you to not to look
away. The sheering process in and of itself

is terrifying for sheep. During sheering,
sheep are pinned down and, when they resist

or struggle, shearers will hit and stomp on
them and stand on their heads to keep them

still. Most workers who sheer sheep are paid
by the sheep and not by the hour. They rush

through their work, often nicking or completely
cutting off ears, tails and pieces of skin

in the process. These gaping wounds are then
sewn up without the use of any anesthetics.

So tell me, is all of this really worth a
sweater?

So when we really look at the wool industry,
it’s easy to see why wool would not be considered

vegan. There is just no way to use other beings
for our own benefit without putting our needs

above theirs, and thus compromising their
lives. And that is exploitation, pure and simple.

Luckily we live in a day and age where there
exist a plethora of alternative fabrics to

wool, including ones that look and feel the
same. Today we have eco-friendly alternatives

as well like bamboo, banana tree fiber, hemp,
flax, organic cotton, tencel, and recycled plastic.

Your fashion and comfort do not have to come
at the cost of others’ lives. So I hope

this helped clear up the wool issue. Please
share this video along with the other bites

size vegan nuggets so we can spread the vegan
message. And I’d love to have you subscriber

to the channel. Now go live vegan and I’ll
see you soon!

That video kind of brings up the second arm of my
activism that I didn't really expect in the beginning.

As Bite Size Vegan grew I found that

a lot of my viewers were, actually already vegan.
And surprisingly, they told me they were learning too

from the videos. This video on whether wool
is vegan or not and especially my video on whether

honey is vegan or not (spoiler it's not) resulted
in message after message of current vegans

telling me that they had no idea about the realities of the
wool and honey industries. So while vegans

talking to vegans about being vegan may not
get anywhere, vegans talking to vegans about

the deeper aspects of veganism just might. Furthermore,
I got feedback from current vegans that my

videos were giving them the words speak their
own beliefs. These messages in particular

were very touching to me because I suddenly
was on the receiving end of my own story-

hearing from vegans with passionate beliefs
but no idea how to voice them. So, while vegans

talking to vegans about vegan being vegan doesn't
really go far, vegans talking to vegans

about how to better speak about veganism to
non-vegans can work wonders. That’s the

last time I'm going to do that I promise. So Bite
Size Vegan has a bit of a dual purpose. To

veganize the non-vegan and to arm current
vegans with the tools they need to further

veganize both themselves and others.

A large part of this journey has been finding
balance. Balance with speaking to the vegans versus

non-vegans. balance in using graphic footage and how to do it.
And, the most interesting to navigate, was balancing

humour with hard-hitting truth. While I
usually try to have a mixture of both in each

video, there are some videos I swing more fully to one
side than the other.

So I'm going to show you one that is
basically just a humorous video

And just to warn you there is is
a curse word in the title for

anyone who's impressionable,
and there are hints of adult subject matter.

But it might not be something that young ones will
grasp, but I just wanted to put that out there.

I could never be vegan. You see, I worry about
the lack of protein and the nutritional issues.

It just...doesn't...seem...healthy. [loud
burp]

I just take him everywhere with me and I just
love him so much! Momma loves you so much!

Oh my god, the other day, this man came out
and he yelled at him and it scared Mr. Willikers

and I just couldn't believe it! I guess I'm
just a really sensitive animal lover. Oh yes,

I'd like the rack of lamb please. Thank you!

What about plants, though? Plants have feelings
and you eat them.

Is breast milk vegan? Is semen vegan? If you're
a lesbian and a vegan, can you eat p----?

Tell me now, what's really in those fake meats
and cheeses?

I'd be concerned about unnatural ingredients.

And here I am with a lion I killed. And a
rhino I killed. And a leopard i killed, and

a buffalo i killed and hippo I killed and
an elephant i killed, and a zebra, and a wildebeast,

and a cougar. Oh and this one is actually
just tranquilized. I was helping out a wildlife

vet while they were caring for the rhino.
You see really, I’m a conservationist.

Oh a conservationist? So let me get this straight.
I can go out tomorrow and murder 40 children

but I'll give the 41st a lollipop and instead
of being a serial killer, I’d actually be

a child advocate, a champion of children!
That’s what you’re saying, right?

What about lions, though? They eat meat, so
why can't I? Are you gonna try and get the lions to eat tofu?

Lions also shit on the ground in broad daylight and kill the children of their competitors.

Go take shit in the neighbor's yard, kill their kid, and then you can eat some meat.

I went vegan for a day once and it was so
hard.

Aren't you hungry all the time?

What if the only way for you to save a person's
life was to eat a piece of meat. Would you do it?

What if you took at bite of a veggie burger
and then found out it was a real burger?

What if you were stuck on a desert island?
What about honey? What about leather? What

about wool? What about silk? What about down
pillows? If you're a catholic and a vegan

and you really believe that the eucharist
is the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ...can

you eat it?

So, and then I add other videos with some answers

Sometimes using humor about such serious subject
matter as animal rights may seem counterintuitive,

but I’ve found humor to be such an effective
tool for education. Humor is engaging and

disarming and gives everyone a bit of room
to breathe while confronted with such intense content.

So even in my serious videos, I almost always
include a little humor. But never at the expense

of the message itself. I don’t pull my punches
because I know I’ve never learned anything

through half-truths.

This policy has brought me some controversy.
One of the first videos that I made to bring in the most

heated debate was when I took on the concept
of eating animals as a personal choice. This

video also contains some disturbing footage
but there is ample warning for those who would like to turn away

You can step on someone’s toe, bump into
them in line, hell you can eve throw your

own feces at them and still you will never
see someone get as upset and defensive as

they do when you tell them what to eat.

Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size vegan and welcome
to another vegan nugget. Today I want to talk

about dietary choice. Many conversations about
veganism find their way to the point of someone

saying "Well you can’t tell someone what
to eat- it’s their personal choice." This

often comes in the adage: “I respect your
right to be vegan, you should respect my right

not to be.”

Now I'm not here to stomp all over personal
rights-quite the opposite. I want to ask the

question of when our right to make our own
dietary choice begins to infringe upon the

rights of others, whose rights take priority?
You see what we choose to eat has a huge impact

on the world in a variety of ways, including
environmentally, socially, and morally. The

animal products industry is the most environmentally
destructive force on the planet. And our choice

to eat meat, diary and eggs impacts far more
than just our stomachs. It tears down forests,

uses insane quantities of water, creates massive
pollution, and diverts over 80% of the world’s

crops to livestock, crops that could otherwise
easily feed the world’s hungry. So while

respecting your choice to eat animal products
may seem important from a personal freedom

standpoint, what about respecting the environment
and the future generations that have to live

in the wake of our destruction? How about
respecting all of the people who can’t put

food in their stomachs because your right
to eat animal products took precedence?

This may seem like a pretty indirect effect
of dietary choice but the links are clear

when you look for them. The way we live today
removes us so severely from the origin of

our food and the impact that it has. We walk
into a grocery store and grab something or

swing through a drive through without a second
thought as to where the food came from, whom

it came from, and at what cost.

We speak of personal choice and respect as
animals are tortured and killed at the hands

of our appetites. So I will say this: if you
choose to eat animal products, then you should

be aware of what those choices really entail.
I’d urge you not turn away from the following

footage. If you find you cannot watch, then
I’d ask you the question: “if it’s not

good enough for your eyes, why is it good
enough for your stomach?” This is the choice

that you are asking others to respect.

So what rights are more valid: our right to
eat diary or a mother cow’s right to not

have her child torn from her side and sent
to slaughter? When you choose to eat diary,

you support the veal industry, you sentence
a mother cow to a lifetime of forced pregnancies,

endless milking’s and infections, all culminating
in her body giving out 20 years before her

natural lifespan and her being sent to slaughter
for cheap meats.

When you choose to eat eggs, your right to
your breakfast comes at the cost of countless

lives. Male layer chicks are ground up alive
as they are of no use to the egg industry.

Layer hens are kept in cramped sheds on top
of one another even in so-called cage free

and free range facilities. Their sensitive
beaks are cut off without anesthetics.

When you choose to eat meat, you are literally
putting your right to choose above another’s

right to live. You may say “but these are
just animals.” I ask you to look into their

eyes and tell me. Is that not fear? Do they
not suffer? They know what is coming when

they walk up the chute to slaughter. They
hear the noises. They smell the blood. So

please, tell me again what I should respect?

It is important that we begin to live as though
we are interconnected with each other, the

animals, and the planet. Because we are. What
I choose to put inside my body affects more

than just me. Now I’m not saying that personal
rights aren’t important. In fact I'm saying

just the opposite. But my rights end where
another’s nose begins. Just as my rights

do not extend to allowing me to go beat someone
up, so too should my right to choose what

I eat not extend to choices that are environmentally
devastating, take food from the hungry, and

torture and murder other beings. That is the
opposite of personal rights and freedoms.

That is injustice. And that is not something
that I will respect.

Thank you for watching and please share this
video as much as possible to get the word

out. If you’re new, I would love to have
you as a subscriber to the channel. Now go

live vegan and I’ll see you soon.

So that video was a really tough one for me to make and for people to watch.

With all of this suffering in the world, it’s really
easy to become overwhelmed and to feel powerless.

Sometimes, I often feel I’m right back to five-year-old
self, crying in my room because it all felt

so hopeless. But I know that through this
journey in to activism, I’ve changed immensely

and I’ve had the privilege of seeing others change as well.
I have to hold onto that and remember that

even the smallest changes makes a difference
and that even one life saved is a victory.

So, the last video that I'm going to show you is actually monetary hopeful as I want to end on that

I want to tell you a story. It’s a story
of fighting against all odds. Of escaping

certain death. This is a story of survival.

Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome
to another vegan nugget. Today I want to talk

a little about the importance of farm animal
sanctuaries and share the incredible stories

of some sanctuary residents. Now, a lot of
my videos focus on the horrors of the animal

products industry, and we cannot ever lose
sight of those atrocities. We slaughter over

150 billion animals every year; that’s over
5,000 killed every second.

But there are some survivors. They are few
and they are miracles. They are refugees from

the most vicious, longest, and bloodiest war
our planet has ever seen. These few who manage

to escape need sanctuary- a place to live
out their lives free of the exploitation they

so narrowly avoided. This is the role farm
sanctuaries play: they are safe houses for

refugees, providing shelter, food, water,
and, most importantly, freedom.

I myself have visited and volunteered at SASHA
Farm Animal Sanctuary in Manchester, MI and

seeing the animals there plants a seed of
cautious hope that some day, every animal

can live free. I’d like to introduce you
to some of these survivors.

Meet Jefferson. Jefferson was raised on a
farm destined for slaughter. He was sold by

the pound and loaded onto a truck headed to
a slaughterhouse in Detroit. But Jefferson,

like every living being, didn’t want to
die. He somehow escaped and he ran. He literally

ran for his life down Jefferson Avenue in
Detroit, garnering much media attention and

bringing light to the obvious fact that animals
do not want to be our food. Jefferson was

eventually caught and through intense negotiations
and public outcry, the slaughterhouse finally

agreed to set Jefferson free. He came to SASHA
farm and now lives with his bovine brethren in peace.

One of Jefferson’s fellow residents has
a similar story of escape. About a decade

after Jefferson’s flight, 3-year-old Fargo
was being held in a pen at a meat processing

plant in North Dakota. Minutes away from slaughter,
Fargo broke loose from the pen and ran to

freedom. Once destined to be killed at age
three, Fargo can now live for 20 more years or more,

the natural lifespan of cows, which they so
rarely get to reach.

Last September, SASHA Farm rescued 100 battery
hens from a group of 3,000 who had been saved

from gassing at a California egg farm. These
hens had never before touched the earth, never

seen the sky, never been able to stretch their
wings. They’d lived the entirety of their

lives cramped into battery cages on top of
one another.

These are but two of hundreds of stories of
survival. And it is important that they are

told. By their very unlikely existence, these
refugees call attention to the war at hand.

For every on who escapes, millions do not.
These few are no longer someone’s property,

no longer something owned, but someone free
to live.

SASHA was founded by Dorothy Davies and Monte

Jackson, who work every day to provide for
their residents. Dorothy, as reported by VegNews,

“urges that more animal sanctuaries that
can care for larger animals are needed [saying

that] along with giving larger animals the
care that they need, such sanctuaries offer

great opportunity for education. She believes
the quickest way to create a new vegan is

to have them make a connection with one animal,
and that ‘It really only takes one to change

your life.’ Evoking Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., she says that the fight against a carnist

culture is a struggle we can win—while accepting
that we may not be here when it ends.”

Farm sanctuaries are so vital to the animal
rights movement. These survivors deserve a

place to live unexploited. This is happening
on an international scale, with the 269 activists

of Israel recently founding their own farm
sanctuary. They are just getting started and

already have a growing community of animals
who’ve finally found their freedom.

So tell these stories, and give a face to
the billions of animals murdered every year.

The number is so unfathomable and the victims
intangible that it’s easy for people ignore

the slaughter. But when you look into the
eyes of someone who has escaped this war,

they tell you that it is very real. As Dorothy
says, it really only takes one to change your life.

I’m including the links to SASHA and the
269farm in the description below. If ever

there were a worthy cause to support, it is
farm sanctuaries. Please consider donating

and share this video around to give a voice
to the survivors and those who did not escape.

Give the video a thumbs up if you were touched
by these stories and if you’re new I’d

love to have you as a subscriber. Now go live
vegan and I’ll see you soon

So I'm gonna leave you guys with this. You can make
a difference. The fight is long and it is

hard but change is possible. As long as those
of us who have a voice speak for those who

do not. we don’t have to be perfect and
polished as you can obviously see. We just have to open

our mouths and speak our truths. Thank you so much
for having me.

I hope you enjoyed the talk and thanks for
bearing with me through my imperfections.

As I said, I honestly and truly believe that
you can make a difference. The more voices

we have speaking for the animals, the more
powerful our impact. Each one of us

can offer something that no one else can-
and the more varied our message is, the greater

chance we have of reaching people from all
walks of life.

To keep this message going and enliven other
potential activists, please share this video

around. And if you’re wanting to go the
video activism route through the platform

of YouTube but are struggling with how to
get started and be effective, check out the

“Work With Me” page of BiteSizeVegan.com
where I offer YouTube coaching. If you’re

new, be sure to hit that big red subscribe
button down there- I’d love to have you

in the bite size family. And to support messages
like this and to keep BIte Size Vegan going, click on the icon to join the Nugget

Army in the fight for the animals- with your
help, I can continue to spread the vegan message

through video activism. Now go live vegan,
get active, change the world, and I’ll see

you soon.