Legitimate Work From Home Jobs Houston Texas

(calling animals) - whoo! whoo! two months ago, i was goingto put the chickens up like i do everynight, and they all come running and following me, and she was just down. and she wouldn't get up. and i thought, that's weird. and so i went overand just gently

walked over to her andsaid can you get up? and she just looked up atme and did that (whines). and she couldn't get up. i picked her up and ijust tried to set her down gently andshe just collapsed. and so, evidently sheinjured her tendon or muscle, pulled amuscle, i'm not sure what she did, but ibrought her in the house, and she stayed in tommy's office

for a couple of days. and i fed her oatmeal and. there's a, i take thisstuff called zeal, and it's got turmericin it and ashwagandha. it's got all thesewonderful herbs and stuff in it and foods. and so i thought well,it's good for me, it helps my inflammation, soi can give it to the chickens. so i started giving her the zeal

in little syringes twoor three times a day. and she started getting better, and a lot of tlc, andnext thing you know, oh hey, that's dixie. you know dixie. (laughs) but the next thing youknow, she was walking better even though she was kindof like hopalong (mumbles) or hopalong cassidy kid.

'cause she'd stillkind of hop along, but she was doing just fine, and then couple daysago, she was down again. i went to put 'em upin the chicken coop and she was sittin'down right there at the edge of the coop. before i went vegan, iloved chik-fil-a sandwiches, you know, chickensandwiches, as much as everybody, andi would come home

with a sandwich,a chicken sandwich and i'd have mychickens at my feet. and not everybody getsthe tactile, you know, experience of livingon a ranch like this going vegan. you know, i startedhaving all these conflicts in my mind, in my soul, that i would be eating a chickenand loving this one. we never ate our ownanimals, even the cows.

we never slaughteredour own cows. we always bought thepretty pink packages at the grocery store. and she's going to sleep. and i remembervividly when i was working on herleg in the kitchen and giving her a little syringe of that zeal, i remember vividly that i was working on her, and

i got the gut feeling of how i used to eat chickenlegs when i was working on her leg, and i juststarted crying at the sink. just started crying,i mean, i was deep, guttural,horrifying, just sobs. because i was working on her leg and realizing that, youknow, everybody eats them. never even thinksa thing about it. (loud engine)

- friend of mine called me up, i was working shiftwork, i was tired. and he goes hey come out here, there's this girl thatwants to meet you. and i said yeah, you're lying. you always are. and he was. and i went anyway. and anyway, i met her.

yeah, renee's anincredible person. she's, she's alwaysdone incredible stuff. one of the earlythings i saw was she was in a play in houston,two or three thousand people, threw the roses on thestage and all that stuff 'cause she was the main singer. and she was right onthe edge of making it. and it was a wild ride. you could write a bookabout her, you know,

music career. and for whatever reason,it never happened. ♪ oh shanendoah ♪ i long to see you ♪ woah, you rolling river ♪ oh shanendoah,i long to see you ♪ across the wild missouri ♪ herman's very soothed by music. and so i sing tohim all the time.

and i see his eyes change when i sing to him, and iwatch his ears perk up. i watch the hair godown on his back. he was on a concrete floorat that kill shelter. it was not nice. he had barking dogsall around him. and so, he was verystressed when we got him. very. (saw whirring)

right over there, we'rebuilding his fences and his home. his little feetare going to touch the earth for the firsttime in a long time. just gotta get him out of here. i want him out of here so bad. - herman's ownerhad passed away. he had been left for six months. the kids came andcleared out the house,

cleared out thefurniture, got the dog and the cat, but left the pig. and herman had beenfending for himself, so the animal control officers had picked him up, broughthim into the shelter. and renee, god loveher, she's a week out from this event. she has spent allthe money she's got on this project.

her husband, at the timewe talked on the phone, her husband was outin the mid-day sun mowing and shoringup fences to contain the bull calves thatdidn't go to slaughter. and she said idon't know salise, i don't know if ican, a pig, i've never dealt with a pig, idon't even have a place to put him, i don't know. - when that bigstorm came through,

everybody lost fence. lots of lake jackson,lots of danbury, so we got tons of calls, andthen she called me with this. i couldn't tell her no. - i think we exchanged40 or maybe 50,000 emails about how we weregoing to get this done and who was goingto hold him, who was going to pick himup, what were we going to feed him, how were we

going to lure him, whowas going to house him, how are we going toget his pen built, how are we going to raise themoney to build the pen, and it was just likethis beehive of activity. and i came to havethis enormous respect for renee, 'causeshe really is a, she will just get it done. - the way i look atit is, what comes around goes around.

you do something good, somebody returns the favor eventually. i always try to help out. and renee does the same. - when she startedtalking about sanctuary, i didn't tell her,but i was thinking i guess i'm gonna get a divorce. because this is ridiculous. it's not gonna work in texas.

she wanted to try it, and renee is a very strong-willed person, and you can't tell hernot to do something. - i wasn't trying toopen up a sanctuary in the state of texas. it's not been my goal in life. my goal was to be a famous country and westernsinger, hello? that's what i thoughti was gonna be one day.

you know? and that didn't happen. and i married a farmer, he'sworked hard all his life. he bought this place tosupplement his retirement. we hadn't been making any money. balloon notes werecoming due on tractors. he's needin' tobuy another rake, and now i'm tellinghim oh heck no, you ain't taking that redtrailer up the road anymore.

we're not sellin'any more calves. you send that redtrailer up the road one more time, i'm following it. i'll go to theslaughterhouse if i have to. and it was a process forme, because, i mean i love my husband. i didn't want to just saytoo bad you go up the road. what i've been here is acatalyst for my husband to see a way that he'snever been shown before

because his history,his culture, his way of viewing the world isso grounded in tradition. fourth generationcattle rancher. his great grandpa herdedcows from san antonio by horse with spurs, andthey had their own brand. and tommy still has that. that means something to him,to restore that history. so this is tommy's heritage. for tommy to say noneof that meant anything

is, doesn't come easy. but watching his wifechange, watching his wife draw the line in thesand, watching his wife pull in all these peoplefrom around the world that are supporting usto build a sanctuary in the state of texasis changing my husband. that's what'schanging my husband. - i kinda laughed at herand said it'll never work, and she has actuallyput me in my place now.

because the vegan worldcame to her rescue. she started meeting peoplethat allied with her. it was incredible, andi started watching it, and i couldn't believewhat was going on. i still, it's kindof like a dream. they're incredible. if she has a problem,somebody in her network helps her out, and itmagically disappears. - i think that we allhave the power to change

and to transform. and we see that every singleday at mercy for animals. someone whose familyowned a cattle ranch decides to give upeverything that they knew to be familiar to become avegan animal rights activist. we see every single day thepower that compassion has. - is it not betterto light a candle, than to curse the darkness? all the darknessin the world cannot

put out the lightof a single candle. i believe anotherworld is possible. and on a quiet night, ican hear the breathing. it will be difficult, i know. but do not be afraid. remember mahatma ghandi's words. first they ignore you,then they laugh at you, then they fight you,and then you win. the brutes and thebullies have been goliath.

but david is coming. maybe he's in this room. maybe he's one of you. and if not you, who? and if not now, when? - here is my daughtergenesis butler (applause) - thank you. hi, my name is genesis,and i am eight years old.

i am vegan and an activist likemy uncle caesar chavez was. i went vegan because idon't believe animals should be put inslaughterhouses and circuses. people don't have toeat animals to live. all my favorite foods, likepizza and mac and cheese, i can still eat ina vegan version. i became an activist toprotest for what's right. to show kids they have a voice. i protest circusesand other places

that imprison animals. i help people who are blinded. they don't know what'shappening to the animals. i also leaflet togive information on what's happeningand how to go vegan. i even talk to my friends. my goal is to getthem to go vegan. i am here for a purpose. my purpose is to get thewhole world to go vegan.

thank you for helping me, peace. (applause, cheers) oh my gosh. - okay, okay. - she wasn't evenfour years old. she always had chicken nuggets, that was her favoritemeal at the time. and so i read all theparenting books in the world 'cause it was my first child.

and a lot of bookssaid if that's all they want to eatand they're picky, just let them eatchicken nuggets or whatever it is all day. and i just said okay, well,i believe the commercials, the white meat and,you know, if you have milk with it or applesand the whole kids' meals and all that. and i would give it to herbecause it made her happy

and at least i thoughtit made her happy 'cause i believed the advertisements,and it didn't make her happy. she just finally toldme one day, she said hey mom, where do weget our food from? and i said, you know, we getit from the grocery store. and she said no, that'snot where we get it from. and she knew, and so ijust, at that moment, i knew i had a toughdecision to make. do i tell her the truth?

or do i just keepplaying it off? and just my instinctscame, kicked in and i said i'm goingto tell her the truth. 'cause i always tellmyself as a parent if my child asks mesomething, i'm going to give them the straight truthbecause that's what's needed. and i told her we killanimals for the food that she was eating,and she was devastated. and i didn't even know she knew

what death meant at that age. and she just knewdeep down inside. and she said well, wehave to kill, what is it? and i said well,chickens and cows, and i was explainingbeef is from cows like the burger? that's not beef, that's a cow. and the chicken isthe actual animal, the little bird.

and she said you know what? i don't ever wantto eat this again. - one of the great thingsbut the maddening things about being an animalrights activist is for the most part,we never have to convince people tocare about animals. people already love animals. we just have to convince people to understand thatthe dog they love

is emotionally the sameas the cow they eat. that's the disconnect. so it's aligningpeople's already-existing love for animalswith their actions. and so i look atsomeone like genesis and to me, she justseems like she's living her beliefs in a waythat most people don't. i mean, how many parentshave had the experience with their kid wheretheir four year old,

their six year old,their eight year old, their nine year old,is eating a hamburger and says mom, what is this? and the mom saysthat's a hamburger. well where does it come from? a cow. and all of a sudden,the child is horrified. and the child almosthas to, like, be taught to move past their horror.

and one of our jobsis to remind them that no, theirhorror was justified. the eight year oldwho's horrified at eating a hamburger,that's a legitimate response. that's a justified response. the 18 year old, the28 year old who eats the hamburger as ifthere's no consequences for the environment, forthem, or for animals, that's the mistake.

- this is my bunny. her name's charlotte,and my mom's friend and my friend namednina gave it to me. and this is very special to me because it only has onefoot and i'm on a mission to find it's other foot. somebody has it. and i just haveto find its foot. because, like, idon't think it's right

to just have one foot. - she told me abouthow the bunny, it wasn't like a naturalbunny, it had been, like ran through themill, but she really was interested in it. and then when she broughtit home and showed me it, and it was kindaugly, but (laughs). but it has characterthat it made sense to me as far as what animals go.

that not all ofthem look the same, but they all needlove in their own way. she's just a sweet girl. just a sweet girl, yeah. - i don't feel thati shouldn't love her just because she has one foot. all animals should be loved. they shouldn't be tortured. charlotte is awesomebecause each time i'm crying

or sad, she'salways there for me. and if i need a pal,she'll be there. - one day i was nursing my baby, and she came and shelooked at her sister when i was nursing,and she said mom, where do we get milk? i said oh man, i'mgoing vegan today. i already knew it was goingto happen, it was a wrap. so we went vegan that day.

from that point on,we never looked back. but i did look back a coupletimes for a chocolate bar and she caught me. so when she caught mewith the chocolate bar, she said mom, she puther hand on her hip, i said uh oh, i'mabout to get lectured. she said if you can'thandle it, i can. don't think you have to go vegan just because i am.

she goes, i can do it on my own. - don't ever underestimateyour own voice. when you speak withkindness and sincerity, people will listen. and every single leafletthat genesis or i hand out has a potential to changeone person's life forever. so don't ever forget,we just gotta plant as many seeds ashumanly possible. some of them will grow,some of them will not,

but we just gotta keepfighting, keep being out there, keep educating the masses. you cannot get the truthfrom a corporation. we have to hit thestreets, provide the information, andpeople will respond to this message of kindness. so if she can get this,how can adults not get it? and that's why i'mso inspired by her. on her first dayof school, she wore

a love animals, don'teat them t-shirt. and her mother asked herafter her first day of school did they, did kidsmake fun of you or say anything during lunch? and genesis says yeah. and her mom was likewell, what did they do? she's like, oh wellthey waved hot dogs in my face, they rubbedsalami on my cheeks. and her mom is likewell, did you cry?

and genesis islike yeah, i cried. and then her mom islike, did you cry 'cause they weremaking fun of you? and genesis was like oh, no. i cried 'cause theydidn't understand they're hurting animals. the average person eats about 7,000 animals in theirlifetime if you include fish. so just spending 10minutes handing out

those hundred leaflets,that's gonna save over the course of timethousands of animals from a life of horrorwe couldn't even begin to imagine. but every day, wego out and leaflet, hand out a fewthousand leaflets. we're getting tons ofpeople to go vegan, others to go vegetarian. we're getting people tobe aware of these issues,

a first step. that's why the first step ofany revolution is education. and that's what me andgenesis do all the time. - at first, i wasn'treally for it, just 'cause i know some adultscan be very rude to children andadults, vice versa. but as she did it andher mom's with her, i think it's hard to bemean to a child like that. i just kind of have atrust that they kind of

see a light in her. that maybe it mighthappen to other people, but i just don't thinkit would happen to her. otherwise i wouldn'thave her do it. it's just thatshe has, she's so, she opens up people. she makes peoplefeel comfortable. so even the person that planned on being mean orusually is rude,

they, it's a weird thingthat they're nice to her. she's just, she's just likeher name, the beginning. just genesis. she's somethingnew, something that we haven't seen before. it's just youdon't see the stuff that she does. i've never seen kidsdo those things. so i'm comfortablewith it, yeah.

i'm comfortable with it. - when kids are young, they say i want to be so andso when i get older. well, i want to begenesis when i get older. 'cause (laughs). because just her spiritand her compassion and to wake up everyday and see her here at my house, it's just awesome. and to see how it spreads out

to the whole family,everybody has a lot of compassion foranimals, for other humans, for homeless, likewe'll even see homeless people andmy little boy will cry if we can't give him a dollar. and you know, it's allstarted with genesis just reminding usthat we need to be a little morecompassionate, not just to other humans or toour family members,

but to everyone else in theworld, including animals. - children have a naturalconnection with other animals. and then as time goes,we become acculturated to accept certain thingsthat don't feel right. we come to believethat it's okay for cruelty to become normal. and we becomeadulterated in a sense. instead of followingour instincts and our humane intuitionand our natural empathy.

and so i think holdingonto that childhood perspective andconnection with animals and nature is veryvaluable, and it's a beautiful thing whenchildren who are young and hold onto thatcontinue with it throughout their life. (car starts) - i knew thatsomething wasn't right. i knew that i wasn'tdrinking like other people.

i was passing out,getting alcohol poisoning, blacking out, getting sick,drinking before school, things that normal 10thgraders don't quite do. i had a lot oftrauma in my life, and i think that's acommon thread with people that develop somesubstance abuse problems. the divorce and nothaving a present father, and our family was ripped apart. alcohol, that was theelixir that helped

kind of make things feela little bit better. i would go into 7 elevensand stores like that and literally steal thealcohol from the coolers, put it down my pantsand then go drink the alcohol by myselfbehind the building. after high school, istarted taking trips to south florida,miami, south beach more, and i started gettinginto heavier drugs on a regular basis.

(crowd cheers) after that year orso, i started getting more into cocaine, andby the time i was 25, i was a daily drinker anduser and cigarette smoker and very unhealthy. and i honestly shouldnot be here right now. i should be dead. i did almostoverdose many times. i've been in nasty car accidents

where the people havecome to the scene of the accident andthey've seen the vehicle and they've said you don'tneed to go to the hospital? i've committedfelonies that i've gotten away withplenty of times. i just acted very immorallyand very recklessly and i just didn't care. i didn't care. it was almost like itwas a cry for help.

i was just like save me. (rain falling) i called my brotherand i called him in the middle ofthe night, and i was crying to him on the phone. and apparently i saidthat i needed help. i still to this daydon't recall that, but that's what hesaid, and i believe him. i love my brotherto death, and so

i went to go visit, andmy sister was there, my brother was there, mysister in law was there, my mother was there, andmy little niece was there. and we were sittingaround and talking, and then all a sudden,the tone kind of changed a little bit. and i think it wasmy mom who said well, the real reason wewanted to all get together today and talk toyou is we wanted

to talk to you about yourproblem that you have. and so i was therewith all my loved ones and they all wentaround the room and told me howi've affected them, which i didn't think i did. i thought i'm onlyaffecting myself. this is my life, letme do what i want, you do what you want. i didn't realize,that's the selfishness

and self-centerednessof this affliction. so they all wentaround and told me, and i was blown away. and they said we'll helpyou if you help yourself. so i checked myselfinto a 28-day rehab. you know, like theysay a huge tree can grow from atiny mustard seed, and that's where i began. people want to askme so many questions

about ultra running or beingvegan or this and that. it's like, it's really simple. it's just simple, you know? it's just aboutthe love, really. and that's really thevoid that was filled. - great job, buddy. - ha ha, wow. (cheers) hi goose.

hi big boy. how are you? it was such a nice surpriseto see him come up to me. his whole body was,it wasn't just like his tail was wagging. it was like his wholebody was just wiggling back and forth. and, oh, it justreally warmed my heart. the relationshipbetween dogs and humans

is quite profound. i didn't have theresponsibility to have my own pets in the past. so the time was rightnow to get a dog. and to be a vegan, you realize more and more how muchanimals have been used as commodities. we don't need touse them for money. realizing that thisanimal has such feelings

and such love. you think justdogs are like that? or other animals too? are cows like that? are pigs like that? so that was quitea shift for me. hey jen. - hey yassine, how's it going? - good, how are you?

- good how was the race? - oh, it was reallyfun, but it was tough. - i'm sure you killed it. - i'm looking forwardto a float, definitely. - awesome, thetank is all ready. you're in floatarium,you can head on up. - sweet, thank you. - you're welcome. - see you in a bit.

- see ya. (phone rings) (water running) (garage door opens) (engine starts) - ever since ijumped into the cab of that truck andstarted driving it, it's actually, it's pretty cool. i feel pretty bad-ass.

it's a very big truck andit's very heavy as well. so it's not just the size of it, but to brake takes awhile,cause it's like 13,000 pounds. it's kind of cool gettingup there and driving this big ol' truck. we live in the wine country. so this is our breadand butter around here. and there's so many wineries. i don't think anyone's everphysically counted them.

there's too many to count. and so when you'relooking at that big of a presence with wineries, it's just important toutilize the resource there. i mean, why not? this stuff is really good. so the best thing forme, and that's why i change up my menuall the time is to just get in thekitchen and say

i wonder what this will belike if i added this to it. and this whole wrapthat vegan food has had about being tasteless, you know, is just a bad wrap. people say to me all thetime oh, i've had vegan food. it's not very good. i'm like yeah, me too. i've had bad vegan food too. i've had bad pizza.

if you care, i think,that the food is good. i really care that notonly the food is good but it's knee-buckling. that it's exceptional and it's, you know, if i'mmaking something, i'll taste it and like,yeah this is really good, but my knees aren'tbuckling yet. i need something to go ah, yes. - i think thatpeople just need to

come out and try it. the word vegan, they think fake. and it's not. and the taste is justout of this world. and a lot of peoplesay once they eat it they're like i don'teven need to go out and have that hamburgerfrom that place after i've eaten her food. - yeah.

- i mean, to get overthe idea that it's a fake food because it's not. - and i would say toothat a lot of people have this impressionthat, oh, she's a vegan or he's a vegan. they eat carrots, right? like, no, food. real and good food. and you don't have to be vegan

to come out and try vegan food. - [voiceover] i noticedthis older gentleman with his veteran'shat and all his pins, looking a little out ofplace, a little uneasy. with i'm not sure irecognize half the food on the menu. what is this? i'm not, you know,a little unease, a little unease there.

- i know you toldme not to tell dad that it was vegan. - [voiceover] but thedaughter urging him on, usually you gotta get apartner in crime there. - no, i've never triedvegan food before. thank you. - [voiceover] enjoy. - i have a general idea. it's non-meat.

basically. it's pretty good. she was really worriedtoday for me coming here about vegan. and told me to eatsomething at home. well i didn't, and i thought,you gotta have something. and i'm quite surprised. it was very good. it is very good.

i will finish it. i could use a napkin. - in the evening, when i go by, and i'm just walking bytheir table really quick, and the daughter grabsmy arm and pulls me over to the table and she'slike i gotta tell you, he's never had vegan foodbefore and he loved it. and it's just like, itmakes my heart proud. because now, vegan foodis accessible, you know?

it's not a weird,out there thing. (car pulling up) (laughing) come on. - as far as beingan animal lover, it was nothing that, at the time we first met thatit was, anything that was out there. but now that she hasa vegan food truck,

she does a lot ofevents for the spca and other organizationslike that. and donates to their cause. (baby talk) my wife's a vegan, so thatmeans no leather products, no leather shoes,no leather belts, no leather handbags,nothing that's derived from animals whatsoever. and at first, whenshe brought this up,

especially being a vegan,because of my ignorance of diet at the time,you're thinking okay, where're you gettingyour protein? where are yougetting your calcium? where are you gettingall these vitamins and things like that? and it turns out naturein the plant form provides all that stuff. you just have to eata well-balanced diet.

- if you're wondering aboutam i gonna get enough protein, go out to thenearest rural area, pick the biggestbull you can find. or go to a race track,find the biggest, strongest stallion you can see. go to the zoo, lookfor the tallest giraffe, the biggest elephant. all those animals gotthose rippling muscles entirely from plant foods.

those are vegans. so yeah. now a pussycat is a meat-eater, so it's not likeeating a lot of meat is going to make you big. you get plenty ofprotein from plants. research is now clearly showing that a plant-based diet beats every other diet.

and the federal policy makers are taking notice of that. - if jerry's cookinga plant-based diet, i have no problem with that. 10 years ago, iwould've gone out to the store andbought some meat to add onto it, but not anymore. now that i'm startingto understand that you can getall these nutrients,

you can get theprotein, you can get everything you needfrom plant-based diet, the fears go away. - the dietaryguidelines for americans are re-formulated every fiveyears to be the blueprint for what you're supposed to eat. that means every kid in school, every food assistance program, really every nutrition program

is supposed to adhere tothe dietary guidelines for americans. they're a big deal. in the year 2000, wesued the us department of agriculture because we found that six of the 11members of the committee had financial tiesto the meat industry, the milk industry,the egg industry. we won that lawsuit.

that opened up theprocess dramatically, and ever sincethen, the guidelines have gotten betterand better and better. - to run a business,you can't be, you can't be sitting on yourbutt all day being tired. so you have to havea balanced diet, and i think byher being a vegan, by having a plant-based diet, her energy levels are higher.

- [woman] okay. (country music fiddle) (mouth harp) (yelping) - i'm amazed. renee, she puts hermind on something and she goes for it. since she startedthis, i haven't got to visit very much becauseshe's been so overwhelmed,

but i've been followingher on facebook, and it's been very interesting. i think, i'm impressed. good for her, that's wonderful. you know why? i can't claim to bea vegan by any means, but she has inspiredme to change my way of looking at things. and she has opened myeyes to some things

that i did not know existed. they were trainedgentle with kindness. they have no fear. a lot of people goto their pasture for a horse, and theyrun the other way. they don't want youto be around them. these guys, they'reokay with it. they're family, most definitely. most definitely.

i've had him 23 years, andhe'll die on the property. i mean, he'll be here until he grows old andsees his last day. won't ya? he was an accident. he wasn't on purpose, butwe love him just the same. - here we go, herman! - we heard about whatrenee was doing out here for these animals.

and when theopportunity came up, i knew she had allof this going on. it was kind of a time crunch, but i felt like i had tobe a part of it, really. she's doing a good thingout here, you know? and any time that youget an opportunity to do somethinglike this, you know, i try to jump on it. yeah, i'm surewe're probably gonna

hang around to watch. yeah, we've put a lotof time and effort into this, and this isgoing to be his home. and it'll make us feel reallygood to see him happy in it. ♪ oh herman, oh herman,we love you so much ♪ we see your soulbehind your eyes ♪ we know you had it rough ♪ oh herman, oh herman ♪ we love you so much

♪ we know you had it rough ♪ - what resonateswith me with renee is that she, you seethe motto on my shirt. that's the mottoof this shelter. every animal matters,every single one. and for her, thatis this personified. - [renee] look. houdini's meeting himfor the first time. aww!

- [man] he's alreadytrying to convert me. alright, renee, i'mgonna get out of here. - thank you for everything. i appreciate you. - no problem, no problem. - so much. - [man] i'll be backhere on monday, take care of a few little things, okay? - [renee] thank you.

you know you wouldn'tbe doing this project if you weren't gonna go vegan. so, do your research. - [man] you got it. - none of us had anyoptions for this pig. she was this pig's way out. and i just learnedthat he apparently went into his house this morning at 9:30 and the gatesopened here at 10.

that's a beautiful story. - if you are here tobe part of the show and watch the entertainmentand the speakers, they only way we'regoing to know you're here is if you're in the front. alright? i know we got vendors outthere and that's important, but we want to seewho's here for a moment. i know, right?

no 231? 232? 233. 234. you got 234? alright, you won! alright, come on (laughs). 97 people showedup to buy tickets. and with those 97people, we raised

about $8,300. i had people puttin' thousanddollars in my hand, cash. i had people puttin' hundreddollar bills in my hand. you know, justme, walkin' around not to mention whathappened in the office. not to mention whathappened afterwards. i mean there's just,there was an outpouring. (fiddle music) (tambourine)

- i'm a surgeon,but i specialize in weight loss. so i do weight losssurgery and medical weight loss diets,and i teach people plant-based diets. the vegan dietworks for diabetes, heart disease, cancer. what, do i havea bug in my hair? they don't even wantto kill bugs, so.

and it's just been,yeah, you know, it's just changed the wayi treat people in medicine. it's my first line of treatment. our number one cause ofdeath is heart disease. heart disease iscompletely preventable. you do not have tohave heart disease, even if you're geneticallypre-disposed to it. if you eat a plant-baseddiet, you won't, or especially vegan diet,you're very unlikely

to get a, get heart disease. same with diabetes, samewith certain types of cancer. same with obesity. this is all can becured with diet. (cow moos) children are not reallyattracted to eating meat. that's something that wekind of push on children. and we let them choosewhatever they want. and pretty soon theydecided they didn't want

to eat animals. when they figured out,this one was like, isn't it weird thatthere's a chicken out in the farm and there'sa chicken that you eat? and i was like, no, wellthey're the same thing. she's like they'rethe same thing? and then that was, thatwas it for eating chicken. - we are a animalfarm sanctuary, becoming the firstever beef cattle ranch

to transition to avegan farm sanctuary so it doesn't surprise me that we don't have hundreds ofpeople here today, honestly. but you know, it's coming. oh you just wait. it's coming. texas consciousnessis waking up. and what's really coolis these fine folks, i was talking tojoy the other day,

and i was tellingher what we do. and she said to merenee, we have cows here. texas longhorns. sometimes the cows,the little babies would go to ffa kidsand they'd fall in love with these cows. and if they go to auction,which most of them do, they do get sold andthey do go to slaughter. so we are going toget to adopt frosty.

and frosty is going to be our first evertexas longhorn here. he'll be out here in the pasture with herman and therest of the rowdy bunch. - as she startedmaking a sanctuary, i started reflectingback about my whole life and the way i thoughtabout animals. and i was kind ofrelieved, because now that, i was thinkingwow, if this works,

i can have a bunch of pet cows and i don't have totake 'em to market. and renee would saythey're not pets, they're individuals. and i said okay, we canhave a bunch of individuals. bullseye, how you doin' girl? how you doin'? how you doin', girl? - i wanted to goto a slaughterhouse

and i wanted to see exactly what was happening there. and i wanted to do alittle bit of filming. and so, i askeda friend of mine, a close physicianfriend of mine actually, who i knew his unclewas a general manager of a large slaughterhouse. i asked him, just, ithought they would say no. but i asked anyways, ifthere was any possibility

i could do that, and to mysurprise, they said yes. prior to beingslaughtered, the animals were so desperatelyfighting for their lives. they were so movingaround violently and jerking aroundthat when they were supposed to be killed, they were reallynot even killed. many times, they werejust injured or weakened. actually, that's whati saw that happened

most of the times with the cows. that they would hit thecaptive volt more so down the neck insteadof in the head because probablybecause of the reason that it's not easy to hit them in a strategic pointwith those conditions. and so the animals wouldfall to the ground. and they would put theshackle in the hind leg. and now these animalswere still alive,

the cows were stillcompletely alive. and they were even makingmovements with her. they weren't asstrong to walk off and leave the place,but they were still making movements, andthey were still conscious, and their eyes were wide open. and then theslaughterhouse worker would put the shackle and they would be hangingby their hind leg

and then a worker would come up to like a platformso that he would be at the same level as the cow. and then he wouldget close to the cow, and then he would cutoff the legs of the cow. from the knee down,the three legs except for theleg from where she was hanging from. and then the three legswould fall to the floor.

and then he would comeclose to her again and lift up the tail of the cow, and from the verytip of the tail, he would make avertical incision. i don't know howdeep or superficial, but a vertical incision, andthen put the object down. and then he wouldpull the skin of the, pull the skin ofthe cow down so that the cow's own skin washanging next to her own head

on both sides of her head. and then he wouldmake an incision in her neck and then bloodwould come gushing out. and she would startchoking on her own blood. and then eventually,she would die. (moo) i went to the holding areas. first of all, i sawthat these animals were really really terrified.

and somehow, they allknew what was going on because they wouldstart walking back and being afraid of us,even in the holding areas, 'cause somehow they sensedthat something wasn't right. i think, i think. but at the end of theholding areas visit, i saw some of thecows were housed individually, someof them were housed like in very large groups.

i'm not sure why,but at the end, there was a cow that housed,there was housed individually. this was a huge, beautiful,completely white cow. and she was terrified. like you could see that shewas really really anxious. she was really afraid. i have a feeling thatsomehow they know. i don't know whythey would know, but maybe they can smellthe blood, 'cause it was

right adjacent tothe slaughterhouse. so maybe they can smellit, or i don't know. but she was really nervous. and we were at theend of the visit, so i asked the guy whowas giving me the tour if you want to callthat or the visit, was with me, and i askedhim if i could stay there with the cow. so he stayed withme, and we were

talking with the cow forabout 15 or 20 minutes. i was, he was juststanding there. but she calmeddown, and i was even petting the cow, andshe really calmed down, and she was in muchbetter conditions. but then the nextday, when i went to the actualslaughter facility, and when i was filmingall these horrible things that i just told you,it came the turn,

of all of the cows,it came the turn of that white, beautiful cow to go through slaughter. and it was so muchharder because the fact that thiswhite cow wasn't, she didn't even fightback like the other cows. she could smell theblood, she could hear the other cows. she knew exactlywhat was going on,

but for some reason,i think she thought that i was going to help her. because she came, sheeven like positioned herself, like they didn'thave to shove her in too much. the workers were, like,shoving the other cows and the other cowswere jumping, i mean getting on their hind legs. they were tryingto crawl the wall, and this white cow,she just went straight

up to me, 'cause iwas about half a meter away from where theirheads were with my camera. and she walkedstraight up to me, and she was just staring at me. and the other workerswere pushing her and then the door,the metal door closed behind her. and even with all of that,she was not fighting back. all she was doing waswith her eyes wide open,

she was standing stilland she was staring at me. she wasn't even blinking. like, she was beggingfor me to help her. somehow, she probablysensed that i didn't, you know, for her,for this to happen. and obviously i didn'twant this to happen. obviously. but it was so hard, 'causeshe was just imploring for me to helpher, and there was

absolutely nothing i could do. (rainfall) - don't give up. you just gotta focusand find some comfort within the discomfort. today we're gonna work onsome lateral movements. speed skaters, okay? we're gonna go to theside, alternating legs. okay?

in five, four,three, two, one, go! get a nice t position. and hold 'em out. four minutes, beginning now. when those littlevoices start coming into your head, theytell you to quit, tell you to give up,just like in life when it gets tough,you don't give up. you can override that.

push past, come outon the other side. - one, two, three! (screams) - i met yassine inithaca, new york. this quirky little town where i was on the faculty at cornell. and yassine was livingwith his brother and sister in law kindof on the outskirts of the city.

and he came to oneof my yoga classes. i was teaching yoga at the time, and that was the beginning. he kept comingback to the classes and he was reallybad at yoga (laughs). and he would come to themeditation classes as well and he was worseat that because he needed like 10 props,blankets, pillows. my teacher spent like 20minutes just getting him

comfortable becausehis body is so tight. he had long, wavyhair in a ponytail and he was kindabigger than he is now. and i started tothink wow, this guy keeps coming tothese classes and he's really bad at it. i wonder if he likes me. we went away on ahoneymoon to costa rica before we got married,and then right

after we got married, wewent to the farm sanctuary in upstate new york andwe stayed overnight there. and we had an amazingexperience connecting with the animals. i also remembergoing on a vacation with him to some southamerican country, and they asked him whydon't you eat meat? they didn't askme, but for the man not to be eating meat inthis south american country

was really weird,and so yassine said because i don't wantto hurt animals. and the waiters laughed at him. and i thought that thatwas just so authentic and brave of yassine toshow that empathy to others. i think it was abig moment for him because it was oneof the first times he had been challengedor asked why. and he didn't, atthat time, didn't say

all the health benefits. his immediate response wasbecause of the animals. and that's really representative of the kind ofperson that he is. - not only areour runners vegan, but they're actuallyperforming at a high level. i think that it's outthere on the table now that you do get enough protein. that's not a question anymore.

us vegan runners kindof stick together and kind of know of each other, and are kind of proudof each other when we do perform on a highlevel on a big stage. (knocking) one thing i reallydo enjoy is cooking for vegans andnon-vegans in my home and seeing their eyes light up about how good it isand how full they feel.

because i think a lot ofpeople have a misconception. they feel likethey're not going to get satiated orthey're not going to be filled upbecause they don't have a big hunk of meatto fill their belly. i love when peoplecome over and they're just like wow, thatwas an amazing dish. oh, i feel so good andit was all plant-based. hey before we start eatingi want to make a toast.

i really want to thank you guys for coming over andcheers to everybody. good luck this weekend. - [all] yeah, cheers. - run strong. after dinner, thenight before a race, i love to go out for a nice, slow shakeout runwith my friends. - the first time i metyassine was a 50 mile race

just outside of seattle calledthe white river 50 miler, and i was running along,and all of a sudden this guy comes upto me and he starts talking my ear off,like hey i went vegan, you really inspired me. and he was just going nutsand like, who is this guy? and at the same time,i'm like wow, he's really got an energy to him. and he, i thought woulddrop off eventually,

but he just hungwith me for the next five miles up this brutal climb, and he had as muchenergy in his voice as he did in hisheart and lungs. yassine is just oneof those charismatic runners, ultra runners. where, we're aninteresting and odd bunch, but we also kind of,like, you know, we can pick up wherever weleft off, and i think

that's the beauty of oursport as well as a vegan diet. again, we're connectedby a certain thread, and that is runningand being vegan. so it's alwaysgreat to come back and just hang out andhang out as buddies as if nothing, as if notime has really passed. we're just the sameindividuals at the core. so in 1999, i'm lined upfor my first western states 100 mile race,probably the biggest

race i was competingin in my life. and i just transitioned toa vegan diet that winter. and there's stilldoubts in my head. can this really work for me? and i was thinking, i probablyneed to eat some meat. here, even a weekup to the race. and after i won that raceon a plant-based diet, there was no looking back. and never doubted myselfand went on to win

seven consecutive westernstates 100 mile races. - scott jurek was thepioneer vegan runner, and now we're startingto hear more and more it being more mainstream. last year scott, afterrunning the appalachian trail, which is over, like 2,000miles across 14 states, covering elevationchanges of 500,000 feet, broke the appalachiantrail record by over three hours.

there are a lot of parallelsof ultra-marathoning and becoming vegan. you don't justjump right into it. sometimes you need tofind that community, you need to try itout for, i tell people to try it out forat least a month to give it some timefor your body to adapt to a different cuisine,different diet. your body's notquite used to it.

it takes a few weeksfor the human body to adapt to things,that's usually why they tell people togo to rehabilitation, for example, for 28 days. is so their body can adaptto the new lifestyle. oh, you just want yourbelly rubbed, don't you? you just want your belly rubbed. (child laughs) there's definitely a correlation

between the spiritualpractice of non-harming and veganism. and the way i'mliving today compared to the way i used to live. the way i used tolive was very harmful to myself, to my body,to my loved ones. essentially, i'm trying tolive a more spiritual life. and for me, thatinvolves trying to cause as little suffering as possible.

and to try to just do my best. and this is verymuch an alignment with how i'm living today,and how i want to live. - this idea of eatinganimal product. nothing more harmfulthan that shit. what's more harmful thandestroying the planet and taking all the resourcesand then poisoning yourself? you know, the first chakra,don't poison yourself, right? take care of self so youcan serve the planet.

so the first thing youdo is you poison yourself because the way animal product is being manufactured, for one. aside from the factthat plant-based diet is safer and healthierno matter what. but the way they makethe animal product. the way it's born into,talk about suffering. 100 billion animals madeto be born into suffering. so yeah, we don't wantto cause any harm.

so if we really examine ahimsa, it's meaning, or if wewant to be people who practice ahimsa orcause less harm, the one thing we shouldn'tdo, i mean the first and most importantthings we should do is get away fromeating animal products. - [genesis] you cando whatever you want. - you can createany world you want when you're painting, right?

nothing's wrong whenyou're painting. see this little vine over here? you can make a monkeyanywhere you want. genesis, what's your favorite? - a pig. - [man] a pig? - mhmm. - [man] so you guys knowwhat abstract art means? - [genesis] uh, no.

- art for animal'ssake's mission is to teach art classes withan animal empathy theme. so we try to instillcompassion for animals through art projects. and the reason we use art,it gives youth especially a meaningful way oflooking at the issues that we're talking about. so we try to get kids to come to their own conclusionsabout animals

and how they should be treated. somebody once famouslysaid if you gave a kid a bunnyrabbit and an apple, they're going to eat the apple and play with thebunny rabbit, you know? so it just sort of,like, this thing gets knocked out ofus as we get older. one of the projects that we did was a lantern project.

and basically, protesting ananimal experimentation lab. and so we just madethese beautiful hand-made lanterns. we had over 280people from across the united statesship them to us, and we put themin a public place, and people saw theselanterns, and they gravitated to itbecause it was such a beautiful display.

and they said whatis this all about? and we said wellactually, every one of these lanterns representsone of these animals that is going tobe experimented on in this lab that they'regoing to be building soon. and so by puttingsomething beautiful in the world andenticing a conversation, i think brings people in instead of revolting them orputting them on the defensive.

with genesis and her age group, i think they'rereally benefiting from this age, because theinformation's out there, and it's whether theywant to recognize it, they want to see it, and she has become such agood spokesperson because she hasa strong feeling, but she also sort ofhas the background and the education,whether she's gotten

it on her own orthrough her parents, to put it into practice. and it think that'swhy she's become such a powerfulspokesperson at this age. because people see the innocence but they also see the maturity and the intellectual maturity that she brings to the subject. and it's really hardto talk to a kid

and have them say these things that are so basicand so unfiltered and refute it. you just can't. - he was spendingthe night one night. and he was like whatare we going to eat, because you guys are vegan? and we were like,well, what do you like? he said i like meatball subs,

so we said well,we'll serve you that. so then, i was talkingto him about veganism, and then my mom madehis sandwich, he ate it, and he's like mmmthis is really good. so then after that,he left, and then his mom called back, he's like,tahir wants to go vegan now. and that was the happiestthought i've ever thought. - david carter, nfldefensive lineman. 300 pound vegan.

- genesis butler, quarterback. 75 pound vegan. (intense fanfare music) - i'ma crush youlike a little bug. but i don't crushbugs, 'cause i'm vegan. - got insurance? because you gonna need it. - what the? doesn't make no sense.

hey good game, genesis. - [genesis] thanks. those were just someof my basic moves. next time, i'll showyou my real moves. - [david] you know, youtalk a lot of trash. - these boys challengedme to a push off, and my mom sent me inthis cute, little white sparkly blouse. and then her boys didlike, 10 push ups,

and then, like, oh ican't take anymore. and then i'm like,okay, so i can do more. i did 100 push ups. and then i come home,my shirt's all dirty. it's all like black and mymom's like what happened? i'm like, i did push ups,and i did it on the blacktop. and she's like nexttime, scoot over to the grass a little bit. and she had to throw it away.

it was just. - ah man. i feel sorry for those boys. it must have been a realshot to their ego, huh? when i firststarted going vegan, i met this 72 year old guy. his name is viktoras kulvinskas, and i was doing likea hundred push ups and i thought i was doing a lot.

or for me, that's what i thought at that time was a lot. but he was doing 200 push ups. at 72 years old, at one time. so that was like ourlittle competition. and now i'm doinglike, 500 push ups. so they were messingwith you, huh? all the guys thinkingthat 'cause you were vegan you couldn't do push ups?

and you beat 'em,you bettered 'em. yeah, that happened to me. see, everyone was thinkingbecause i was going vegan that i was going to be allweak and small and stuff and never be able to play again. but i did lose some weight. i got down to 265,but then i put on another 40 poundsof solid muscle, and now i'm strongerthan all of 'em.

so, vegan is clearlythe best way to go. you know that, too. and those littleboys that you beat in the push up contest,they know that too now. oh, so, another thingyour mom told me about was the football gamewhere you showed up in ballerina shoes? - oh, so. i came from a circus protest.

and we thought it wasmy brother's game. so it was going to be alright, he was in his jersey. he was ready. i come, my team's all like,come on, where were you? i'm like, and then i had my save the elephants shirton, i had everything on. all my protest stuff. so then, they makethis 12 alligator rule.

it was like, fivealligator first. so now it goes up to 12, because i was pulling flags like that. - i remember when iwas playing pop warner, it was, the defensiveline had to wait five alligators before we could go rush the quarterback. so they had, they pushed it up because of you to 12 alligators?

- like, we were supposed to do for five alligators. one alligator, twoalligator, three alligator, all the way to five. so then they pushed it up to 12. so that's like,half of the game. the game's almost over. - genesis, counttwo more alligators! - hike!

- one alligator, two alligator, tree alligator, fouralligator, five. so then i do 12 alligators. - [man] go get 'em! - but i still catch their flags. so couldn't do nothing about it. - [david] so they triedto cheat to stop you from stickin' them,taking their flags. and they still endedup looking bad?

- there was some big guys, too. - [david] man, howmany touchdowns didyou score that game? - five to zero. - so the score was five to zero? who scored all those? you scored all those touchdowns? so you scored (laughs). you scored, and thisis all boys, right? you're playing against all boys.

- i'm the only girl. - all meat eaters andyou're the only girl and you're the onlyvegan and you score all the touchdowns. and they had to pushthe alligators up to 12, from five alligatorsto 12 alligators? just to stop you fromsnatching all the flags. man, shoot, you'redoing a better job than me with allthis football stuff.

that's right, girl. (om chanting) - [genesis] we shall overcome. we shall overcome. we shall overcome someday. oh, deep in myheart, i do believe. - [two children] we'llwalk hand in hand. - we'll walk hand in hand. we'll walk hand in hand.

we'll walk hand in hand someday. deep in my heart, i do believe, we shall overcome someday. - you are not alone. you are not alone. you are not alone today. deep in my heart i do believe - [boy and girl]we shall overcome. (slow piano ballad)

- i also don't like to usethe word typical vegan. i don't know what atypical vegan is anymore. i don't know ifthere's such a thing. i think that sortof '70s version of the tree-hugging,crystal-powered, birkenstock-wearing unicornrider is sort of nonsense and has been for a long time. - i left home rightafter college, and i ended up walking actually

all the way from newengland to tennessee. and ended up intennessee at a community called the farm,which at that time was the largest hippiecommune in the world. it was almost1,000 people there, and they were all vegetarians. in fact, we wouldtoday call them vegans. no one heard of theword vegan in 1975. - i fought competitivelyfor many many years.

i still train and i, there'snothing more satisfying than getting intothe ring with a guy who's 20 years younger than i am and just completelyhanding him his ass. - nine years later,i shaved my head, and for the secondtime in my life, i found myself in acommunity that was vegan. this was songgwangsa zenmonastery in south korea. and i went there andbecame a zen monk

with the idea of doingan intensive meditation. and i realized thoughthat these people in this monasteryhad been living what we would call avegan way of living for 750 years. - i can remember oneof my old coaches who was supertraditional, he was about a thousand yearsold, old chinese guy, who used to say yougotta be more aggressive,

you gotta eat moremeat, you know. you gotta eat more meatand be more aggressive. - so there was no meat,no dairy, no eggs, no wool no silk, no leather. even mosquitoes, you wouldn'tjust, you know, kill. you would put 'em outside. - and then at the same time, he would sit us all downfor two hour meditations and say walk themiddle path and embrace

freedom and balance. now get in there andkick that guy's ass and bring home atrophy for the school. - the whole idea wasthat if we want to evolve in consciousness andbecome more awake, then the fundamentalmost important thing is kindness to others. - and it's that same sortof cognitive dissonance that says i canpet my dog and love

my golden retrieverand then i can eat a double bacon cheeseburger. and it simply nevermade sense to me. - we are all interconnected. the interconnectedness of life is the fundamentalspiritual teaching, and from understandingthat more deeply, we liberate ourselvesas we liberate others. - we are all on this crazy rock

flying through the universe,and we're in it together. and i know it sounds alittle crystal-powered, but it's really the only thing that we know for sure, which is that we're all adrift ina sea of chaos, you know? and the mountain is not there, and me and the trees are here. i am the trees andi am the mountain, and we are all onthe rock together.

and that is the moresublime change that happens after one realizes that we can't slaughter and eat ourfellow earthlings. - the whole idea of veganism is really a social transformation but also a personaltransformation based on waking awakening out of the delusion ofbeing a fundamentally separate self andcompeting with others

to get something. rather to see thatas we bless others, we are blessed. (piano music) - four amys with no cheese. that would be completely vegan? - [worker] um, yeah, but we also could do four vegan amys. i can do them with vegan cheese.

- oh, okay, wellactually you know what? i think i'm finewithout the cheese, vegan or not, but that,wow, that's great. that's good to know. - [worker] so fouramys with no cheese? - four amys, no cheese. and then i need twonon-dairy chocolate and two non-dairy strawberries. - back in the day in 1970,

when i first becamea vegan, you know, a lot of those veggiemeats, i won't name the brand 'causethey're good people that tried hard, but they were, i'm not sure if that veggie meat was good for your body, but it certainly wasn'tgood for your soul. it was just kindof like, well i'm just going to eat this anyway.

that was kind ofthe inner-monologue like whenever you wouldeat some of that stuff. but it got so muchbetter over the years, and now you can goto any restaurant, they have vegandishes, you know, nearly any restaurant has that. and they're delicious and people realize just 'causeyou're a vegan doesn't mean youdon't like flavor.

garlic is just fine. cayenne pepper is just fine. ginger is wonderful. put some flavorinto it, and that's what i do when i cook. i make a number ofwonderful dishes. spicy thai basileggplant i make, i make a wonderfulcurry, i have a chicken with peanut sauce

with fake chicken, of course. trinidad squash, greek potatoes. i have all these wonderfuldishes filled with flavor that people, bigmeat-eaters that come to my house, they love it. and they begrudginglygo meat-free for the day. but then when it's done,when the meal's done they go you know, icould do this again.

i may do this alittle more often. - it's exciting. i'm a vegan sittingin a drive-thru ordering a burger anda shake and fries. very cool. - i didn't fullyunderstand the green aspects of it back in 1970, but by the early '90s i did. it takes so muchmore land and water

and energy to createa pound of beef than it does a pound of broccoli or a pound of grain. so it's the greenchoice in many ways, land use, energy,water, you name it. - right now on mytruck it says vegan. i'm really consideringre-branding into plant-based. 'cause i am finding that thatis more accessible to people. they're, it's the samething, it's the same food.

but unfortunately, i think that over time, vegan hascreated a whole other layering of meaning,which sometimes can mean militant andpeople get defensive, like, you know, oh you're going to tell me how to livemy life or whatever. - there's no joy in being right about climate changeor being a vegan or single-use plastic.

some of these things that we've been talking aboutfor many years, but i would hope thatpeople would be more open to these points of view now that there's been agreat success rate about a lot of the thingswe've been talking about. right here in la and inseveral other cities, solar power is now on a par with the traditionalgrid power of coal

and natural gas and all of that. it's now costeffective to do solar. so that's a biggame changer, so now maybe people willbe open to these kinds of thingsand dietary choices that you can make that will be good for the environment andgood for your own health. - when i use theterm plant-based, i find people just open up.

you can just, oh yay,yeah i love plants. that's good, you know? and when i use theterm vegan oftentimes, i just see themkind of close up. so it's, hey, i'm goingto use what works. i mean, if people aregoing to be more open to the word plant-basedor words plant-based, as opposed to theword vegan, sure. i'll do it.

as long as theyeat my food, that's all i care about. i don't care how they get there, i just want them to get there. and then understandwhat it's about. and then the discussionabout veganism can hopefully come into play. baby steps, right? whatever works.

- what do we doas activists that actually reaches people andactually changes the world? screaming is fun. throwing fake bloodis really satisfying. but it doesn't change the world. it doesn't make the worlda better place for animals. it just satisfies ouremotional need to scream and throw fake blood, you know? so being a veganactivist and being

an animal rightsactivist, the criteria by which my actionsare judged is how effective am i at beingan activist for animals? not how much i enjoyit, not how much i want to scream,'cause i just want to scream at everybody,but am i making the world a better place through myactivism for the animals? (straw slurps) - my grandfather's a butcher.

grew up in kansas. meat eating, meat eating,meat eating family. and here it was almost inthe middle of the night, and i hear this wailing coming from the barn. it's pouring down rain, and so i put on mybig ol' rubber boots and go on down there. (rain falling)and storm's happening

outside and it'scold and it's dark. it was an experiencelike you can't imagine unless you livedthrough it, i think. i've birthed my own babies. but i'm a little distracted. but here, i'm watchingthe miracle of life just happen rightin front of me. and my hands are right there and i'm in thereand i'm actually

inside this, this lamb,pulling out the baby. it was just a reallybeautiful moment. (hopeful music) watching the babygrow up, you almost feel a connection like i would with a child of my own. it changed me and mythoughts about food. especially the daythat she was killed, i wasn't home.

by design. i knew she was going to be. that was the planfrom the beginning. that was our structure,that's what we did. and so it was tough that day. but my backgroundhas always been this is life. this is the way things are. so my feelings were wrong.

i needed to buck it up. i needed to, um,get with the program and stop being soemotional about it. and feed my family, and that was kind of the attitude of things. and so i cooked dinner a shorttime later using this baby. and cried for days. (soft folk guitar) ♪ i'm resonating to the sound

♪ of the spirit in theforest and the streams ♪ vibrating to eternal rhythms ♪ where the mysteriesunfold magically ♪ - every year for thanksgiving, we do a celebrationfor the turkeys where the turkeys arethe guests of honor. the turkeys dig in,they love pumpkin pie. and they stick theirface right into it (audience laughs)and splatter it all around.

♪ there's a memory ofanother space in time ♪ i'm on my way tosoaring into the light ♪ - she said mom, i gotthe pig, i got the pig. oh, well good. and she says andi named it herman. i said oh you did not. after your dad. she said i did too. i said well, it's your pig.

♪ brace your heart, goforth, share the mystery ♪ the world's ready now for youto do what you're here to do ♪ the planetarysigns are in line ♪ girl, you're right on time ♪ - some childrenwant to go vegan, but their mom and dad don't have enough courage to do it. so i'm very very blessedand lucky to have them. and i think theseare the best parents

that a child could ask for. ♪ i'm on my way tosoaring into the light ♪ to the sound ♪ resonating to the trees,to the breeze, to the waters ♪ to the oceans, to thestreams, to the sea, ♪ to the sound, to the sound ♪ sound ♪ - the cage of chickensfell off a transport into memorial parkand broke open.

and all of them butone were killed. one of them had one oftheir wings ripped off and was lying there mostly dead. ♪ to the sound ♪ - so i went andpicked this chicken up and took her to the shelter, took her to our vets, took her to an avian vet, andshe, we fostered her. we named her isabeland got to know her.

it became impossible to ignore that we had totake the next step, and my partnerand i had both had brushes with being vegan. we'd been vegetarian for years, but this for us,isabel's face was on it. - this isn't aquestion about eggs, this is a question about isabel. and that's a really easy answer.

♪ (sings in foreign language) ♪ - could you look ananimal in its face and simply say to itthat your appetite is more importantthan its suffering? that your desire to eat it is more important thanits desire to be alive? - houdini has fallen inlove with herman the pig. - oh, yeah. - i was out there earlier,nobody else was around,

and they were just nose to nose. i watched them a little while, and they just, i don't know what they were saying to each other, but they were, theywere communicating. - to have theexperience of somebody that gets dragged tomy truck by somebody else generally that understands. and then they try it andit's, it's just so cool.

and then they alwayscome to the window. that's why we havethe best customers. because they're alwayscoming to the window after they eat sayingthank you for being here. it was so good,things like that. they're just verygenerous people. it's nice. - i'm 65 years ofage, and i ride my bike all over la still.

i'm in great shape,and i've been to my high school reunion,and i can tell you, it's better to be a vegan.