Switch4Good

3.5 percent. That's the tipping point for change. Wayne Hsiung is an expert in social movement, and he's a massive proponent of getting the animal rights movement to that crucial number. Wayne started out as a corporate attorney and swiftly realized that more was needed to move the needle. The world needs a political shift. He co-founded Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) to change the system and insp...

What makes a great leader? An effective leader? A leader that not only enables the company to succeed, but the people who drive it? Businessman Tom Gartland lays it out for us. As the former president of Avis Budget Group and author of the new book, "Lead with Heart," Tom offers a compassionate crash course in effective leadership—and it starts with getting personal. During this conversation, Dots...

How can two people cohabitate in a 320-square foot studio apartment and only produce one mason jar's worth of trash each year? Shia Su is here to explain because she's done it. Author behind the blog Wasteland Rebel and new book "Zero Waste," Shia is all about "turtle speed power" and taking micro-steps toward living with a little less trash in our daily lives. She's creative, fun, and personable—...

If anyone can take a highly complicated subject such as nutrigenomics and whittle it down to layman's terms while still incorporating robust scientific knowledge, it's our guest today. Dr. Yael Joffe is an incredibly accomplished nutrigenomicist who has not only worked with the best in the field but advanced the topic into the modern-day. In this episode, she explains how genes are expressed throu...

Dr. Nicole Moshfegh always knew she wanted to be a psychologist, but it wasn't until she got into the profession that she started to specialize in sleep. Dr. M is a licensed clinical sleep psychologist and literally wrote the book on sleep, aptly titled, "The Book of Sleep." She emphasizes habit change before turning to medication, and she is full of helpful tips anyone can do during the day and a...

Ernest Freeberg is an author and US history professor specializing in the 19th and early 20th centuries. His latest work— A Traitor to His Species: Henry Bergh and the Animal Rights Movement —tells the fascinating story of how one man started a movement. He didn't just educate the public about cruelty to animals—he made sure animal cruelty laws were enforced. During this conversation, Freeberg giv...

Breast surgeons often don't rise to celebrity fame, but Dr. Kristi Funk gained celeb-worthy attention as both Angelina Jolie and Sheryl Crow's breast cancer surgeon. Dr. Funk has infectious positive energy and over two decades of experience in this field. She's a firm believer in taking control of your health through nutrition and lifestyle, but she's also incredibly well-versed in the research an...

Kathy Freston is the vegan spokesperson, Gene Stone is a ghost-writer for humane causes, both are best-selling authors. What happens when they decide to put their brilliance together? A new book— 72 Reasons to Be Vegan . Both Kathy and Gene have been on the show before (episodes 83 and 100, respectively), so we dedicated this episode to catch up and chat exclusively about the book. With 72 reasons...

Gene Baur is a pioneer in the farm sanctuary movement. He began his work in the eighties and eventually developed bicoastal farm animal rescues that save over 1,000 animals a year. Farm Sanctuary does more than just rescue, though. The multi-pronged organization is working on systematic change to find solutions that will not only improve animal welfare but eventually put an end to factory farming....

Dr. Reshma Shah is a pediatrician, author, and mom who champions healthy food relationships and a plant-based diet. Our conversation spans a number of topics relating to both kids and adults including the 2020 revised US Dietary Guidelines, parenting modeling behavior, family meals, inflammation, and of course, her latest book, Nourish . Dr. Shah is a delight and makes for an educational yet invit...

Karyn Calabrese isn't your typical raw foodist. She built a vegan restaurant empire in Chicago—the first raw vegan restaurant in the country, in fact—and gained fame both through her food and her holistic approach to wellness. At 74-years-young, she maintains her youthful vigor and appearance. She's not going to tell you to go raw overnight or drop everything and start a juice cleanse. Karyn is al...

It's not often you come across a person who has graced the front cover of Men's Fitness magazine, and it's even rarer when that exceptionally chiseled person happens to be vegan. In fact, today's guest, Nimai Delgado, is the only one. Nimai is a former IFBB Pro in the Men's Physique category, but there's more to him than just muscles. Raised in a Hari Krishna farming community in the South until h...

Dr. Scott Stoll, MD, has a unique perspective when it comes to the medical profession. He views doctors as salespeople. Most can sell you on a prescription or procedure in under ten minutes. He's selling his patients on prevention. Dr. Stoll advocates for a whole food, plant-based diet to both prevent and reverse common ailments that dramatically affect his patients' quality of life. Optimum healt...

Can you prevent Alzheimers, or are some of us powerless to stop it? Neurologists Ayesha and Dean Sherzai believe you can, and it all comes down to lifestyle. In this episode, the power couple defines preventative neurology so we all can take the necessary steps to avoid crippling diseases such as stroke, Alzheimers, and dementia. And they're not talking Sudoku puzzles—the foods we eat have an imme...

Buckle up, this conversation is an exhilarating, hour-long ride with plenty of twists and turns to make you think. Evanna Lynch is widely known for her portrayal of Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter film series, but today, we get to know Evanna as a person, not her childhood character. She's a kind but powerful animal activist, eating disorder survivor, podcast host, stage/film actress, and soon-t...

The sunglasses are coming off. Pro poker player Danieal Negreanu is unapologetically transparent from his game strategy to his vegan diet. He's won over $42 million in two decades of poker playing, and he's not even close to folding. Daniel made the switch first to a vegetarian and eventually to a vegan diet in his early twenties when his casino lifestyle started to catch up with him. He claims th...

Imagine driving down the highway. You look to your left, and a two-week-old calf is staring at you through the window. The person driving that calf is likely Jason Bolalek—founder of Destination Liberation. He works with dairy farmers in Vermont to surrender their male dairy cows instead of shooting them. Jason transports these calves to animal sanctuaries so they can live out their natural lives...

Dr. Pamela Fergusson , RD, PhD, is a plant-based dietitian with 15+ years of experience that spans several continents. As a super mom of four, she takes a practical, evidence-based, and gentle approach to her consultations with clients, but when it comes to standing for what's right, she's not afraid to be vocal. She's spoken out about dairy advertising to children in Canada, and she's also writte...

Ed Winters—also known as Earthling Ed—is the voice of reason. He represents a new generation of animal activism, one that is level-headed, thoughtful, and calculated. The arguments he presents in favor of going vegan help people understand the common sense behind not exploiting animals, and he always keeps his cool. He's a YouTube sensation, nonprofit founder, professional orator, and vegan restau...

This week, we're venturing into territory yet to be explored on this show … soap! We care so much about what we put into our bodies, but few think of what we use on our skin or inside our homes. Lisa Bronner, granddaughter to the iconic Dr. Bronner and spokesperson for the brand, joins us to geek out on all things clean, green, and Fair Trade. From what labels actually mean to how to choose the sa...

"Get that tofu and smash patriarchy!" Our guest today the prolific author, feminist, and activist Carol Adams. She's written numerous books on the intersections between feminism and food culture, but her 1990 The Sexual Politics of Meat broke ground on the cross between the oppression of women and animals. This episode covers the mistreatment of dairy cows, objectification of women and animals, wh...

Kimberly Barnes grew up watching the cooking shows with her grandmother. Today, she's a self-taught food professional on the front lines of food justice. This is a conversation about basic human rights. It's a conversation about race. And it's a conversation about taking action. As a self-proclaimed "foodie," we also lean into lighter conversation and talk about Kimberly's love for food and her ad...

Today's episode is all about chicken. Mercy for Animals President and longtime animal advocate Leah Garces educates us on the current state of the chicken industry and how American consumption has changed throughout history. Her advocacy is unorthodox. She's met with Perdue and countless other chicken farmers and companies to work with the 'enemy' and find a compromise to better the lives of anima...

Adam Sud is such an inspiration, we had to have him on the show again. Listen to his origin story in Episode 2, then catch up with Adam's latest endeavors in this episode. Adam is currently heading a nonprofit and leading a groundbreaking study to determine the effects of a plant-based diet on addiction and recovery. He acts as a guiding light and offers a much-needed reminder that love is the cor...

There's no sugar-coating in this episode. We sit down with the Vegan Hip Hop Movement founder Kevin Tillman to talk about racism, white privilege, and how to do better. Always patient and kind, Kevin explains the culture of hip hop and the intersectionality between this music and the vegan movement. We learn about vegan hip hop artists and identify ways to confront our taken-for-granted privileges...