Latest / UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell / UnchainedTV: Humans & Other Animals! Transformative New Film!

Transcript

UnchainedTV: Humans & Other Animals! Transformative New Film! · UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell

0:00
I'm hoping that this film will be a
0:02
single package that people can share with friends
0:05
and family members that really makes the case
0:08
for changing how we view and how we
0:11
treat non-human animals and making changes in
0:13
our own lives.
0:14
Well, let's take a little look at a
0:17
little clip and talk on the other side.
0:18
It's a scientific revolution.
0:20
Animals are way more intelligent than we used
0:22
to think.
0:23
Yes, chimpanzees are hunting with spears.
0:26
So she's the leader.
0:27
She's the one who made the decision.
0:29
We discovered that they were paying very close
0:31
attention to us.
0:32
But that's just the beginning.
0:34
There are a lot of people making a
0:36
lot of money who don't want us to
0:38
change how we see other animals.
0:41
They want to separate humans from non-human
0:42
animals because then it opens the door, gives
0:45
them licence and power to do anything they
0:47
want.
0:48
And we're only getting crueller.
0:50
I mean, the number of animals that we're
0:52
killing as a species is mind-boggling.
0:55
More animals are killed in one day than
0:57
all the humans who have died in all
0:59
the wars in human history.
1:00
We're going in the wrong direction.
1:03
And yet we're also going in the right
1:05
direction as organisations like PETA, Mercy for Animals,
1:09
and hundreds of others, the Non-Human Rights
1:12
Project, Animal Legal Defence Fund, Physicians Committee for
1:15
Responsible Medicine, you know, try to wake us
1:18
up that when we hurt animals, we're killing
1:21
ourselves, we're killing our planet.
1:23
How do you make sense of those two
1:26
trajectories where the number of animals being killed
1:29
is going up, but we're also kind of
1:32
waking up simultaneously?
1:34
Yeah, we're really at an inflexion point.
1:37
You know, things are changing in terms of
1:39
people's attitudes towards non-human animals.
1:41
Things are changing in terms of people changing
1:43
their diets and so forth.
1:44
But at the same time, we can't change
1:49
things fast enough because literally trillions of animals
1:53
are being tortured and killed every year.
1:58
And once we change our human-centred view,
2:03
something called speciesism, the assumption that there's a
2:06
sharp moral gulf between different members of different
2:10
species, and we start taking non-human animals
2:13
seriously as a serious social and political issue,
2:15
all of a sudden, this basically opens up
2:18
the world and makes this a profoundly serious
2:22
social issue and quite possibly, quite likely, perhaps
2:25
the most serious social and political issue of
2:28
our time.
2:29
So things are changing.
2:31
A growing number of people are standing up
2:34
and saying we have to change how we
2:35
view other animals.
2:36
But every one of us who cares about
2:40
ethics and who cares about reducing suffering and
2:44
injustice in the world, we should know that
2:47
we can make a difference whenever we speak
2:51
with people about this issue.
2:53
And I hope that this film will be
2:55
another small part of the tools that we
2:58
need to spread the word.
3:01
Now, you use some very high-tech equipment,
3:04
which, I mean, honestly, you've got guts.
3:07
You're going into these dangerous situations.
3:10
Uh, I've been working for animal rights my
3:13
whole life, but you don't see me going
3:15
in with drones and all the things that
3:18
you did.
3:19
I want to play another little clip, and
3:21
then you can describe exactly what's going on
3:24
because it seems pretty extraordinary.
3:26
So I decided to see for myself.
3:30
But these industries are pretty damn secretive.
3:33
How do I get over the barbed wire?
3:35
Hello, is anyone here?
3:37
Hello, is anyone here?
3:38
Excuse me, is anyone here?
3:39
So I had to take some extreme measures.
3:44
We had to design a new type of
3:46
camera just for this investigation.
3:48
This is quite a thing to try to
3:50
sneak through the hole.
3:53
Those recordings, if you share them, could mean
3:56
that you're thrown in jail.
3:57
I have a gunplay in my head.
3:59
Be pretty dangerous.
4:00
This is a good disguise, right?
4:17
A risk when you went out there.
4:21
Were you in fear?
4:22
Did you fear that maybe something could happen
4:25
to you as a result of what you
4:27
were doing?
4:28
Yes, that's the short answer.
4:31
The industries really do whatever they can to
4:36
stop people from seeing what happens inside these
4:39
facilities.
4:40
They've passed laws, as is mentioned in that
4:43
clip, or gotten legislators to pass laws to
4:48
make it illegal in some places to film
4:51
or to share footage.
4:53
These are industries that have a really strong
4:56
interest in hiding what's happening.
4:58
And so people who are trying to expose
5:01
this have to get more and more creative.
5:03
So we literally had to, as you'll see
5:06
in the film, develop new technologies in order
5:10
to find new ways to get into this
5:12
facility, these facilities.
5:14
They're always having to stay ahead of the
5:16
ways that they're trying to stop us.
5:19
And so that included some difficult and dangerous
5:24
things, as you'll see in the film, but
5:26
which thankfully paid off in terms of being
5:31
able to expose what happens in these facilities
5:33
in different parts of the world.
5:36
I'm very fascinated by when I talk to
5:40
people who have really devoted their lives to
5:42
this issue.
5:43
We recently interviewed Ingrid Newkirk, the co-founder
5:46
and president of PETA.
5:47
What made them devote their lives?
5:50
Like, why you?
5:52
And there is a clip from your previous
5:55
movie where you explain that you saw something
5:59
and it just totally changed the trajectory of
6:02
your life.
6:04
Let's look at that and discuss on the
6:05
other side.
6:06
This is me working on the movie that
6:08
you're watching right now.
6:10
I started researching and filming this in college
6:14
when I was 20.
6:15
I made it more important than anything else
6:18
I did.
6:19
I didn't do my homework or go out
6:21
much.
6:22
This just had to be made into a
6:24
film.
6:25
But I didn't have much time or money,
6:29
so I worked at Disney World and Starbucks
6:32
and a museum and put all of my
6:34
money toward the film.
6:36
Last year, at 22, when I was about
6:39
to leave for law school, I decided to
6:41
postpone it and move in with my dad
6:43
for a year to finish the movie.
6:46
Of course, I didn't know how to make
6:48
a movie, but I did make some new
6:50
friends along the way who helped me out
6:52
by holding the camera.
6:53
Like a PhD candidate named Alex.
6:56
I can hear me pretty well in my
6:59
headphones.
7:00
And a fellow psychology student named Alana.
7:04
Sometimes they just sat and watched.
7:07
So anyway, back to the movie.
7:08
Hey, what do you say?
7:11
How many bears are killed today?
7:13
I've been naked in Florida, Arizona, Las Vegas.
7:17
Oh, should I Google your name?
7:19
Are you naked on the internet also?
7:21
Yes, I am.
7:22
I visited a few more of these animal
7:24
rights events.
7:26
And by the way, you have Ringling Brothers
7:29
there.
7:30
One of the first videos I ever did
7:33
when I started this project in 2015 was
7:37
cover a rally in Brooklyn against Ringling Brothers.
7:41
All of us wondering, do we have a
7:44
shot in hell at getting circuses to stop
7:47
using animals?
7:48
Well, we ultimately won thanks to organisations like
7:51
PETA.
7:51
But every time I see Ringling Brothers, I
7:54
remind myself of the Nelson Mandela quote, it
7:57
always seems impossible until it's done.
8:00
Getting back to you, why you?
8:04
What was it about what you saw that
8:07
just changed the whole direction of your life?
8:10
You know, it's because what happens to animals
8:16
is so shocking.
8:18
It's almost impossible to believe that the industries
8:22
fight so hard to keep it hidden.
8:25
Once I found out, as a result actually
8:29
of PETA, what really happens in factory farms,
8:33
that animals who are as intelligent and as
8:38
emotionally aware as dogs and cats and any
8:42
other animals we know are kept by the
8:44
billions in what are literally factories.
8:48
They're not farms anymore.
8:50
They're literally mechanised systems.
8:53
Once I realised that, I thought, well, how
8:55
is it?
8:55
How is it possible that this isn't a
8:58
massive public outreach?
9:00
And the reason is, of course, in large
9:03
part because it's kept hidden and in large
9:05
part because it's just viewed as normal that
9:08
we use animals for food as we do.
9:11
So once I realised that and I started
9:12
looking into it, the deeper you go, the
9:15
deeper and more profound this issue becomes.
9:17
And the more you come across the really
9:20
deep philosophical questions about why we think we're
9:23
so distinct, so different from other species.
9:26
And that's what I tried to tackle in
9:28
this film, really fundamental questions.
9:31
We think that we're something separate, something different
9:34
from other species.
9:35
And I spoke with scientists all over the
9:36
world, from the Congo to back home in
9:41
the United States, who are studying particular individual
9:46
animals, where they live in the world.
9:50
And I was able to go to those
9:52
places and see things like, for example, a
9:55
bonobo.
9:56
These are animals closely related to chimpanzees, where
9:59
our common ancestor was only six to eight
10:02
million years ago, maybe, between humans and these
10:05
animals.
10:06
And I saw one who decided, she was
10:09
trying to decide how far into the water
10:11
she could sort of wade in towards us.
10:15
And she got a stick out and she
10:17
measured the depth of the water with the
10:19
stick.
10:20
This is something I don't think I even
10:23
would have thought of.
10:24
And the more you see things that show
10:28
that these are individuals making decisions, experiencing the
10:33
world like us, the more you really wake
10:35
up and say, oh my God, if that's
10:38
true, and there are literally billions.
10:41
Now, if we include aquatic animals, which we
10:43
should, trillions of individuals being exploited by us,
10:48
it really essentially changes the world.
10:52
That's what happened to me.
10:53
And that's what I hope that I can
10:55
help have happen to viewers of this film.
10:59
All right, we've got some callers.
11:01
Annie in Sherman Oaks, California.
11:03
Your question or thought for filmmaker Mark DeVries.
11:06
Oh my goodness, I am so excited.
11:09
Thank you, Jane, for doing the show and
11:10
Mark for being here.
11:11
You both are heroes.
11:12
I mean, there's not much more to say,
11:14
but I'd love to know these movies you're
11:17
making, they're so, so important, so essential.
11:20
Oh my God, every day I lose sleep
11:23
over the horrors I see.
11:24
Every day there's more to discover.
11:27
One, I mean, I'm impressed like you leading
11:30
the, not going to your law school and
11:32
doing this because you do see the urgency.
11:36
What really got you to feel that dire
11:39
urgency that you put everything on freeze to
11:43
make this movie?
11:45
Thank you, Annie, excellent question.
11:48
Mark, yes, a lot of people see this
11:52
stuff and I try to show it to
11:54
not only through our streaming network, millions of
11:59
people, but also to relatives, et cetera.
12:03
And sometimes I'll get a response like that's
12:05
intense or ooh, but it doesn't seem to
12:08
change some people's behaviour patterns.
12:10
This is the conundrum.
12:11
Like how can we be horrified by something
12:14
and other people, oh, yawn.
12:17
A lot of it is what the social
12:20
norms are.
12:22
When humankind held like human beings held other
12:27
human beings as slaves for practically all of
12:31
human history in practically every culture as far
12:35
as I know.
12:36
And so now we look back and say,
12:40
that's crazy, how could we have done that?
12:43
And I think the reason is if you're
12:45
brought up in a situation where something that
12:47
on reflection would be terribly wrong is just
12:52
viewed as okay and normal by everyone around
12:54
you, we're social animals and we essentially look
12:59
around, look at what the norms are and
13:01
we do that.
13:02
And that's why it's up to a fairly
13:04
small group of people who have woken up
13:08
to changing their view of other animals to
13:11
push the norms in the right direction to
13:15
in the same way that people have done
13:17
for past wrongs, start waking people up bit
13:20
by bit.
13:21
So it can seem like it's happening too
13:23
slowly and it can make people feel like
13:26
they just should give up.
13:29
But really what we've seen throughout history is
13:31
that changes do happen.
13:33
They seem slow at the beginning and then
13:35
there's a critical mass where we see a
13:38
major change.
13:38
And that's why it's important for all of
13:40
us who do care about non-human animals
13:43
and see the extent of the tragedy, the
13:46
extent of the wrong, to do what we
13:50
can effectively to influence and educate others.
13:55
And of course, that's what I've tried to
13:57
do with this film is really give you
13:58
something in one package that you can, for
14:01
example, bring friends and family to the screenings
14:04
or share it with them when it's on
14:05
streaming platforms.
14:07
Yes, we've got another caller.
14:09
Michelle in Los Angeles, your question or thought
14:11
for Mark DeVries, the filmmaker of Humans and
14:14
Other Animals.
14:16
Hi, the trailer is really fascinating.
14:20
I was wondering what response are you getting
14:22
from non-vegans?
14:24
And do you feel that it's actually making
14:28
a connection?
14:29
Do you think they're getting it?
14:30
Do you think people's minds are changing?
14:33
And by the way, we've already given out
14:35
two free tickets.
14:36
One to Annie and one to Michelle for
14:40
the Los Angeles premiere on July 17th.
14:44
And so keep calling.
14:46
We will give away three more tickets.
14:48
Go ahead, Mark.
14:51
So I've seen, for example, with my first
14:54
film, a lot of people who said things
14:57
like, wow, I never saw it that way.
15:00
When it introduced the philosophical case for really
15:03
fundamentally changing how we view non-human animals.
15:05
And I've heard from people who've said that
15:08
it changed their lives and changed their diets
15:10
and so forth.
15:11
And I think with this film, it's aimed
15:16
even more broadly.
15:18
People are really fascinated with, as they should
15:21
be, the incredible sophistication of non-human animals,
15:25
their social and emotional lives.
15:28
And that's what draws people in.
15:31
And then when people are drawn in, they
15:33
can be introduced to the case for, well,
15:36
there are ethical implications from this.
15:38
If these animals are experiencing something, then there's
15:42
something ethically to take into account, especially as
15:44
it shows in the trailer when we investigate
15:47
what's really happening behind closed doors.
15:50
So I've seen with this film, since it's
15:53
not out yet, I've seen people's reactions to
15:56
the promotional materials, to the trailer and so
15:58
forth.
15:59
And people who are not vegan, who are
16:00
not animal advocates and so forth, say, wow,
16:03
that looks interesting.
16:05
That looks exciting.
16:06
I'm curious to see it.
16:07
And that's what I was aiming for, a
16:09
film that people who are new to this
16:11
issue and who are completely unfamiliar with this
16:14
issue can be drawn in by, can be
16:17
made curious and can be engaged throughout the
16:19
film.
16:20
And particularly importantly, it gets the points across
16:23
without being excessively graphic.
16:25
So if you're afraid of it being too
16:29
upsetting to watch, it won't be.
16:31
Sorry, Jane, go ahead.
16:32
No, I think it's super important.
16:34
A lot of people don't wanna watch graphic
16:36
footage.
16:36
In fact, I have to watch a lot
16:38
of it.
16:38
I'm sure you obviously have to watch a
16:39
lot of it and enough, I'm already vegan.
16:42
I don't need to self-traumatise by watching
16:45
this.
16:45
The people who need to watch it don't
16:46
wanna watch it.
16:47
And that's a conundrum that we have to
16:49
solve.
16:49
Oh, we've got another caller, Sarah in Atlanta,
16:52
your question or thought.
16:56
Hi, I actually saw your movie Speciesism when
16:59
I lived in Atlanta and you were there
17:01
and it was really nice.
17:03
And I wanted to ask you, are you
17:06
planning on screening this film in colleges and
17:10
universities?
17:11
I think that if someone's teaching a class
17:13
on ethics, then this film should be immediately
17:17
put into their curriculum.
17:18
Thank you.
17:20
Yes, indeed.
17:21
We're working on exactly that, making it available
17:25
to universities, through a particular company that actually
17:30
makes things available for free through university library
17:36
systems and so forth, so that professors can
17:38
assign the film and can show the film
17:40
and so forth and groups can do screenings.
17:43
So we are doing exactly that because younger
17:46
people and college age is like just a
17:50
perfect age are willing more so it seems
17:54
to rethink prejudices and assumptions and norms that
17:58
they grew up with.
18:00
So college students who have more open minds
18:03
and are interested in new ideas and new
18:06
ways of looking on the world and who
18:07
are ethically concerned, those are exactly the people
18:11
we want to make sure we bring it
18:12
to a lot.
18:13
I actually just got an email yesterday from
18:15
a professor who's already interested in showing it
18:17
to a class.
18:18
I should mention just to continue something that
18:21
was dropped off in the last question.
18:25
This film intentionally has footage that shows the
18:30
conditions that gets across what happens without being
18:33
too graphic.
18:34
So if you're afraid of watching graphic footage,
18:36
you should still be able to watch this
18:39
film.
18:40
It gets the ideas across, it shows how
18:42
bad it is, but it should not be
18:44
traumatising.
18:45
Yes, and by the way, Tom wants to
18:48
know, will the movie be shown in other
18:49
cities?
18:50
Yes, and I will now put up where
18:53
you go to get the entire list, but
18:55
Chicago, Philly, Dallas, Boston, as well as New
18:59
York and LA and even some others.
19:00
All right, we've got another caller, Georgia and
19:02
Santa Monica, your question or thought for Mark
19:05
DeVries, the filmmaker.
19:07
Hi, yes, Mark, I want to congratulate you
19:10
and you have a great spark inside of
19:13
you and that will light up a lot
19:15
of people and I'm very excited about that.
19:18
But how do we get it to the
19:21
people who actually have power, who actually are
19:24
the ones who need to change?
19:27
I think it's fantastic to reach out to
19:30
young people and start a revolution, but all
19:33
the millions of animals that are suffering right
19:35
now, how can we actually get into the
19:37
hands of these people who actually can do
19:41
something today?
19:43
I think change happens too slowly from the
19:48
standpoint of those who are suffering in current
19:51
exploitation, but it happens and is happening in
19:56
the case of animals quickly when we look
20:00
at things historically, when we look at how
20:02
we've exploited animals throughout our history as soon
20:04
as we were able to and how quickly
20:07
there's a serious public conversation about changing it.
20:11
So I don't think things will end right
20:16
away.
20:16
I don't think there is a path to
20:19
ending things within just the next few years,
20:24
but we do see a change faster than
20:29
I think we might have reasonably expected as
20:33
a result of younger people and new generations
20:37
questioning norms and the norms starting to shift.
20:40
I am though also getting the support of
20:45
intellectual influencers, people who have large followings and
20:51
who have a large impact in the intellectual
20:53
world who will be able to share the
20:55
film, people like Steven Pinker, for example, at
20:59
Harvard, who's written many best-selling books and
21:01
who's in the film.
21:03
And so that will help reach influential and
21:08
powerful people as well as new generations coming
21:12
in.
21:13
All right, we've got yet another caller and
21:15
Georgia, by the way, you have a free
21:17
ticket to the premiere on July 17th.
21:20
Now we've got Tiffany, also in Los Angeles.
21:23
Tiffany, do you want a free ticket?
21:24
And what's your question?
21:25
I can't wait.
21:27
Yes, please.
21:28
Thank you for taking my call, Jane and
21:31
Mark.
21:31
I'm so inspired by your, it's a fresh
21:35
energy, you're young and I'm just feeling really
21:37
inspired by seeing you and excited to see
21:40
the movie.
21:41
And I wanna ask, have you received any
21:43
pushback from Animal Ag or the industry at
21:49
all?
21:50
Yes, the, well, first of all, in the
21:55
first film I did, they even had one
21:59
of their front groups write basically hit pieces
22:02
trying to discourage people from watching the film.
22:06
I have heard that there are messages going
22:08
around within Animal Agriculture telling them to watch
22:13
out for this film.
22:15
And that's a good sign because if they're
22:19
doing that, it suggests that they see a
22:22
potential impact of the film.
22:24
And I think when it's on major streaming
22:26
platforms, which it will be starting in a
22:30
few months after all of the screenings, it
22:34
will, I hope, reach those millions of people
22:38
that the Animal Agriculture industry is concerned about.
22:41
By the way, for people who can't make
22:43
it to the screenings in New York, LA,
22:45
San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Philadelphia, or Chicago, if
22:50
you add your email address on the website
22:52
that's on the screen now, humansandotheranimalsmovie.com, you'll
22:56
get an alert when it's available for streaming
22:58
later on.
22:59
Though the premieres, I'll be there and I
23:02
hope to meet many of you at those.
23:05
Wow, so I think you're right.
23:07
It's a badge of honour to be listed
23:10
as a threat.
23:12
An Animal Agriculture magazine wrote up Unchained TV
23:15
as a threat.
23:17
Oh my God, they've got their own streaming
23:19
network.
23:19
I was like, yeah, let's put that up
23:21
on the website.
23:22
That shows that we're making a difference.
23:25
So the Farm Bill.
23:28
Now we've been covering protests about the Farm
23:31
Bill because if you look at in terms
23:33
of sheer numbers, the number of animals that
23:35
are tortured and killed, food is undoubtedly number
23:39
one.
23:40
Correct me if you think I'm wrong.
23:42
Maybe if you're talking about insects, it might
23:44
be, but it's still food because they're being
23:46
killed as part of the agricultural process.
23:48
So what will determine what happens with food
23:53
subsidies, which is subsidies to the meat and
23:56
dairy industry by the US government for the
23:58
next five years will be determined by the
24:02
Farm Bill.
24:02
And we've interviewed people who have literally been
24:05
protesting and disrupting some of the hearings regarding
24:11
the Farm Bill because speaking nicely doesn't seem
24:15
to do much.
24:17
And so I'll play one little clip of
24:19
Free From Harm, an organisation that disrupted an
24:23
animal agriculture hearing saying, stop subsidising animal agriculture.
24:28
It's not free market.
24:29
It's not capitalism.
24:30
It's corporate socialism.
24:33
Those who believe, well, it's the market.
24:35
No, the average fast food hamburger would probably
24:37
cost 20, $25.
24:39
Who knows if it wasn't subsidised by our
24:41
tax dollars.
24:44
The Farm Bill is a product of dark
24:46
money that comes from the meat, dairy, and
24:49
egg industries who have bought your vote through
24:51
millions of dollars in campaign contributions.
24:55
You have betrayed hardworking Americans, but we refuse
24:57
to pay for disease outbreaks that come from
25:00
confining and slaughtering billions of animals, not another
25:03
penny for cooking millions of birds alive.
25:06
It's time to fund a water-free plant
25:09
-based food system.
25:17
And it goes on and on like that.
25:20
So what are your thoughts on that?
25:22
Because they're approaching it from a different perspective.
25:25
Yes, we have to make the consumers aware,
25:29
but ultimately a lot of consumers, it's gonna
25:32
come down to not just taste, but price.
25:34
And the government is making meat and dairy
25:37
artificially cheap with massive subsidies.
25:41
And so that is putting the thumb on
25:45
the scale.
25:46
How do we overcome that?
25:48
Yeah, these issues go together, of course, because
25:52
as people eat fewer animal products, there are
25:56
more people who are vegetarian, vegan who reduce
25:58
their meat consumption.
25:59
The less power the meat industry has to
26:02
pull those levers in Congress.
26:05
So the tactics go together, focussing to the
26:09
extent possible on legislative change now, despite it
26:14
being very difficult because of these industries who
26:18
are, as shown, they're able to get themselves
26:20
subsidised and many other issues like being able
26:23
to have limited environmental regulation and ineffective regulation
26:27
in various areas and so forth.
26:29
So getting public concern on the side of
26:33
taking non-human animals seriously and taking the
26:36
environmental impact seriously is extremely important.
26:40
Getting people to reduce their consumption of animal
26:42
products is extremely important because of the power
26:46
that that gives the industry.
26:48
And of course, bringing your voice to the
26:51
extent possible directly to the legislature, in part
26:55
for the purpose of educating more of the
26:58
public about how bad things are with the
27:03
influence that the meat industry has.
27:04
Those things really go together and mutually reinforce
27:07
each other.
27:08
Well, you talked about the environmental aspect because
27:11
we're in a climate crisis and animal agriculture
27:14
is one of the biggest reasons why that
27:17
the mainstream media doesn't talk about.
27:19
And I was in the mainstream media for
27:21
38 years.
27:22
So I can tell you, I know why
27:24
they don't talk about it.
27:25
All you have to do is look at
27:26
the advertisers, primarily fast food and pharmaceuticals, and
27:30
you can get your answer.
27:31
They're not gonna talk about it.
27:32
It's verboten because those are the industries that
27:36
are keeping the lights on.
27:38
So how do we do an end run
27:41
around that?
27:42
Well, your documentary, Our Streaming Network on Shane
27:45
TV, which I urge everybody to download.
27:48
But when it comes to the environmental impact,
27:50
you address that in one of your films
27:54
or both of your films.
27:55
I haven't seen your newest film yet.
27:57
I've seen clips.
27:57
I can't wait to see the whole thing.
27:59
Let's check this out and talk about it
28:01
on the other side.
28:01
Everybody gets up in the morning and they
28:03
eat their bacon as if there's no problem
28:06
out in the world, in the countryside.
28:08
There's a tremendous problem.
28:09
The bacon isn't being raised on family farms
28:12
anymore.
28:12
It's being raised in factory farms where animals
28:15
never see the light of day, where they
28:17
go from the size of your fist to
28:18
250 pounds in five months.
28:21
You can drive down any highway in North
28:22
Carolina, anywhere in Eastern North Carolina, almost one
28:27
after the other, you're going to see hog
28:28
farm, hog farm, hog farm.
28:30
There's going to be confinement buildings and there's
28:32
going to be this huge cesspool that they
28:34
call a lagoon.
28:35
No pretty girls in bathing suits here.
28:36
This is a cesspool.
28:37
They give it a name, lagoon, but it's
28:39
a cesspool.
28:40
It's full of basically untreated animal waste.
28:43
The only treatment it gets is it sits
28:46
and ferments inside that cesspool.
28:48
When that cesspool fills up, they take it
28:50
out and they spread it and spray it
28:52
through the air on these fields.
28:54
If there's a wind blowing, it's going to
28:56
mist off and it's going to go off
28:57
the fields.
28:58
But even when they spray it on the
28:59
fields, all these fields have ditches cut through
29:02
them to take the excess liquids that are
29:06
sprayed on them and get them off the
29:08
field to keep the field drained.
29:10
All of those ditches lead to rivers, wetlands,
29:13
streams, and creeks.
29:14
And that is from the film Speciesism, the
29:17
movie, which I'm very proud to say is
29:20
streaming on Unchained TV for free.
29:24
We are a 501c3 nonprofit.
29:26
We do not charge for anybody to watch
29:28
any film.
29:29
You can literally download Unchained TV on your
29:33
phone right now for free via your app
29:36
store.
29:36
You can watch unchainedtv.com on your laptop
29:40
and you can download Unchained TV, the streaming
29:44
network on your television.
29:46
If you have a Samsung TV, it's right
29:48
there in the app store.
29:50
If you have any TV, you can use
29:52
Amazon Fire Stick, Roku device, or Apple TV
29:55
device to download Unchained TV and check out
30:00
Speciesism, the movie, which is the previous film,
30:03
which has won many awards and which so
30:06
many people have watched and it's changed so
30:08
many lives.
30:10
So that was a clip from Speciesism, the
30:13
movie.
30:13
Since you've made that, has anything gotten better?
30:17
Have we become more aware of the horrific
30:22
impact of cows?
30:25
For example, here in California, America's largest dairy
30:29
state, and I have people always coming up
30:31
to me and saying, oh, the almonds, because
30:33
that's what the news media talks about.
30:35
They don't talk about the fact that there
30:36
are millions of cows here in California and
30:39
that their excrement is massive compared to humans.
30:43
They're much larger and that that excrement is
30:46
going into the rivers and streams and ending
30:47
up in the Pacific Ocean, which now, and
30:51
I live a block from the beach, there
30:54
are signs, advisory signs, do not go in
30:57
the water.
30:58
And why?
30:59
Because of the agricultural runoff, but people don't
31:02
talk about it, Mark.
31:05
Things are changing in terms of awareness and
31:09
many different films and videos and your work,
31:13
Jane, with Unchained TV and many others have
31:17
helped spread awareness and help spread concern.
31:19
But the environmental issues are really increasingly shocking.
31:27
When I went down to North Carolina, I
31:30
really, it almost seemed like it was an
31:33
alien landscape.
31:35
We're talking about these facilities with thousands of
31:38
animals in each building, their waste falling through
31:42
slats and the concrete floors and then being
31:45
flushed into these giant open pits, literally open
31:50
pits, the size of a football field or
31:53
more of untreated animal waste.
31:56
It's just mind boggling.
31:59
And people next door have the wind just
32:03
blow right over these and right into their
32:06
homes.
32:08
That's just, that just gives you a picture
32:10
of what today's animal agriculture industry really is.
32:15
It is so far from the farm that
32:18
people see on packaging and that they want
32:20
you to believe is where animal products are
32:23
coming from.
32:24
But there is, I'm sorry, but there is
32:29
a wilful ignorance here.
32:32
I think you'd have to be living under
32:33
a rock not to understand what has happened
32:37
with agriculture.
32:38
You know, anybody who even occasionally glances at
32:43
Instagram or YouTube, much less watching in-depth
32:46
documentaries, sees this, they just don't wanna see
32:49
it.
32:50
I mean, I've talked to my own, some
32:51
good friends, relatives, who, there's a wall there.
32:57
It's like, but who pays the price for
33:01
that?
33:02
How do we let people know that this
33:04
isn't just a personal choice?
33:06
First of all, when people say it's a
33:07
personal choice, everything's a personal choice.
33:10
Driving the wrong way down the freeway is
33:11
a personal choice.
33:12
Brushing your teeth in the morning is a
33:14
personal choice.
33:14
That doesn't mean anything.
33:17
But how do we get these people to
33:19
realise that this isn't just a personal choice?
33:22
It has incredible environmental impacts.
33:26
It has impacts on the animals who are
33:28
systematically tortured.
33:29
And it has impacts on the people who
33:31
are working in these industries who suffer so
33:34
much psychological and physical distress from having to
33:37
kill animals all the time.
33:39
They are at the bottom of the socioeconomic
33:42
ladder, often former inmates who are released and
33:45
funnelled into these slaughterhouses or people who are
33:48
undocumented, who have no other choice.
33:52
And it seems like a lot of that
33:55
goes out the window, even with people who
33:57
are otherwise progressive and liberal.
34:00
If you try to connect it to meat
34:04
and dairy, they suddenly don't want to know
34:08
about it.
34:09
Well, first, of course, that's why I made
34:11
this film, because I hope that projects like
34:15
this, that introduce the really fascinating inner world
34:20
of animals, that engage people's curiosity, scientific curiosity,
34:25
sense of wonder and so forth.
34:27
Those, these types of projects can get people
34:31
to sit down and watch something that then
34:34
really introduces and educates and persuades, because people
34:39
aren't often willing to watch something if they
34:41
view it as, at the outset, just focused
34:45
on say animal agriculture or speciesism.
34:49
So I hope that this is the type
34:51
of film that people can share and persuade
34:55
friends and family to come and see by
34:57
showing them the trailer and letting them know
34:59
that it's not graphic if they ask.
35:02
But secondly, it is true that people are
35:05
stuck in their ways when it's what everyone
35:07
else around them does.
35:09
And so we do have to expect that
35:12
it will take a long time for a
35:15
social change and that we have to keep
35:16
plugging away as a loud minority of people
35:22
who are keeping this in the public eye,
35:26
keeping this in public awareness, and more and
35:29
more people as it becomes more socially acceptable,
35:32
more and more people will start to make
35:35
changes, will start to change their views, will
35:38
start to accept the strength of the arguments
35:41
and ideas.
35:42
And it's over time that we can expect,
35:45
like with many other social changes, a tipping
35:48
point.
35:48
But it will be a while of grabbing
35:52
the people who are willing to update their
35:55
views in accordance with the arguments and the
35:57
evidence.
35:58
And once again, I thank you for sharing
36:01
about this video if you're watching on social
36:03
media.
36:03
And if you're watching on our Unchained TV
36:06
streaming network, you can see right there, there
36:09
is the video.
36:11
You just click and you watch from, this
36:14
is a Samsung TV, but again, you can
36:16
watch from any television.
36:18
And I urge you to share it out
36:19
because what we are doing is equivalent to
36:24
living in, let's say the 19th century in
36:28
a fascist regime and trying to use a
36:33
printing press to get the word out under
36:37
the cover of darkness and dark alleys.
36:40
The powers that be don't want this information
36:44
disseminated.
36:45
So we have to go to extraordinary lengths.
36:49
Somebody who I admire a lot recently said,
36:52
if every single person who is vegan became
36:54
an activist, we could achieve animal liberation overnight.
36:58
Do you agree with that?
37:03
That's a very powerful statement.
37:05
I think there's a lot of untapped potential
37:10
where each one of us as individuals has
37:13
a tremendous amount of power to have an
37:16
influence on the people around us.
37:18
Whether it's what we're sharing on social media,
37:22
if it's donating the percentage that we can
37:25
if it's handing out leaflets.
37:30
When you look at the millions of people
37:32
who care about this, it would be tremendous
37:35
if even a small fraction more did more
37:39
to spread the word.
37:40
And that includes donating, by the way.
37:42
I used to go to Starbucks down the
37:46
street from me to get coffee and I
37:48
realised that those coffees are like $3 now.
37:51
And if I just had coffee at home,
37:53
I'd have like $100 more a month to
37:58
donate to effective work to educate people about
38:01
animals.
38:01
So I encourage people also to think about
38:03
whether they can become monthly donors of effective
38:06
organisations working on farmed animal issues.
38:08
So all of those things collectively really do
38:12
make a difference.
38:13
We're seeing it make a difference, but it's
38:14
absolutely true that many of us feel like
38:17
there's only a little bit we can do.
38:19
And when they realise that every one of
38:20
us can really make a difference.
38:22
When you persuade someone to make a change
38:24
in their diet, that can save dozens or
38:28
hundreds of animals.
38:30
Thousands of animals over a lifetime.
38:33
Oh, and in a life over a lifetime.
38:34
In fact, it might save hundreds of animals
38:37
with one hamburger because when you eat fast
38:39
food hamburgers, it's not one cow you're eating.
38:41
You're eating animal parts from sometimes thousands of
38:45
different animals because it's all mushed together.
38:47
And just the thought of that is so
38:50
nauseating.
38:50
I can't even imagine somebody wanting to do
38:53
that.
38:53
We've got another caller, Michael in Los Angeles.
38:57
Do you want your free ticket?
38:59
We're actually gonna increase it.
39:03
We've already hit five.
39:04
We're gonna increase it to six.
39:05
And what is your question?
39:07
Oh yes, I would love that Jane.
39:09
Thank you so much.
39:10
Yeah, first I just wanna tell Mark, thank
39:13
you for making this film.
39:14
And I love the picture of your face
39:17
in this first with the gorilla.
39:19
Very powerful and eye-catching.
39:22
But my question is, will the film be
39:25
available to stream in the future?
39:27
Because I want to have my friends and
39:29
family that are not digging yet to see
39:31
this film.
39:32
And I think if it was available to
39:34
stream, especially maybe on Unchained TV, I could
39:37
easily send it to them and they could
39:39
watch it.
39:40
Thank you so much.
39:41
Thanks, Jane.
39:41
Thanks for that plug, but I'll leave it
39:43
to Mark to answer that question.
39:47
Yes, streaming platforms will definitely be where it
39:51
reaches the most people.
39:54
And based upon the trailer that people will
39:58
watch on the page that the movie's on
40:01
on the streaming platforms, that should encourage people
40:03
who are not already interested in this issue
40:06
to be curious and to be excited to
40:08
see it.
40:09
It's really aimed at catching people's attention, like
40:12
you mentioned with the poster and similarly with
40:16
the trailer.
40:18
So it'll be on streaming platforms sometime a
40:22
little bit after the premieres, like a month
40:25
or so after the initial premieres.
40:28
And you can get an email when it's
40:31
available on streaming platforms if you go to
40:35
the film's website, humansandotheranimalsmovie.com.
40:40
And of course, for people who are in
40:42
New York City, where the world premiere will
40:44
be Los Angeles, where the West Coast premiere
40:47
will be San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Boston or
40:52
Philadelphia, please bring your friends and family members
40:56
to the screening.
40:57
It's an entertaining movie to watch and it's
41:00
not a too graphic movie to watch.
41:04
And I hope by striking that balance, but
41:06
still really educating people, bringing the ideas to
41:09
the forefront, it can help change friends and
41:13
family members' thoughts.
41:16
Yeah, I would urge everybody who's coming, all
41:19
the six people who are getting free tickets
41:22
to the LA premiere from Unchained TV, bring
41:26
a non-vegan or a pre-vegan.
41:29
And if you do that, we'll buy their
41:31
ticket too.
41:32
So that is a call to action right
41:35
there.
41:35
I think all those folks are still watching.
41:38
You will get an additional free ticket if
41:40
you bring a pre-vegan to see it.
41:42
I will definitely bring a pre-vegan to
41:45
see it.
41:46
And I wanna say, I wanna give a
41:49
shout out to Mark personally because he has,
41:52
as I mentioned before, given us Speciesism, the
41:55
movie to stream.
41:57
And so that's an act of generosity.
41:59
He's not paid for that.
42:01
We are a 501c3 nonprofit.
42:04
We do not charge anybody to watch any
42:06
of our films.
42:07
And we are mostly volunteer run.
42:09
I don't take a salary.
42:10
This is a labour of love to basically
42:13
get people to wake up because the clock
42:18
is ticking.
42:19
I've also done a documentary called Countdown to
42:21
Year Zero, which is also streaming on Unchained
42:23
TV.
42:24
And we profile the work of Dr. Silas
42:27
Rao, who had said that we only have
42:30
less than a decade to transition to a
42:32
global plant-based culture or we will essentially
42:36
burst through the few boundaries that exist that
42:41
once you cross to the other side, there
42:43
is no turning back.
42:44
And that's just not me or him saying
42:46
it.
42:46
Sir David Attenborough, speaking of documentaries, has a
42:49
wonderful documentary.
42:51
I believe it's on Netflix called Breaking Boundaries.
42:54
Those boundaries.
42:55
In other words, once the ice caps melt,
42:57
you can't go on amazon.com and order
42:59
new ice caps.
43:00
It's game over for the ice caps.
43:02
And the impact of that is extraordinary.
43:04
Once we wipe out all species, we are
43:07
going to experience an ecological collapse that is
43:09
going to come back and fight us every
43:11
day.
43:12
I wake up just this morning, Hurricane Beryl
43:16
hitting Jamaica and fires in Northern California.
43:21
And the other day it was flooding in
43:23
the Midwest.
43:24
And you see all this, what I call
43:26
catastrophe porn on mainstream media.
43:30
But then when we offer a solution, they
43:33
refuse to cover it.
43:35
And we only have a couple of minutes,
43:36
but I wanna ask you about that, Mark.
43:38
The New York Times recently had an article
43:40
that said, an Oxford University study showed that
43:44
heavy meat eaters, which is most Americans, who
43:47
switch to a plant-based diet can reduce
43:49
their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 75%.
43:53
And I said, surely, well, that's in the
43:55
New York Times.
43:56
That's a solution to climate change right there.
43:59
If we all did it, we'd all collectively
44:01
reduce our collective greenhouse gas emissions footprint by
44:06
75%.
44:07
Nobody covered it.
44:08
Not CNN, not MSNBC, nobody else covered it.
44:13
Shame on them, to be sorry to say,
44:15
but that is a journalistic lapse.
44:19
You know, yeah, it's not just animals that
44:24
we impact with our food choices.
44:26
The environmental impacts are profound.
44:28
You mentioned climate impacts.
44:31
There are also local environmental impacts.
44:35
People who live near these facilities being forced
44:38
to breathe in these toxic fumes like ammonia
44:42
and hydrogen sulphide, people getting sick from fine
44:46
particulate matter in the air, manure ending up
44:51
in people's water.
44:54
And this is really catastrophic on so many
44:59
levels.
44:59
But what's powerful is that as more and
45:04
more people are standing up and are making
45:07
changes with their own diets and are acting,
45:14
they are speaking with individuals, they are doing
45:17
protests, they're sharing things on social media, they're
45:20
donating more, they're giving out flyers, they're inviting
45:24
friends and family members to film screenings.
45:27
This is what collectively allows each person whose
45:31
impact is already substantial in terms of reducing
45:35
damage to the climate, reducing the amount of
45:38
animals forced to live in these facilities, reducing
45:41
the amount of chemicals that people have to
45:43
breathe who live near these facilities.
45:45
You can double, triple, quadruple and so on
45:50
your impact as you share this information.
45:53
So it's really about not just making the
45:57
choices on your own, but standing up and
46:00
being part of effective efforts to change policy
46:05
and to change people's own behaviour around you.
46:10
Yeah, and I do agree.
46:11
I think if every vegan turned into a
46:14
very determined activist, I think we could hit
46:19
the tipping point much more quickly.
46:22
And as we wrap up, I wanna urge
46:24
everybody again, download Unchained TV.
46:27
So it's a vegan Netflix.
46:29
Okay, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard.
46:31
I love Unchained TV.
46:33
Unchained, Unchained TV.
46:34
Your life will change.
46:35
It's just that easy.
46:37
Unchained TV has all sorts of content for
46:39
everybody.
46:40
Unchained TV changed my life.
46:43
Unchained TV is crushing it.
46:45
I love Unchained TV.
46:47
Unchained TV is my go-to.
46:49
Unchained TV, who knew?
46:51
I wanna thank Mark
47:01
DeVries for coming on.
47:03
He is a very busy man.
47:05
And wow, you give me inspiration.
47:09
I will say this, last night I was
47:11
getting really tired and I knew I had
47:13
to publish another article and I didn't wanna
47:17
review that article.
47:18
But after watching the clip of you saying
47:21
that you basically gave up your plans to
47:24
go to law school, which you later finished.
47:27
And you are an attorney among many other
47:30
things.
47:30
You're an overachiever.
47:32
And I looked at that clip and I
47:33
go, what am I complaining about?
47:35
Let me get this article published, which I
47:37
did.
47:38
So you've personally inspired me to give it
47:41
my all.
47:42
And also Ingrid Newkirk who said, we can't
47:45
afford to have burnout.
47:46
We can't afford to say, because the clock
47:52
is ticking.
47:53
So I will be at the July premiere.
47:56
We are going to have a nice group
47:58
of Unchained TV supporters at the July premiere.
48:01
We urge everybody in New York and all
48:04
around the country to go to, it's very,
48:09
very simple.
48:10
Just go to Humans and Other Animals Movie.
48:19
Humansandotheranimalsmovie.com, humansandotheranimalsmovie.com and get your
48:24
tickets and let's change the world together.
48:27
We can do it.
48:27
Thanks again, Mark.
48:28
See you next time.
48:29
Thank you.
48:30
And I look forward to seeing you all
48:31
at the premieres.
48:32
And there's a Q&A afterwards.
48:34
So you'll really get to hear.
48:35
I will see you there.
48:36
Yes.
48:37
Yes.
48:37
Talk to you soon.
48:38
Bye.