Hope for the Animals

Vegans are careful to read ingredients, to make sure no animal products are in our meals, we scrutinize products for animal testing, but what about a 401k? What about an investment portfolio? What kind of animal use and abuse do investments support? More than you would ever consider putting your money into if you had a choice. Our guest today is working on a solution. Claire Smith and her team hav...

Tapping into fandom with animal protection and vegan messages, The Protego Foundation accesses sci-fi, fantasy, and other other devoted fan communities to advocate for animals. Our guest is Brittany Drake, campaigns director for The Protego Foundation. Brittany talks about the foundation’s creative campaigns such as getting vegan butter beer offered at the Harry Potter theme parks, a Game of Thron...

Happy Pride Month! We’re celebrating Pride with Kathleen Gage, the founder of Vegan Visibility. Kathleen shares her experiences as a vegan lesbian and emphasizes the significance of understanding the history of the LGBT+ community and its relevance to current political and social dynamics. Kathleen discusses her business, Vegan Visibility, and her work with Blue Barn Animal Sanctuary in Creswell,...

Cage-free eggs are everywhere. They are now available at most every grocery store, a muffin lists cage-free eggs in the ingredients, and a restaurant touts cage-free omelettes on their menu. Is this a win for hens? We crack into this question with Amber Canavan examining PETA’s new document called, “White Paper On the Failure of Cage-Free Housing Systems To Reduce Over All Hen Suffering”. On this...

Vegans are visionaries. We hold a vision of a nonviolent future where all animals are free from human imposed commodification, suffering, and killing. What if this vision was on the ballot and we could vote on it? That could be happing soon with the Oregon Initiative Petition 28 — officially titled the PEACE Act , People for Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions. This ballot initiative would el...

Joanne Kong joins us on the Hope for the Animals Podcast to talk about her new book Vegan Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Plant-Based Living. This episode  explores the how-to of living vegan.  Joanne talks about why she felt it was important to start the book with the vegan connection to social justice. She and Hope also talk about the difference between vegan and plantbased, sticky situations th...

On this episode we are tackling the cultural and political shift back to meat, saturated fat, high-protein diets and the connection to hyper-masculinity. The US is seeing a resurgence of meat-eating as a symbol of masculinity, masculinism, meat connected to identity politics and the “culture wars”. Our guest, Jan Liband, will explore the social factors driving this backlash and explore how social...

Hope is hosting Compassionate Living’s Humane Hoax Online Conference on March 17, 2026 and to entice you to register, we are replaying a fantastic conversation from Episode 81 on humanewashing in journalism. Lisa Barca is one of the 18 contributing authors to Hope’s anthology The Humane Hoax: Essays Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat, Humane Dairy and Ethical Eggs and they had an insightful conversat...

Social media is ubiquitous. Love it or hate it, social media's influence shapes our lives and steers our culture. Johnny Oberg uses this power for the good of animals. Johnny has a social media superpower with 300,000 followers and millions of eyes on his persuasive posts. He and Hope discuss the potency of social media to transform our world to one that cares about animal freedom. They talk...

In this solo episode of Hope for the Animals , host Hope Bohanec breaks down major recent developments shaking the vegan and animal advocacy world. From the return of beef and dairy to the top of U.S. dietary guidelines, to government-backed support for the beef industry, to controversial new campaign encouraging people to donate money instead of going vegan — Hope examines how political power, in...

Grassroots activism is at the heart of justice movements, but animal advocacy has undergone significant changes in recent years. The grassroots has dried up and resources and energy has shifted. Laila Kassam has dedicated the past decade to researching social justice movements and analyzing their effectiveness. She will share her insights and practical strategies for implementing a healthy movemen...

Hope’s husband, Cogen, returns to the show for a unique discussion on the portrayal of animal personhood in media. They delve into the evolution of children’s entertainment and examine the representation of animals as individual, intelligent persons. Cogen and Hope explore how the depiction of animal personhood in these films has shaped our perception of animals. From Mickey Mouse to Charlotte’s W...

On this episode we explore Buddhism with Forrest Tierce, U.S. Project Director for Dharma Voices for Animals (DVA). DVA works to raise awareness on the connection between the ecological crisis caused by animal agriculture and Buddhist ethics—helping individuals and communities align their food choices with sustainability and compassion for all beings.   Forrest has been a dedicated vegan for 18 ye...

Joining us today is Dr. Faraz Harsini, the founder and CEO of Allied Scholars for Animal Protection (ASAP). Faraz shares with Hope the importance of creating ongoing infrastructure on US college campuses that students can utilize for continued outreach. They discuss various vegan education tactics such as the use of graphic imagery and its effectiveness. Faraz also talks about encouraging changes...

Hope is right at home this episode talking about one of her favorite subjects, humanewashing. Lia Wilbourn joins Hope for a conversation about their mutual frustration with the humane hoax and the deceptive marketing and cover-up tactics employed by the animal farming industry. They explore the detrimental impact of continuing to use the term “factory farming” and argue that the animal advocacy mo...

Farmed animal sanctuaries are the heart of the animal advocacy movement. Our guest today, Zoe Novic , Executive Director of CAPE (Center for Animal Protection and Education), knows this well as she grew up on a sanctuary in the Santa Cruz hills. Zoe has a diverse background that includes two years in the Peace Corps in Indonesia, a Master’s in Public Health, and leadership roles at The Humane Leag...

Some advocates in environmental and animal activism argue that we should solely focus on changing the system through government and corporate campaigns, discouraging grassroots action and personal change. Our guest, Janet O’Shea (informally known as Jay), co-authored an article in Newsweek in response to an environmental author’s piece arguing that going vegan is ineffective. Jay systematically de...

 Patty Leon and Rich Winograd both grew up as animal lovers…or so they thought. It was during the pandemic that they came across documentaries, books, and articles that removed their blindfolds and led to the light switch moment to make a change for the better. Today they continue to learn and grow, sharing, their insight as animal rights, vegan and social justice activists. They actively voluntee...

On this episode we are sharing the recording from the Humane Hoax Project Panel Discussion: Egg Prices Are Not the Only Crisis, The Current Political Situation and Animal Agriculture. The political climate has left many feeling frustrated as we witness the dismantling of government oversight and structure. This is further compounded by the avian flu crisis and its impact on the food system. Hope B...

On this episode, we switch things up and our host, Hope Bohanec, is interviewed by Michele Granberg of Animal Activism Collective, AAC. Today we are sharing with you a recording of Hope being interviewed by Michele for the Animal Liberation Hour Podcast where they talk about Hope’s activist origin story, why she started her nonprofit Compassionate Living, and her thoughts on exposing humanewashing...

On this episode Hope talks with author John Sanbonmatsu about his new book The Omnivore’s Deception :  What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves . This engaging book covers a variety of philosophical aspects of meat-eating culture, offers insight into our fraught relationship with farmed animal and explores the importance of incorporating love into our ethics. John and Hope discuss huma...

In this episode, we explore the psychological aspects of living vegan on our social, emotional, and even spiritual psychology. Angela Crawford, the author of “ The Vegan Transformation: A Journey to Heal Yourself and the World ,” shares her research having interviewed hundreds of vegans to uncover common themes related to the benefits and challenges of living vegan. She talks about value alignment...

Fires, hurricanes, floods—animals are also victims of recent unprecedented natural disasters. Diana Hulet, an environmental writer and animal photojournalist, shares her experience documenting the destruction of the recent LA fires and its impact on animals. She witnessed distressed wildlife, people risking their lives to protect animals, and participated in animal rescues. Diana and Hope discuss...

Erin Wing is currently serving as the Deputy Director of Investigations for Animal Outlook and previously worked as an undercover investigator. Erin completed four investigations in the dairy, chicken and aquaculture industries, including the first-ever undercover expose of salmon aquaculture in the U.S. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Guardian and The New York Times. Erin’s...

Today’s show is a replay of an earlier episode with the amazing lauren Ornelas, founder of Food Empowerment Project. Food Empowerment Project is a vegan food justice nonprofit that promotes veganism, works to bring attention to the rights of farm workers, highlights the lack of access to healthy foods in Black and Brown communities, and raise awareness about the worst forms of slavery, including c...