For today, a group conversation with two research scientists from Stanford University's Humane and Sustainable Food Lab: Seth Ariel-Greene and Jacob Peacock

We discussed some of 2025 news and trends that affected animal advocacy, such as, artificial intelligence, the election of Donald Trump, the rise of the MAHA movement, the popularity of the vegan nudges concept among researchers, cultivated meat and much more. Seth and Jacob also tried to convince me to start a cult - don't miss that piece of the conversation.

Humane and Sustainable Food Lab: https://www.foodlabstanford.com/

Subscribe to Regression to the Meat: https://regressiontothemeat.substack.com/p/welcome-to-regression-to-the-meat

Follow Jacob Peacock's work: https://www.jacobpeacock.com/

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Music by Alisia from Pixabay

Today, we’re diving into how Artificial Intelligence is becoming a real game‑changer for vegans, for animal rights activists, and for animals themselves.

To explore this topic, I’m joined by Thomas Manandhar‑Richardson. He’s the Director of Research at Bryant Research and the Lead Data Consultant at Greener By Default.

I asked Thomas whether he thinks AI is becoming sentient — and what we should make of that idea. We also get into why AI models aren’t as bad for the environment as you been lead to believe, if AI modals have an anti-vegan bias, why he thinks AI modals are key to giving animal rights activists a leading edge against big Ag and much more.

He also gives us the best tips for using AI as a pro. If you want to access free AI training for animal activists, visit the link in the episode's notes.

Amplify for Animals, who offer free AI training to the animal movement: https://amplifyforanimals.org/

Bryant Research (where I am research director), a social science research consultancy exclusively serving the animal advocacy movement and alternative protein sector. In 2026 we will be offering AI consulting, data science and AI agent building services https://bryantresearch.co.uk/

Sentient Futures: the org I shouted out multiple times who put on "AI animals and digital minds" conferences, https://www.sentientfutures.ai/

"animal harm bench" a benchmark test that rated how animal friendly AI models are: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.04804

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Music by Dmitrii Kolesnikov from Pixabay

Today, we discuss the topic of witchcraft with Dr. Corey Lee Wrenn, the author of the book the Vegan Witchcraft.

Dr. Wrenn is an American sociologist specializing in animals and society, the animal rights movement, ecofeminism, and vegan studies.

We talked about witches using human remains for spells, the witchy argument for veganism, how the animal movement fails women, the taboo of being a witch in society, what being spiritual means for an atheist, and much more.

Share this episode with the witches and vegans you know. Let's spread Corey's message to the world. Leave a good review. And for more interesting conversations, make sure to follow the show.

Visit Dr. Coree Lee Wrenn's website: www.coreyleewrenn.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coreyleewrenn

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CoreyWrenn

Vegan Witchcraft (Routledge 2026) https://www.routledge.com/Vegan-Witchcraft-Contemporary-Magical-Practice-and-Multispecies-Social-Change/Wrenn/p/book/9781032649719

A Rational Approach to Animal Rights (Palgrave 2016) http://palgrave.com/us/book/9781137434647

Piecemeal Protest (University of Michigan Press 2019) https://www.press.umich.edu/11301441/piecemeal_protest

Animals in Irish Society (SUNY Press 2021) https://www.routledge.com/Vegan-Witchcraft-Contemporary-Magical-Practice-and-Multispecies-Social-Change/Wrenn/p/book/9781032649719

Vegan Feminism in a Nutshell | Science of Activism https://rss.com/podcasts/veganreport/2308674/

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Music by Ilya Truhanov from Pixabay

"Grocery stores are a crucial arena in the movement to change our food habits — in the US, a whopping three-fourths of calories are bought from supermarkets — so we need to think carefully about how to approach them."

Supermarkets Are the Next Big Challenge for Meat Reduction: https://morethanmeatstheeye.substack.com/p/supermarkets-are-the-next-big-challenge

More Than Meats The Eye | Björn | Substack: https://bjornjohannolafsson.substack.com/

Björn Jóhann┃Researcher-Writer, Animal Advocate: https://www.bjornjohann.com/

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Music by Alisia from Pixabay

Captain Paul Watson is a marine wildlife conservation and environmental activist. Watson was one of the founding members and directors of Greenpeace. In 1977, he left Greenpeace and founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Today, he is at the helm of the Paul Watson Foundation.

We began our conversation by highlighting the incredible life and legacy of departed animal rights giant Brigitte Bardot. We also address the very bad press the announcement of her death triggered.

Then, Captain Watson shared with me his opinion on the infighting in the vegan community, the real reason why Japan wants his head, the behind the scenes account of the hostile takeover at Sea Shepherd US, the story of his LSD experience, and much more.

Support the Captain Paul Watson Foundation now: https://www.paulwatsonfoundation.org/

Learn more about Brigitte Bardot: https://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr/

Captain Watson's Wrongful Detention & Political Dysfunction. With Rep. David Michel | Ep. 52 https://rss.com/podcasts/veganreport/1690139/

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La madrague · Brigitte Bardot / The Best Of Bardot / ℗ 1963 Mercury Music Group / Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

We travel to Lebanon to meet an amazing animal rights activist who is harnessing the power of social media to spread the vegan message across the Arab world. Her name is Maya Kawas, she is a Muay Thai fighter and a journalist with over 300K followers on Instagram.

We discussed her most recent viral video and the crazy reactions it got from across the Middle East. The gender dynamics in Arab cultures. The Beginning of her vegan journey when her friend was sacrificed for a religious holiday. And much more.

Maya's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maya_kawas/

Maya's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mayaxkawas

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Rakefet Cohen Ben-Are, research manager at the China Vegan Society, delves into three key tactics of effective advocacy: the concept of vegan default, the identifiable victim effect and making plant-based shopping more convenient.

China Vegan Society: https://www.chinavegans.org/

China Vegan Society’s report: https://rakefet.life/ChinaVeganSocietyReport2025

Identified victim effect: https://rakefet.life/IdentifiedVictim

Vegan defaults: https://rakefet.life/DefaultChinaVeganSummit

Let's connect: rakefetc.biu@gmail.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rakefetcohen/

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Music by Alisia from Pixabay

Today, we lift the veil on a world of lies, confusion, spying, corruption and hypocrisy. We expose the Meat Dairy and Egg social media war strategy unleashed against vegans. A real conspiracy of PR Firms, scientists, health experts, environmental organizations and more.

To tackle this issue, I have with me Maddy Haughton-Boakes, a Senior Campaigner at Changing Markets Foundation. Changing Markets has been doing amazing work investigating, documenting and reporting on the current mis and dis-information campaign about food systems.

For more conversations like this, follow and subscribe to the show. Please consider leaving a good review. And share this episode with the vegans you know. We need to alert our movement of these cowardly tactics.

Changing Markets' Reports: https://changingmarkets.org/campaigns/climate-misinformation/

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Music by Grand_Project from Pixabay