Could Veganism Cool the Planet? A Conversation with Vegan Activist “Earthling Ed”, Ed Winters
In cooperation with the Environmental Studies Program at Brandeis University and the Senate Sustainability Committee
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
12-1:30pm Eastern Time (US) / 6-7:30pm German time
Zoom Webinar
You can watch a recording of the complete event by clicking the button above.
Read a report about the event from The Justice, Brandeis University’s Independent Student Newspaper.
About the Event
The science is clear: animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of climate change. In August of 2019, the UN published a report on land use and agriculture and concluded that humans must eat less meat to avert a climate catastrophe. Yet governments in Europe and the US continue to heavily subsidize the animal agriculture industry. With all the talk about the need to urgently address the climate crisis, why are governments failing on this key issue?
Germans are eager to take the climate crisis seriously, and judging by the growth of vegan products and options in German supermarkets and restaurants, more and more Germans seem to see the connection as well. The vegan and climate justice movements in both Europe and the U.S. share a vision of a sustainable planet free from exploitation, so why is it that most of the climate movement organizations would rather look the other way when it comes to this issue? Is veganism too extreme? Is transitioning to a “regenerative animal agriculture” instead a viable climate solution?
Ed Winters, also known as Earthling Ed, is a vegan educator, filmmaker, public speaker, and entrepreneur based in London, England. His speech "You Will Never Look at Your Life in the Same Way Again" has been viewed over 35 million times across YouTube and Facebook. Winters is the co-founder and co-director of Surge, an animal rights organisation, and producer of the documentary Land of Hope and Glory. In 2018 he opened Unity Diner, a non-profit vegan diner where all of the profits go to Surge as well as the development of a new sanctuary for farm animals.
Ed’s presentation will be followed by a discussion with Dr. Adriana Voss-Andreae, a scientist and leader within the climate movement in the U.S., and high school student Juliana Voss-Andreae, a youth vegan and climate activist in Germany, as well as Tati Rheinbaben, who also works with Surge and the startup Refarm’d.
About the Speakers
Ed Winters, also known as Earthling Ed, is a vegan educator, filmmaker, public speaker, and entrepreneur based in London, England. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in film and TV production at the University of Westminster. His speech "You Will Never Look at Your Life in the Same Way Again", has been viewed over 35 million times across YouTube and Facebook. Winters is the co-founder and co-director of Surge, an animal rights organisation, which in 2016 founded The Official Animal Rights March, which has grown from 2,500 participants in London in 2016 to 41,000 participants across the globe in 2019. Winters proceeded in producing the documentary Land of Hope and Glory, and in 2018 opened Unity Diner, a non-profit vegan diner where all of the profits go to Surge as well as the development of a new sanctuary for farm animals.
Tatiana von Rheinbaben (Tati) is a global citizen who studied molecular biology (B.S.) and environmental engineering and science (M.S.) in the U.S. After an internship at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany and an internship at The Not Company in Chile to learn about plant-based meat production, Tati started working for the non-profit animal rights organization Surge and the startup Refarm’d.
Adriana Voss-Andreae founded 350PDX to address the root causes of climate disruption through building movement power from the ground up. As executive director she grew 350PDX to its expansion of over 10,000 supporters and a series of major climate action and policy wins. Adriana was also a chief petitioner and founding coalition leader in the groundbreaking Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) campaign, a successful community of color-led ballot initiative campaign that models a city-level Green New Deal. Most recently she served as campaign manager to help successfully elect a BIPOC climate justice champion to the state legislature and is working to help build the political power necessary to pass bold model statewide climate justice policy. She holds two doctorates, an MD and a PhD in neuroscience, and her background includes work in public health and food justice policy. She sees the current climate crisis as an unprecedented opportunity to reshape our communities and our world through transformation rooted in justice and compassion.
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. in a German-Jewish family, Juliana decided to move to Germany where she is currently completing high school. She advocates for animal rights and climate justice and is committed to devoting her life to building a more sustainable, compassionate, equitable and vegan world.