Latest / UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell / UnchainedTV: Wildfires, Bird Flu: How Government Subsidies to Animal Agriculture Fuel these Crises

Transcript

UnchainedTV: Wildfires, Bird Flu: How Government Subsidies to Animal Agriculture Fuel these Crises · UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell

0:01
Breaking news to bring you as California reels
0:05
from devastating wildfires exacerbated by climate change.
0:10
It's truly a disaster.
0:13
Now another threat is growing.
0:16
You're looking at dead cows dumped on the
0:18
side of the road in California, undoubtedly victims
0:21
of bird flu, and the New York Times
0:23
is warning that the possibility of a pandemic
0:26
is no longer remote.
0:27
At the core of these calamities, industrialised animal
0:32
agriculture, accelerating climate change, raising the risk of
0:36
pandemics by exploiting animals in the food system
0:39
through systemic overcrowding and cruelty.
0:43
But the destructive role of factory farming is
0:46
being ignored by the government and by mainstream
0:50
media.
0:51
That's a very sick cow you're looking at
0:54
there.
0:54
Now Congress is debating a new farm bill
0:57
that will determine U.S. government subsidies to
1:00
animal agriculture for years to come.
1:03
Meanwhile, the incoming administration wants to cut two
1:07
trillion dollars from the budget and the ag
1:10
bailouts packed in the farm bill are an
1:14
obvious solution that nobody seems to see.
1:18
Here to discuss it all, we have three
1:20
experts, Robert Grillo of Free From Harm, as
1:23
well as Donnie Moss from TheirTurn.net, and
1:26
we're going to be joined by Dr. Crystal
1:28
Heath, a veterinarian who is being persecuted for
1:32
bringing this subject up.
1:34
I want to start with you, Robert Grillo,
1:39
because you have literally stormed into the halls
1:42
of Congress, basically shouting and screaming, begging to
1:48
get members of Congress to look at the
1:51
disastrous impact of this massive bailout to animal
1:55
agriculture on climate change, on the bird flu,
1:59
on human health, because it funds fast food
2:02
and junk food.
2:05
Is anybody listening?
2:08
I think so, Jane.
2:09
I think people are listening.
2:11
The people we're targeting are some of the
2:15
top decision makers, the biggest decision makers making
2:20
the biggest deals and decisions in Congress as
2:25
well as in the private sector.
2:27
Just this last week, we confronted Senator John
2:32
Cornyn from Texas, a CEO of the American
2:34
Farm Bureau Federation, Zippy Duvall, one of the
2:39
powerful people in the world, not just in
2:44
agriculture, but one of the biggest power players
2:47
shaping the farm bill, and the CEO of
2:52
Fairlife, Tim Doleman, at the Dairy Forum.
2:57
All in three days, the last three days,
2:59
we've confronted these people.
3:01
The responses are all over the place, but
3:06
these people want less government.
3:10
They say they want less government, but when
3:12
it comes to subsidies for animal agriculture, they're
3:17
calling for more, which makes zero sense.
3:20
If you want less regulation, and you want
3:23
to cut the government's budget, then you can't
3:26
say, oh, but we still want a massive
3:29
bailout for animal agriculture.
3:32
The Americans don't want that.
3:35
Let's look at one of your speak truth
3:38
to power confrontations.
3:40
I warn everybody, it's shaky video, but that's
3:42
what happens when you speak truth to power.
3:44
Americans need a farm bill that protects public
3:47
health, animals, and the environment.
3:50
And then our livestock producers are facing their
3:53
own set of hurdles, which is why I'm
3:55
focused on strengthening eradication efforts from things like
3:59
feral swine and cattle feeder ticks, which cause
4:04
devastating losses for ranchers across Texas and across
4:08
the nation.
4:09
To build on that, we need an animal
4:12
disease vaccine ban.
4:13
The bird flu is insane.
4:16
Animal ag is to blame, and the animal
4:19
ag bailout.
4:20
Slaughter-free plant-based food system.
4:24
I'm tired of our money going to bailing
4:26
out all these animal ag industries.
4:30
You need to leave, sir.
4:38
Show them the Farm Bureau heart and the
4:40
farm heart.
4:42
So there you go, Robert, when you were
4:46
thrown out, the crowd cheered.
4:51
Yeah.
4:51
So Zippy Duvall is a thin-skinned person
4:55
that he is, in my opinion, a bit
4:57
of an egomaniac.
4:59
Can I just say something?
5:01
We have to keep personal attacks out of
5:03
this.
5:04
And I'll also say, I invite anybody mentioned
5:07
in this broadcast on at any time, we'd
5:10
love to dialogue with you.
5:12
But I mean, the point is you're trying
5:14
to, any way you can, get this word
5:16
out, and you get thrown out.
5:19
And not only are you thrown out, but
5:21
they're cheering as you're thrown out.
5:25
Well, sure, because in true Trump fashion, that's
5:27
what you do.
5:29
If you're used to being in power and
5:31
you're used to trying to control the narrative,
5:34
you rouse the crowd against one dissenting voice
5:38
in the audience because you don't want to
5:40
hear dissent.
5:41
That's a very classic authoritarian type of tactic.
5:47
That's something that we've seen from Trump.
5:49
And from people like this, we're going to
5:52
see the same thing.
5:53
But believe me, the one thing people are
5:55
going to remember from the thousands of people
5:58
in that room, the one thing that they
6:00
will probably remember is not the boring rhetoric
6:03
that they hear from Zippy Duvall, or Senator
6:06
John Cornyn, or these other guys, but they're
6:09
probably going to remember the fact that there
6:11
was some dissent.
6:13
And that doesn't happen very, very often in
6:18
these circles.
6:19
And for us to get a message out
6:22
of dissent about a different path forward is
6:26
something that a lot of people will probably
6:29
remember rather than the boring rhetoric.
6:33
Well, okay.
6:34
I agree with you.
6:36
And first of all, I applaud you for
6:37
your courage and your team for going in
6:40
there and speaking truth to power.
6:42
I want to bring in Dr. Crystal Heath,
6:44
who's a veterinarian, and she has also tried
6:47
to speak truth to power.
6:49
Dr. Heath, first, I want to play a
6:51
clip of you speaking at VMX, the veterinary
6:54
meeting and expo recently, where you outlined how
6:58
you were essentially persecuted for asking some tough
7:03
questions about animal agriculture and what is happening
7:09
with, well, the way we're treating animals in
7:14
the food system, particularly as it connects to
7:18
mass killing of animals to prevent bird flu,
7:23
which is not working.
7:24
I was kind of thrust into the public
7:26
sphere about all of this.
7:27
I had voiced concerns about water-intensive animal
7:30
protein production practises, terminal surgeries, and all these
7:34
things.
7:34
And my colleagues told me I really should
7:36
shadow a livestock veterinarian so I know what
7:38
I'm talking about.
7:39
And I grew up in the porridge.
7:40
I studied animal science at UC Davis before
7:42
going to vet school.
7:42
I think I know what I'm talking about,
7:43
but I also recognise that I don't work
7:45
in animal production.
7:47
So I posted on the veterinary Facebook group
7:49
that I was looking to shadow a livestock
7:50
vet.
7:51
And then it was like kind of this
7:53
perfect storm.
7:54
It was COVID.
7:55
It was like the industry was already on
7:58
edge.
7:59
And this pileup assumed that like I did
8:03
not respect at all.
8:05
This meme went out about me.
8:07
I was banned from veterinary Facebook groups.
8:11
And it was like scary.
8:13
My colleagues were sending me all of like,
8:15
I was banned, but then my colleagues were
8:16
sending me screenshots of the things that people
8:19
were saying about me.
8:21
And I can like look at it and
8:23
laugh like right now, but it was quite
8:26
frightening at the time.
8:27
And it's just so frustrating to like not
8:30
be able to set the record straight in
8:31
these groups because I was banned and locked
8:33
and couldn't tell my own story.
8:36
Dr. Heath, first of all, wow.
8:40
You and Robert, and we're going to talk
8:42
to Donny.
8:44
The courage that it takes to speak truth
8:47
to power to these powerful organisations without naming
8:50
specific names.
8:52
Tell us your ordeal and what you've gone
8:53
through.
8:54
Yeah.
8:55
I mean, I have been character assassinated.
8:58
I have been smeared as somebody who collaborates
9:02
with terrorist organisations, who works for terrorist organisations,
9:05
someone who poses a threat to my colleagues.
9:08
So recently I was banned from speaking at
9:10
a symposium when my talk was not even
9:12
related to anything having to do with animal
9:15
rights.
9:15
It was about how to pay off your
9:16
debt and live your passion.
9:18
And my table, our honour, my organisation, our
9:21
honour was barred from even tabling at this
9:24
event, this veterinary conference.
9:26
I have been prevented from joining veterinary associations.
9:31
I have been prevented from going to veterinary
9:34
conferences, even just attending and watching because of
9:39
my position.
9:40
Thankfully, I'm thankful for this veterinary conference, allowed
9:44
me to come and speak and table.
9:46
And it was so positive.
9:47
And we had so many positive interactions with
9:50
so many veterinarians.
9:51
We were passing out t-shirts.
9:52
People were putting the t-shirts on, taking
9:54
pictures with us.
9:55
It was so great.
9:57
And that's what they're scared of.
9:59
Like other, my colleagues seeing us as normal
10:02
people with an important perspective.
10:04
We pose such a threat to the industry
10:07
when veterinarians are able to join together and
10:11
speak out about these cruel practises.
10:13
Now, you were one of the only people
10:16
to actually videotape the cows being piled up
10:22
on the side of the road in California.
10:23
This is your footage.
10:25
I mean, this should set off alarm bells.
10:29
And the New York Times, and I'll show
10:32
the clip, has said basically the response to
10:37
bird flu has been abominable.
10:41
And now a pandemic is no longer a
10:45
remote threat.
10:46
Let me actually put that up and show
10:49
you what the New York Times just said
10:52
the other day.
10:53
A dangerous virus, bird flu enters a new
10:56
phase.
10:57
A pandemic is not inevitable, scientists say, but
11:00
the outbreak has passed worrisome milestones in recent
11:03
weeks, including cattle that may have been reinfected.
11:06
A human pandemic is not inevitable, even now,
11:09
more than a dozen experts said in interviews.
11:11
But a series of developments over the past
11:13
few weeks indicates the possibility it is no
11:17
longer remote.
11:19
And then you showed me, we're going to
11:21
get a little wonky here, but it's important.
11:24
You showed me the sentient media article that
11:27
lays out a case that U.S. taxpayers
11:30
bailing out the poultry industry has helped propel
11:35
the avian flu to an ever greater threat.
11:38
Because in one case, they gave one company
11:42
$44 million in indemnity payouts, basically to kill
11:46
millions of birds, not that actually have bird
11:50
flu, but that might be exposed or were
11:54
exposed.
11:55
So by compensating companies in such a flagrant
12:00
manner, they've reduced the financial incentive for these
12:04
companies to be careful about the bird flu.
12:08
Can you elaborate on that?
12:11
Yeah.
12:11
Imagine if you had a business and no
12:13
matter how risky your business model was, taxpayers
12:15
were going to step in and take care
12:17
of you.
12:17
If you had a building that was, you
12:19
know, at risk of burning down and it
12:22
burned down, but because you could do your
12:25
business much cheaper if you ignored, you know,
12:27
safety protocols.
12:28
That's the system that we have set up.
12:31
And this is a method of protein production
12:34
that now most Americans are dependent on because
12:39
we made it this way.
12:40
We are bailing out these billion dollar companies
12:44
with who are making record profits, who stock
12:48
prices are at record levels.
12:51
We are forced to pay them millions of
12:54
dollars when their birds become infected with avian
12:57
influenza.
12:58
We also don't require them to put plans
13:01
in place to use less cruel methods of
13:03
exterminating diseased animals.
13:05
So we just allow them to seal up
13:08
barns, pump in heat and wait for the
13:10
animals inside to die.
13:12
And our veterinary organisations support this method and
13:17
enable this practise.
13:19
And you are looking at a chicken being
13:21
baked alive.
13:23
More than 2000 veterinarians have signed a petition
13:26
saying this method called ventilation shutdown or ventilation
13:30
shutdown plus or VSD plus is an abominably
13:35
cruel method.
13:38
Honestly, even this video up, it depressed me
13:42
so much and made me so embarrassed to
13:44
be a human being.
13:46
The idea that you would, you know, sometimes
13:49
you've got to, they seal up houses, okay,
13:54
and they put, that's what they're doing with
13:57
millions of chickens inside.
13:59
These chickens are dying slow deaths being baked
14:01
to death.
14:02
Who are we as a culture?
14:04
And all of us, you and me and
14:07
everybody listening is being forced to subsidise this
14:10
with our tax dollars.
14:13
It's complete madness.
14:15
It's morally abhorrent.
14:18
It's evil.
14:19
I will say it.
14:21
And you're simply trying to raise the alarm
14:23
bell that it's not even effective.
14:26
It's not even effective because the government by
14:29
compensating the companies for doing this, then they
14:32
don't take the extra precautions because they'd figure,
14:35
well, we'll get compensated anyway.
14:36
Is that what you're saying?
14:37
Crystal?
14:38
Yeah.
14:39
And the, the discussion is always around, oh,
14:41
the high price of eggs, but we're never
14:43
talking about the high price of these production
14:45
methods that these corporations are using that threaten
14:48
our food security, our public health and animal
14:51
welfare.
14:52
And we need to incentivise these companies to
14:55
transition to animal free methods of food production,
14:58
which they can, which they have the resources
15:00
to, but there's no incentive for them to
15:03
do that.
15:04
They can continue with this business model because
15:06
they'll continue to be bailed out.
15:08
And that puts our nation's food security at
15:10
risk.
15:11
And a question being asked, how many hours
15:13
does it take to bake to death incomprehensible?
15:17
It depends on the situation, anywhere from one
15:20
hour to as many as eight hours we've
15:22
seen.
15:22
Dear God, dear God.
15:25
And then, you know, the, the really horrifying,
15:28
and as Karen LaCava says, horrific, the really
15:31
horrifying part is it's horrifying enough.
15:34
But then when people try to raise the
15:36
alarm bells or even ask powerful members of,
15:40
for example, the agriculture committee that is weighing
15:43
what these subsidies should be, they're literally arrested.
15:48
And we have some clips of Robert Grillo,
15:51
who was here, basically just trying to get
15:55
this point across that this is not necessary.
15:58
And it results in being thrown out to
16:03
cheers and arrests.
16:07
The Farm Bill is a product of dark
16:09
money that comes from the meat, dairy and
16:11
egg industries who have bought your vote through
16:14
millions of dollars in campaign contributions.
16:17
You have betrayed hardworking Americans, but we refuse
16:20
to pay for disease outbreaks that come from
16:22
confining and slaughtering billions of animals, not another
16:26
penny for cooking millions of birds alive.
16:29
It's time to fund a water-free, plant
16:32
-based food system.
16:33
Stop the animal ad
16:43
bailout.
16:59
It's horrific!
17:00
I'm worried about that bird flu very much,
17:03
and I know that there are dead dairy
17:04
cows infected with bird flu that lay along
17:07
the roadside near dairy farms.
17:09
The scavengers go after them.
17:10
There's no biosecurity or warning.
17:12
And that scavenger hunt there actually spreads the
17:15
disease, the bird flu, to wildlife, other birds,
17:19
and humans.
17:20
How can the CDFA allow this?
17:23
Are you putting industry profits over public health
17:27
and animal welfare?
17:28
That's my question.
17:38
Donnie Moss of theirturn.net You've been working
17:41
to try to alert the incoming administration that
17:46
purports to want to cut $2 trillion from
17:49
the budget, that there is a way.
17:52
Take it away.
17:55
It's not just the bailouts.
17:57
It's the subsidies that the government gives to
18:01
industrial animal agriculture, which makes it impossible even
18:06
for smaller farmers to function fairly.
18:10
If Trump is eager to cut the national
18:14
federal budget by $2 trillion, one very easy
18:20
way to make a big dent in that
18:23
cut is to eliminate these subsidies to animal
18:28
agriculture and to these other crops that are
18:31
grown to feed these animals.
18:34
We could eliminate those subsidies altogether to cut
18:38
the budget, and that would encourage farmers to
18:41
transition into grown fruits and vegetables, which would
18:46
reduce health care costs, which would further reduce
18:49
the federal budget.
18:52
Right now, with the government's Department of Government
18:57
Efficiency, DOGE, looking for ways to cut the
19:01
budget, we've delivered them just the easiest possible
19:05
solution to that.
19:07
The problem is, how do we reach these
19:11
people to show them the obvious?
19:14
I look at something called the 80-20
19:17
rule, and I was reading about it, and
19:18
I was like, this is animal agriculture, absolutely,
19:22
the 80-20 rule, which is 20%
19:26
of the inputs cause 80% of the
19:30
outcomes.
19:31
That's a principle that a lot of people
19:33
are talking about, and to me, that is
19:35
animal agriculture.
19:36
20% of this 20% of subsidies,
19:43
of cruelty, of waste, of self-sabotage is
19:48
creating 80% of our problems.
19:51
The health care crisis, by subsidising animal agriculture,
19:54
which is essentially subsidising fast food, you are
19:57
creating the obesity crisis, you're creating the heart
20:00
disease crisis, and you're creating the cancer crisis,
20:03
because processed meat, which is how most people
20:05
want to eat meat, to a large degree,
20:07
is officially a level one carcinogen, according to
20:10
the World Health Organisation.
20:12
Mainstream media does not talk about that.
20:14
That's why we created Unchained TV, to try
20:17
to have these conversations.
20:19
But how do we get the people who
20:22
are making these decisions to listen in desperation?
20:27
I actually wrote a comment in the New
20:32
York Times.
20:33
The article was about Musk planning to retool
20:37
the government.
20:38
We all have heard that the Department of
20:40
Government Efficiency wants to cut $2 trillion from
20:44
the budget.
20:46
I thought this hadn't been published, but it
20:49
actually did get published and got 28 recommends.
20:53
This is what I wrote.
20:54
Elon Musk, please read this.
21:24
Elon
21:54
Musk, please read this.
21:54
67% of the population is lactose malabsorption.
21:59
Please look into gutting the Farm Bill.
22:01
This is an elegant solution to your challenge
22:03
that will also benefit the American people.
22:05
Let the law of supply and demand rule
22:06
and end this corporate socialism for the benefit
22:08
of Big Ag and Big Pharma.
22:10
Now, sorry to read all that, but the
22:13
devil's in the details here.
22:15
I got 28 likes on that, which you
22:19
don't usually get that many in a New
22:21
York Times comment.
22:22
But the point is, how do we get
22:25
this message to Elon Musk?
22:27
We had somebody try to write an op
22:29
-ed in the Washington Times.
22:32
Similar thoughts rejected.
22:34
What do we do?
22:36
Anybody who has any thoughts, raise your hand.
22:38
James, can I comment on that?
22:40
Go ahead.
22:42
Can I just say that there's not nearly
22:45
enough focus on—Congress holds the purse strings.
22:49
They ultimately get to decide where the money
22:51
gets appropriated.
22:53
Now, of course, there's a lot of influences
22:55
on Congress, but how many groups are actually
22:57
pressuring Congress right now, or any part of
23:00
the federal government, for that matter?
23:02
How many animal groups or environmental groups are
23:05
actually putting pressure right there where it needs
23:08
to be to change our food system?
23:11
I would say very few.
23:12
Very few individuals and very few groups.
23:14
Obviously, we need a lot more momentum.
23:17
We don't have enough momentum yet.
23:19
Today, the Senate Democrats come out with a
23:23
letter that condemns Trump's cuts.
23:29
They talk about the egg industry and how
23:31
the price of eggs is going to soar.
23:34
There's no leadership or imagination, even on the
23:37
Democrats' side.
23:38
Their idea is to pour more money into
23:41
the egg industry to try to solve a
23:43
bird flu crisis instead of having the leadership
23:46
or imagination that perhaps this is a great
23:50
opportunity to change course, to invest in alternatives
23:54
to eggs.
23:55
They have so much power to do so.
23:59
We really need to focus and hold accountable
24:03
that body and all those that are elected
24:06
there.
24:07
I have to say, I agree with you.
24:10
To put it mildly, it's a bipartisan problem.
24:13
During the Biden administration, the USDA announced more
24:18
than $43 million investment in meat and poultry
24:21
processing research, expansion, and innovation.
24:25
It's truly a bipartisan problem.
24:29
You're absolutely right.
24:31
I pull my hair out when I watch
24:34
liberal media, MSNBC, and they talk about the
24:37
rising price of eggs or they use an
24:38
example, eggs, bacon.
24:40
It's like, wake up, people, and how do
24:46
we get through to them?
24:47
These are otherwise brilliant people, Rhodes Scholars, and
24:52
yet they can't see that virtually all of
24:56
our major problems are coming from our subsidy
25:00
of a horribly destructive industry, not just cruel
25:05
to animals, but causing horrible healthcare outcomes for
25:09
human beings.
25:10
Let's not forget climate change.
25:14
Unchained TV just did a special report on
25:18
climate change.
25:19
I would like to play a little bit
25:22
of it for you so that we can
25:25
bring that aspect into the conversation because, and
25:31
I'm looking for it right now, full disclosure,
25:33
you get to see behind the camera for
25:35
a minute.
25:35
I know I uploaded it, and if I
25:38
didn't upload it, shame on me.
25:40
I will upload it now and we'll continue
25:42
to talk about the idea of the wildfires
25:47
that have so devastated California.
25:52
They're exacerbated by climate change.
25:55
What to me is truly maddening is that
25:58
if the U.S. government didn't subsidise animal
26:02
agriculture, Donnie, we wouldn't be accelerating climate change.
26:08
If you take a look at what the
26:10
New York Times reported on an Oxford University
26:13
study, I can show you that right now,
26:16
and it's unbelievable.
26:20
It's basically showing that, well, that's true too.
26:26
You're more likely to go to prison for
26:28
exposing animal cruelty than committing it, but additionally,
26:33
there's this.
26:36
A dangerous phase of bird flu is arriving
26:41
amongst us, and there's this.
26:45
Save the planet, put down that hamburger.
26:48
Researchers examined a diet of 55,500 people
26:52
and found that vegans are responsible for 75
26:54
% less in greenhouse gases than meat eaters.
26:57
Right there, if we all transition to a
27:02
plant-based diet, we could reduce our collective
27:04
greenhouse gas emissions by 75%.
27:07
Donnie?
27:09
We know for years, we've known from the
27:12
United Nations that animal agriculture emits more greenhouse
27:16
gases than all forms of transportation combined.
27:20
If that's not something that should jolt us
27:23
into changing our habits, then nothing is.
27:25
That's really powerful.
27:27
A few years ago, Jane, you may recall
27:29
that the Amazon was burning down.
27:31
There were man-made fires to clear rainforests
27:36
in order to make way for cattle grazing
27:38
and to grow crops to feed those cattle.
27:43
When you think of the Amazon, we've all
27:46
learned that the Amazon, the tropical rainforests are
27:50
the lungs of the Earth, and they're big
27:52
carbon sinks.
27:53
In order to continue eating meat and producing
27:57
cows for consumption, we are transforming our carbon
28:04
sinks into carbon emitters.
28:07
It's a little bit surreal.
28:09
I was struck during the last presidential election
28:12
that, once again, there's not even talk about
28:18
animal agriculture, factory farming, its impact on human
28:23
health, on the climate, on the planet, on
28:28
species extension, biodiversity.
28:31
It plays such a big role in our
28:35
lives, yet it's not even an issue for
28:39
public consumption and debate.
28:42
In response to your question, how do we
28:45
in the area specifically of getting animal agriculture
28:49
onto the radar screen of DOGE, the Department
28:52
of Government Efficiency, one of the things that
28:55
I've been doing is I've been going to
28:57
their Twitter page and responding to their tweets,
29:01
pointing out this obvious solution, this obvious way
29:04
to cut the federal budget.
29:06
I finally found the report.
29:08
Here it is.
29:09
Another alarm bell from Mother Nature has just
29:12
gone off, and the question is, is it
29:14
too late, or can we still change the
29:17
outcome?
29:26
I tried to run across two or three
29:29
times to get in there and see if
29:30
there's any pets that I could grab, and
29:33
unfortunately, every time I went there, it was
29:36
like a massive heat wave hit me and
29:39
almost knocked me back.
29:40
It actually burned my tyres eventually.
29:43
And as I was running, a car drove
29:44
by me.
29:45
I heard, Billy!
29:46
And it was Aaron Christensen from Animal Advocacy
29:48
Network, and he was in that truck.
29:50
And I'm like, hey, what's going on?
29:51
Do you want to help out?
29:52
We're trying to get these horses and chickens
29:54
and pigs and this and that.
29:55
I said, sure.
29:56
We did get all those animals out, everything
29:58
from the horses, obviously, to the peacocks.
30:01
Very dangerous animals, the peacocks.
30:03
Whether it's a dog, cat, or a goat,
30:06
people love their animals.
30:08
I don't care what their animals are.
30:10
There should be no discrimination here.
30:12
I think it's important to...nobody or no animal
30:15
deserves the suffocation, the smoke, and the burning
30:18
alive.
30:19
No animal deserves that.
30:22
Take a look at that burnt out car.
30:23
Kind of tells the whole story, doesn't it?
30:25
Where are we headed?
30:26
Off a cliff?
30:28
We're in a time of climate crisis, and
30:30
it's clear we all have to collectively make
30:33
some major lifestyle changes.
30:36
So the obvious lifestyle change, which was recommended
30:40
in the special report, which you can watch
30:41
on Unchained TV, by somebody who lost her
30:44
boyfriend in the fires.
30:46
Her boyfriend died in the fires and she
30:48
said, go vegan.
30:51
That is the recommendation.
30:52
But I want to go to Dr. Crystal
30:54
Heath because it was tragically ironic that the
30:57
animal rescuer said, no animal deserves to be
31:01
baked to death.
31:02
I'm sure you heard that.
31:04
And that's exactly what we're doing to the
31:06
chickens.
31:07
In this mass ventilation shutdown horror that they're
31:12
doing their darndest to keep the American people
31:15
from even knowing about.
31:16
Yeah, it's absolutely horrifying and it was so
31:19
shocking at this veterinary conference how many veterinarians
31:22
still had not heard of ventilation shutdown.
31:27
So many people don't know about this.
31:29
It should be in every news story about
31:31
avian influenza.
31:32
Journalists should be asking, well how are these
31:34
birds being exterminated?
31:36
But that question still isn't being asked and
31:39
I'm trying my hardest to get it out
31:41
there.
31:41
Thankfully Time Magazine published our op-ed about
31:44
it.
31:45
But my opinion is our 80-20 principle
31:48
is we should be focussing our attention on
31:51
educating veterinarians about this because every veterinarian I
31:55
talk to is horrified that this is being
31:58
legitimised by our profession and they want to
32:01
stop it, especially when there's a less cruel
32:03
method available.
32:05
Although we should of course transition and support
32:08
companies to transition away from animal agriculture animal
32:12
-based protein production towards animal-free methods of
32:15
protein production but instead we're just legitimising the
32:20
cruellest practises and that's just the way it
32:24
is.
32:24
Our whole system of incentives is set up
32:26
to reward those with the most brutal and
32:29
callous business practises.
32:31
We allow the most brutal companies to become
32:35
the most successful and that is a dangerous
32:38
way to set up our food system and
32:41
it endangers our food security and our public
32:43
health.
32:44
So just to add a few little nuggets
32:47
to this terrible situation where we have the
32:51
answers to all the problems and nobody wants
32:54
to listen to us and indeed persecutes anybody
32:58
who tries to raise the potential solution.
33:02
Now the good news is that DOGE, the
33:06
Department of Government Efficiency run by Elon Musk
33:08
says it wants to cut two trillion dollars
33:10
from the budget.
33:11
The bad news is that he went on
33:14
the Joe Rogan show and reportedly said you
33:18
can eat all the meat you want, it
33:19
has no impact on climate change.
33:20
That makes it even tougher.
33:23
I want to do a certain clip here
33:26
that I think shows that there are some
33:28
people, gotta give this guy from the Federal
33:31
Reserve some props for at least listening to
33:34
Robert Grillo when Robert Grillo from Free From
33:37
Harm approached him.
33:39
I think this is the first time where
33:40
they didn't call the cops and have you
33:42
thrown out or arrested but let's play that
33:46
clip of you trying to make a point
33:47
and this Federal Reserve bigwig actually listening for
33:52
a minute.
33:53
Beef has a protein conversion rate of only
33:57
3.8% meaning that you have to
33:59
feed a cow 100 grammes of plant proteins
34:02
or whatever it is they feed cows wheat
34:04
or whatever just to get a little less
34:07
than 4 grammes of protein for human consumption
34:12
and if we're talking about minimising input costs
34:15
and the most efficient type of system, doesn't
34:19
it make sense from a sustainability standpoint to
34:21
transition to plant based proteins and to divest
34:26
from the livestock industry?
34:27
I still think that the supply chain for
34:31
any given commodity or any given food product,
34:34
we want it to be as efficient as
34:36
possible.
34:37
I can see your point feeding a 1500
34:42
pound cow from an energy efficiency perspective.
34:47
It's not my expertise here.
34:52
Take your small victories, what do you make
34:57
of it Robert Grillo?
34:58
The fact that you weren't arrested for making
35:00
a very valid point.
35:02
That was an interesting experience because it was
35:05
the Federal Reserve Bank's annual agriculture conference and
35:09
Goolsbee is a leading spokesperson for the Federal
35:12
Reserve Bank you'll see him on major mainstream
35:15
news outlets so I definitely wanted to make
35:18
a point of talking to him and I
35:20
caught him on his way out after he
35:21
made his closing speech to everybody.
35:24
He just showed up at the end just
35:26
to say a few words and say how
35:27
great agriculture is.
35:30
As he was walking out I was able
35:32
to stop him and ask him those questions.
35:35
Now keep in mind the context of this
35:37
conference.
35:38
The theme is how do we minimise costs
35:41
input costs and how do we create the
35:44
most efficient food system and I'm sitting there
35:46
like the only person in the room thinking
35:49
why aren't we talking about plant based transition?
35:54
Why is there no discussion?
35:56
We have a dairy expert in the room.
35:58
We have somebody from a pig farm in
36:01
Indiana.
36:03
We have all these people talking about how
36:05
they're going to make their industries more efficient
36:07
but they're all animal industries.
36:10
I'm the lone person there talking about plant
36:16
based transition and it was a great experience
36:20
because I got to talk to a lot
36:22
of leading ag people and this guy Goolsby
36:26
he says I'm just a financial guy I
36:28
don't know the ethics.
36:29
I'm like no yes you do.
36:32
You have spoken out about the energy sector
36:35
and how we need to move to renewables
36:37
and you have every point to make to
36:41
say we should also for the same reasons
36:44
we need to transition to renewables we also
36:47
need to transition to a plant based food
36:50
system.
36:52
It's so frustrating how can we reach the
36:58
people who just want to cut the budget?
37:01
Now we got some really interesting comments from
37:03
people watching on social media.
37:07
Barbara Glick says in the confirmation hearings the
37:10
new secretary of agriculture mentioned subsidies distort the
37:13
market so we have another target to hold
37:15
accountable.
37:17
I believe this was the woman who wants
37:20
to be the new agriculture secretary.
37:23
That's the good news that she has said
37:25
in the past that subsidies distort the market
37:28
which means she's potentially against subsidies.
37:31
The bad news is that she issued a
37:33
fiery defence of the EATS Act which would
37:37
wipe out every single little bit of progress
37:41
we've made in for example eliminating pig gestation
37:45
crates for a lot of pigs where they're
37:48
kept in crates the size of their bodies
37:49
unable to turn around.
37:51
If she's in favour of the EATS Act
37:53
that is the worst.
37:57
It's like everything's an upside down world Donnie.
38:00
I have to go back to you.
38:04
There's no clear cut answer here.
38:07
I think the clear cut answer is how
38:08
do we reach these people with just the
38:11
financial cut not the moral lesson.
38:15
Jane I think first of all sadly things
38:18
happen in baby steps and while many would
38:21
say that baby steps are for babies that's
38:23
probably who we're dealing with here.
38:26
We can continue to do what we're doing
38:29
by educating the public and working with organisations
38:32
that are trying to move the needle away
38:36
from animal agriculture toward plant based consumption.
38:41
You know who's on our side?
38:43
Mother Nature.
38:44
She has sent a strong message to Americans
38:47
and to people around the world that what
38:50
we're doing isn't working.
38:51
We saw it with the wildfires in California.
38:53
We saw it with the hurricane in North
38:55
Carolina which destroyed parts of western North Carolina.
38:59
Hurricanes that have decimated parts of the west
39:03
coast of Florida and Louisiana.
39:06
At some point it's going to be more
39:08
cost effective for the government to do the
39:12
right thing which is to cut these subsidies
39:14
to animal agriculture than it is to turn
39:17
a blind eye.
39:18
Maybe it'll come down to dollars and cents.
39:21
Maybe it'll come down to people in positions
39:24
of power who are personally impacted by the
39:28
devastating impact of climate change driven by animal
39:32
agriculture.
39:33
But as grassroots activists on the ground, we
39:36
have our bodies, we have our keyboards and
39:39
we can share stories like this and we
39:43
can take to our keyboards and do whatever
39:47
we can to reach the decision makers and
39:50
our elected officials who need our votes.
39:53
So Dr. Crystal Heath, here we are.
39:56
We're offering a solution.
39:58
We're offering a solution to climate change to
40:01
a large degree.
40:02
Not a 100% but a pretty major
40:04
solution.
40:04
75% per human being reduction in greenhouse
40:08
gases.
40:09
We're offering a solution to the bird flu.
40:12
If we had no birds in factory farms
40:15
we wouldn't have a bird flu outbreak that
40:17
we would have to kill millions of birds
40:19
in factory farms.
40:20
We're offering a solution to the human health
40:24
crisis with 70% of Americans overweight and
40:28
more than 40% obese, which is causing
40:33
our healthcare costs to skyrocket.
40:36
We have also a solution to world hunger
40:38
by the way, which there are many people
40:41
suffering from malnutrition and hunger around the world
40:43
because animals are eating a huge percentage the
40:47
majority you could argue of the food.
40:49
We're 8.2 billion humans and we're raising
40:51
and killing 92 billion animals every year.
40:54
I mean what I don't get is how
40:57
is it possible for these people not to
41:01
see this?
41:03
I could see the people who are making
41:05
money off of the subsidies, okay, as somebody
41:08
said famous, you can't get somebody to agree
41:12
to a reality that's going to cost them
41:16
money.
41:16
You can't get them to see a solution
41:18
that's going to cost them money if they
41:20
adopt the solution.
41:21
But somebody like Elon Musk, okay, he seems
41:25
to be very focused on doing to the
41:28
U.S. government what he did to Twitter,
41:29
now X.
41:30
It's gutting it, gutting it, gutting it.
41:33
Well, it's right there and it actually would
41:36
help people.
41:39
Yeah, I mean I just went to Sprouts
41:42
and you look at the egg section to
41:45
see, I'm always checking what the prices are.
41:47
Of course, the egg section is empty except
41:50
for there's a little just egg thing sitting
41:53
right there.
41:54
There's also some egg whites cans things too,
41:57
but the just egg of course is $7
41:59
while the egg still is, even though egg
42:03
prices have gone up, the egg is still
42:05
cheaper than the just egg and that needs
42:07
to be switched.
42:08
It needs to be cheaper and easy for
42:11
people to grab.
42:15
I think a big thing with Elon Musk
42:18
and a lot of these people, they still
42:20
do not believe that you can be healthy
42:22
on a diet that doesn't include animals.
42:25
That's a big barrier for a lot of
42:26
people and a lot of people just aren't
42:28
used to eating these foods, so we have
42:30
to solve that problem too.
42:33
I think going to this veterinary conference, I
42:37
met so many vegan vets who had no
42:40
idea who I was.
42:42
I'm like how on earth is there any
42:44
vegan vet out there who doesn't know who
42:45
I am and what our honour is and
42:47
know about ventilation shutdown, but still so many
42:50
veterinarians who just need to get organised.
42:52
The politicians listen to us.
42:56
We need to get organised.
42:57
We need to get out there too and
42:59
take pictures of what is happening out there
43:01
in the world like I did with taking
43:04
pictures of the sick and dead cows.
43:06
Go to the areas near you where bird
43:08
flu outbreaks are happening.
43:09
Take pictures of what is happening and send
43:12
those to the media.
43:13
We need to change the narrative.
43:15
We need to get this information out there.
43:16
We need to raise awareness about the infectious
43:18
disease trap of animal agriculture, how we are
43:21
paying so much for empty eggshells.
43:25
We are paying all this money and we're
43:27
not even getting food out of it.
43:29
Let's redirect those subsidies towards supporting animal free
43:33
methods of food production so that we can
43:35
ensure our nation's food security and our public
43:38
health or else our nation will fall behind
43:42
all of the other nations.
43:44
That's what these guys should care about, ensuring
43:48
our future and our public health and our
43:51
food security and animal welfare of course too.
43:54
We know that when Beyond Meat went public
43:57
in 2019 it was the most successful initial
43:59
public offering for years, the meat industry freaked
44:04
out and launched a massive PR war against
44:08
plant-based meats basically calling them super processed.
44:13
Processed meat isn't processed, isn't super processed.
44:17
Meat isn't super processed.
44:19
When you eat a hamburger you could be
44:21
eating 100 animals or 200 animals.
44:23
It's all mixed up together, not appetising.
44:27
We have to counteract that as well because,
44:31
and I urge all plant-based vegan people
44:35
or vegan-friendly people, do not repeat meat
44:37
eating industry talking points.
44:39
Stop talking about how you hate veggie burgers.
44:42
If you don't want them, don't eat them,
44:44
but zip it because every time somebody eats
44:48
a veggie burger they're not eating an animal
44:49
and they are 100,000 times healthier than
44:54
a meat burger.
44:56
So where do we go from here?
44:59
We've only got a couple of minutes.
45:01
How do we reach Elon Musk?
45:02
Now I talked to somebody who deals with
45:04
a lot of high-powered people and what
45:08
he told me is they have layers and
45:12
layers and layers.
45:13
Like they have an assistant who has an
45:14
assistant who has an assistant who has an
45:16
assistant who has an assistant.
45:17
You can't really reach them.
45:19
We were actually talking about maybe placing an
45:22
ad in a conservative publication if they would
45:25
even accept it.
45:26
You know how PETA does ads for the
45:28
Super Bowl and they always turn them down
45:30
and then they get a lot of free
45:31
advertising as a result.
45:32
Very clever way of trying to deal with
45:35
it.
45:36
But just to recap and review about what
45:39
hasn't worked, just asking politely does not work
45:44
and let's talk a little bit about when
45:48
you try to speak truth to power.
45:49
This is an example of when you, Robert,
45:52
were arrested for trying to speak truth to
45:54
power.
45:56
There you are in the Congressional hearing and
45:59
you're being walked out.
46:01
This is a hearing on the Farm Bill
46:03
and you're just trying to make the point
46:05
that it's packed with these terrible subsidies and
46:09
you literally are handcuffed and arrested and walked
46:13
out.
46:14
So what can we do?
46:17
I'd like to hear from all three of
46:18
us, all four of us.
46:20
I suggest let's pool our resources and put
46:24
an ad because I want to say one
46:28
other thing.
46:29
There have been news articles where, first of
46:32
all, Vivek Ramaswamy who is a vegetarian left
46:35
Doge, so that's bad news because he might
46:38
be more enlightened about this issue, but the
46:41
second is I've read articles saying that Elon
46:45
Musk says, well, maybe I can't cut two
46:47
trillion because he's walked into a wall with
46:49
a lot of protections of federal employees, etc.
46:53
So we're offering an elegant solution that's actually
46:57
good for the planet.
46:58
How do we reach this individual?
47:00
I know you said you're going to his
47:02
Twitter page, but let's just brainstorm about other
47:06
possibilities.
47:07
Donnie?
47:08
How to reach Elon Musk.
47:10
One thing I did, Jane, I think you
47:13
probably did it too, is that we sent
47:16
emails to the public affairs departments of all
47:19
of the companies that Elon Musk owns or
47:23
has a controlling interest in.
47:25
We created a campaign in which we had
47:29
thousands of people sending those letters through one
47:33
of these automated email programmes, then perhaps that
47:37
would assuredly put this idea of cutting ag
47:41
subsidies on his radar screen, no doubt.
47:43
I also just want to make one point
47:45
of clarification, Jane.
47:46
We know that Elon Musk doesn't believe that
47:49
cutting animals from your diet will impact climate
47:53
change in a positive way and that he
47:55
doesn't think it will have any impact at
47:56
all, but we do know that he wants
47:58
to cut federal spending and so he might
48:02
not discriminate against this idea if this idea
48:06
would in fact be a way to cut
48:08
the budget.
48:10
Right, and I'd also like to say that
48:12
a lot of these folks are libertarians and
48:15
they basically feel that the government shouldn't be
48:18
subsidising and they're against welfare.
48:21
Well, this is corporate welfare.
48:24
It's blatant corporate welfare.
48:28
Why would they be in favour of it
48:30
if they're actually libertarians?
48:33
The question is if we could reach Elon
48:36
Musk, A, and then B, could we get
48:38
Congress, which has the purse strings, to go
48:41
along with Elon Musk?
48:43
Your thoughts, Robert Yurlow.
48:45
First of all, I'm not totally convinced that
48:47
Elon Musk will last very long so I'm
48:50
not even sure how much we want to
48:52
invest in trying to change his mind, but
48:55
I will say Congress is not going anywhere.
48:58
So we've had Congress for as long as
49:00
we've had a country and we can get
49:04
in front of these people.
49:05
We can do more than just write emails
49:07
and it's good to leave a paper trail.
49:10
It's good to have emails and phone calls
49:12
and social media posts tagging these people, but
49:15
guess what?
49:15
They can ignore all that, but what they
49:17
can't ignore is when we get in front
49:19
of them and that's what other social movements
49:21
have to do too.
49:21
We have to have face-to-face, honest
49:25
interactions, many different kinds of interactions, leading to
49:30
a seat at the table so that they
49:32
take our position seriously.
49:33
We have to be willing to get out
49:35
there and get in front of them.
49:37
All right.
49:38
I love your courage.
49:43
I have a question about these as your
49:47
own protesters said, these members of Congress who
49:51
you say are bought and paid for by
49:53
the animal agriculture industry.
49:56
I don't know that appealing to their conscience,
50:00
appealing to their logic is going to work.
50:02
I really don't because...
50:04
If they want to get re-elected they're
50:07
going to have to take their constituent groups
50:09
seriously as well and they're going to have
50:10
to figure out what the...
50:12
they're going to have to make a calculus.
50:14
Do I side with the animal ag interests
50:16
or is there too much political pressure and
50:20
too much change in my constituent base that
50:23
says there has to be some concessions made?
50:26
That's what we're looking for, concessions, a transition.
50:29
We're not expecting something to happen overnight.
50:33
Crystal Heath.
50:35
So last year our honour got 87 press
50:39
hits in the media from the New York
50:41
Times, The Guardian, Vox Newsweek, The Intercept, so
50:45
many Don't forget Unchained TV, lady.
50:48
Unchained TV, of course.
50:51
It's just me, mostly our honour and a
50:54
couple of helpers and this year we plan
50:56
to get a lot more media attention and
50:59
I have been following Elon Musk and all
51:01
of these people and there's this little crowd
51:04
of people on Twitter that all know each
51:06
other and all listen to each other.
51:09
Right now we also have a group chat
51:10
with around 800 people and we plan to
51:14
wield that group chat to help amplify some
51:17
tweets to various power holders.
51:21
As a result of some of my supporters
51:23
who have been tweeting at some prominent podcasters,
51:26
I will be on a pretty major podcast
51:30
hopefully in the next few weeks and we've
51:31
got another major media story that might come
51:34
out in the next few days too.
51:36
So we're working hard to get media attention
51:38
and I think this whole talk about bird
51:41
flu is becoming much more prominent.
51:44
There's a lot more media attention around it
51:46
and I think we have the opportunity to
51:48
really push our narrative, take advantage of this
51:53
whole bird flu situation as horrifying as it
51:56
is and get out there, take pictures, talk
51:59
to people, put our perspectives out there on
52:02
Twitter which is still, everybody's leaving Twitter but
52:05
that's where Elon Musk and all of these
52:07
people are and that's where all the journalists
52:10
are too.
52:12
So start writing thoughtful things, making creative content,
52:16
going out there in the field and taking
52:19
pictures of what is actually happening and talk
52:22
to your veterinarian too who do have the
52:25
power to change policy and legislation in the
52:28
United States because our policy makers will listen
52:31
to veterinarians and experts they won't necessarily listen
52:35
to animal rights activists unfortunately but animal rights
52:37
activists can influence veterinarians.
52:40
Well you are a hero for first of
52:42
all for many things but for going out
52:45
there and videotaping those cows at your own
52:48
risk because those cows undoubtedly had bird flu
52:52
and died from bird flu so I'm glad
52:55
you're safe.
52:56
I don't see a lot of pictures of
52:58
cows like that in mainstream media, systematically ignored.
53:03
So I also applaud you Dr. Heath for
53:07
getting on these major publications when so many
53:10
people have had no luck.
53:12
So I feel that you have a magic
53:15
touch, keep going.
53:16
But I also like Robert Grillo's approach of
53:19
speaking truth to power, going into these hearings
53:22
and disrupting them.
53:24
I mean that's non-violent civil disobedience to
53:28
get a point across because they don't listen.
53:31
If you talk to them nicely and they
53:33
don't listen you have to step it up.
53:36
I also like Donnie Moss's idea of really
53:40
doubling down on X and I also like
53:45
the idea of a high-tech petition that
53:50
lays out exactly where they can cut the
53:53
costs in the farm bill which has not
53:56
passed yet.
53:57
We do have an opportunity.
53:59
So I just want to thank all of
54:01
you for doing incredible work.
54:04
Everybody share this video out if you're watching
54:07
on social media and I always make a
54:10
plea for everyone to download Unchained TV.
54:14
We are the world's only vegan, non-profit
54:17
streaming television network that explains why we need
54:23
to transition to a plant-based lifestyle.
54:26
Discover Unchained TV and transform your life for
54:29
free.
54:34
Unchained TV is a non-profit organisation producing
54:37
plant-based content filled with tips and tricks
54:40
to spice up those healthy veggies, grains and
54:43
legumes.
54:45
For more information on Unchained TV productions just
54:49
visit unchainedtv.com.