Think Like a Vegan
A podcast exploring a wide range of topics related to veganism through thought-provoking, in-depth discussions. Hosted by Emilia Leese, co-author of the book 'Think Like a Vegan', each episode features a short talk by a guest or the host on a single issue often overlooked in everyday conversations. The aim is to inspire and educate by expanding the conversation around veganism, framing it as part of basic fairness. These talks challenge assumptions and encourage deeper reflection on vegan ethics and practice.
Episodes
Ep.37: Beyond Appeasement: Finding our Ethical Spine
We need more vegans. We need strategies. But for these to stick, it's the context we must transform. That requires courage. In 1950, Leslie Cross, a Vegan Society founder, wrote veganism was a liberatory movement. This July, the European Court of Human Rights affirmed ethical veganism as a protected belief under Article 9 as not a lifestyle choice, but a serious moral conviction. Courage gets reco
Ep 36: Why Vegans Don't: because it’s not about the food, it’s about the why
Join me for a profound conversation with Jordi Casamitjana, the ethical vegan activist who made legal history by securing the first worldwide ruling securing veganism as a protected belief. A methodical thinker and lifelong advocate, Jordi joins me to discuss his new book, Why Vegans Don't: A philosophical guide to vegan behaviour — exploring the "why" behind vegan choices, blending
Ep 35: A world where forests are sovereign
In this powerful season finale, I bring our exploration of nature, politics, and animal liberation to a profound conclusion by looking to the forest as a model for a just society.Gregory Tague, a scholar with over two decades of work in environmental and animal ethics, introduces a radical idea: the forest is a sovereign state. It operates not with a single dominant power, but through a complex we
Ep 34: Nature Has No Borders: The Controversial Science of Invasion Ecology
Join me for a provocative conversation with brothers Vasile and James Stănescu as we deconstruct the common yet charged concept of "invasive species." Moving beyond a simplified view of nature, we explore how the rhetoric of "invasion ecology" creates a violent foundation justifying perpetual war against certain animals.Drawing from their contributions to the critical book, The
Ep 33: Between Storms and Laws: The battle for Pakistan’s animals
When disaster strikes – a flood, wildfire, massive quake – most of the headlines understandably focus on the human toll. But what happens to the animals? They are the silent, often invisible victims, and their suffering is deeply intertwined with our own. The bonds between people and their animals and the wildlife sharing our ecosystems mean that when animals suffer, human communities suffer too.S
Ep 32: Why do we always make other animals the problem?
Ever been told an animal is a "problem"? From the deer in our backyards and the pigeons in our cities to the elephants on their ancestral lands, we constantly label other species as pests, nuisances, and issues to be solved. But what if the real problem isn't the animal themselves, but the way we choose to see them?In this episode, Claudia Hirtenfelder, host of the acclaimed podcast The Animal Tur
Ep. 31: Your First Foray into Control: The Problem with Adult Supremacy
Join me for a conversation with scholar-activist Amanda Williams as we dismantle the idea of "adult supremacy" and connect it to the broader fight for total liberation. Amanda shows us how our first lessons in power often start with controlling children, and how to turn that awareness into tangible action for a more compassionate world.Website/Socials & BooksAmanda WilliamsLinktree: https://li
Ep. 30: Voices for the voiceless: animal rights activism in Canada - ethical beliefs among vegans and how they translate to animal rights activism
What happens when a folklorist goes inside vegan and animal rights communities, not as an outsider looking in, but as someone documenting their lived beliefs? Dr. Ceallaigh MacCath-Moran joins me to discuss her research in St. John’s and Toronto, where she explores veganism as a counter-hegemonic tradition and activism as performative resistance. We delve into how media and academia often misrepre
Ep. 29: The ultimate peace movement: The evolution of veganism as a social movement
Roger Yates, a longtime animal rights firebrand, sociologist, and movement historian, cracks open veganism’s radical past. This isn’t just about diet or ethics. It’s about a revolutionary philosophy of total liberation challenging everything. Yates doesn’t just talk theory, he connects the dots to today’s movement in a way that’ll make you reconsider what “vegan” even means. Spoiler: It’s bigger t
Ep. 28: Revolutionary Peace: How Philadelphia Launched the US Vegetarian and Vegan Movement
Vance Lehmkhul is a vegan renaissance man: writer, journalist, cartoonist, and now, a vegan history detective. His book Revolutionary Peace cracks open the wild, untold story of how Philadelphia became the unlikely birthplace of America’s vegetarian and vegan revolt.This isn’t just a history lesson. It's a street-level view of radical thinkers who saw food as revolution. We’re talking 18th-cen
Ep. 27: Why vegans should care about genocide/ecocide in Gaza
Researcher Rimona Afana unflinchingly exposes the hidden victims of Israel's war on Gaza: the natural world and nonhuman animals. She reveals how advanced weaponry creates a psychological distance enabling destruction on a colossal scale, making ecocide a feature, not a byproduct, of modern conflict.Website/SocialsRimona Afanahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/rimonaafanaEcocide/Speciesism: Legislating H
Ep. 26: Ecological restoration and rewilding are essential
There are those who study nature, and then there are those who listen to it. Alan Watson Featherstone is such a listener, a quiet revolutionary who has spent his life translating Earth's silent longing into action.In this episode, we walk with Alan through:The act of rewilding — not just restoring land, but restoring relationshipWhy healing broken ecosystems is the most radical hope we haveHow
Ep. 25: They profit while the planet burns: A radical manifesto with John Sanbonmatsu
Capitalism didn't just commodify animals - it turned suffering into an industry. Meet John Sanbonmatsu, the revolutionary philosopher tearing apart the meat-industrial complex in his incendiary new work The Omnivore's Deception. This book is an indictment of the entire capitalist food regime Sanbonmatsu doesn't debate reform. He demands total dismantling of the oppressive structures that treat li
Ep. 24 What’s the difference between animal rights and welfare?
This episode goes back to basics. We hear about animal rights, welfare, compassion and kindness. It all sounds like good things and stuff we should have. So I want to share with you why when I talk about animal ethics, I centre my words around rights instead of welfare or compassion and kindness
Website/Socials
Emi Leese
https://emilialeese.substack.com
http://thinklikeavegan.com
http://e
Ep. 23 What are zoonotic diseases and how do they affect us and other animals?
When you hear the term zoonotic disease, what does it mean to you? What do you think of and who is responsible for them?
Maybe you think about Covid 19. How about HIV-AIDS? Is your impression that zoonotic illnesses are something relatively new? Or uncommon?
In this episode, I'll explore just how far back in time zoonotic illnesses go and think about how our entanglement with other animals affec
Ep. 22 Zane McNeill and Nathan Poirier: Ida B. Wells and relevance to the animal justice movement
Ida B. Wells and the relevance of her work to the animal justice movement
Zane McNeill and Nathan Poirier discuss Ida B. Wells' historical and contemporary legacy and relevance to critical animal studies
For more than 40 years from the late 1800s, Ida B. Wells fought for justice for Black Americans. Wells was a journalist, newspaper owner, feminist, suffragist and organiser. In particular, she c
Ep. 21 Benny Malone - What to say to vegans
What should we say to vegans?
Benny Malone returns to the podcast to discuss with me what people should say to vegans instead of the usual excuses. Benny joined me in Season One in the episode entitled "Discussing Veganism with Others" where Benny talks about his top five fallacies vegans encounter when talking with others and I talk about my top three tips when engaging with others about veganis
Ep. 20 What’s Effective Altruism and what are some alternatives?
Pre-order the paperback edition of our book, Think Like a Vegan! This highly anticipated release will be available January 2025 in the UK and worldwide and April 2025 in North America. It will contain a new afterword so you can dive into updates and new material you won't find in the hardcover. We've added insightful reflections and fresh content to keep you inspired and informed. Pre-order on Am
Ep. 19 Industrial and small scale animal farming - a distinction without a difference
Pre-order the paperback edition of our book, Think Like a Vegan! This highly anticipated release will be available from January 2025 in the UK/worldwide and April 2025 in North America. It will contain a new afterword so you can dive into updates and new material you won't find in the hardcover. We've added insightful reflections and fresh content to keep you inspired and informed. Pre-order on
Ep. 18 Humanity's longest war: The war against animals
Pre-order the paperback edition of our book, Think Like a Vegan! This highly anticipated release will be available from January 2025 in the UK/worldwide and April 2025 in North America. It will contain a new afterword so you can dive into updates and new material you won't find in the hardcover. We've added insightful reflections and fresh content to keep you inspired and informed. Pre-order on
Ep.17 Palm oil: ubiquitous, damaging, complicated and the Grease of Empire
Pre-order the paperback edition of our book, Think Like a Vegan! This highly anticipated release will be available from January 2025 in the UK/worldwide and April 2025 in North America. It will contain a new afterword so you can dive into updates and new material you won't find in the hardcover. We've added insightful reflections and fresh content to keep you inspired and informed. Pre-order on A
Ep. 16 Veganism isn't shopping
In this series, the big theme has been systems with special attention to economics and capitalism. Selling as many different products is one of the principal manifestations of capitalism. And in the context of vegan products - What’s it mean to have more vegan products available to buy? Do more vegan products mean fewer animals are being exploited for their bodies and secretions? Is veganism about
Ep.15 War: An Animal Rights Perspective
Sara van Goozen and Josh Milburn are the first to include considering harm to animals in just war theory. Broadly speaking, just war theory looks at whether a war is justified and if so, how that war should be conducted. They authored "Counting Animals in War: First Steps towards an Inclusive Just-War Theory” published in the journal Social Theory and Practice.Sara is a lecturer at the University
Ep. 14 Human Privilege: The Power Dynamic between People and Animals
For his Master Thesis, Tim Reysoo developed the concept of human privilege by extending the notion of social privilege to make sense of the enormous power differential between humans and animals in society. He develops the concept and social category of “species privilege” and “human innocence”.
Tim studied Philosophy and International Development Studies at the University of Amsterdam. He conduc
Ep.13 Vegan diets for animals
Doctor Josh Milburn's book, Just Fodder: The ethics of feeding animals (McGill-Queen's University Press), explores a variety of questions from “Who are we obliged to feed? Who are we permitted to feed? What are we allowed to feed animals? To What is the role of the state in feeding animals? And How might obligations concerning the feeding of animals differ from obligations concerning the feeding o
Ep. 12 Economics of Fashion: a Vegan Perspective
Joshua Katcher and Tracey Katof are researching the fashion industry as a compelling case-study for the macroeconomic phenomenon of circumfauna, a term Joshua coined. They analyse the social, historical, and environmental influences on the large-scale shift towards intentionally reframing supply chains without animals.
Joshua Katcher is a fashion designer, author and educator who has taught at Pa
Ep. 11 Factionalism in the vegan movement
Infighting. It’s something people in the veganverse complain about. So what do we mean by infighting? Is it something unique to the vegan and animal rights space? Should we be concerned about it? Does it benefit one group over another? How should we engage with it if at all? And what might be some of its consequences, if any?
If this is something you think about or have encountered, you’re not a
Ep.10 Vegans should be socialist
Troy Vettese and Drew Pendergrass are the authors of Half Earth Socialism:A Plan to Save the Future from Extinction, Climate Change and Pandemics (Verso). We talk about their book, the simulation game that goes with their book and why vegans should be socialists and socialists should be vegans.
We also talk about Drew's work at mapping methane and other emissions in real time and go really off p
Ep.9 Marx, Veganism and Political Solidarity Across Species
Marx, Veganism and Political Solidarity Across Species
Where is the political solidarity from those who’ve thought and care about labour and social exploitation? Our guest today is Professor Leigh Claire La Berge. Her forthcoming new book Marx for Cats: A Radical Bestiary (Duke University Press), makes the case for political solidarity across species.
As we talk about in our book, Think Like a V
Ep.8 Discussing veganism with others
Benny Malone, author of How to Argue with Vegans: An analysis of anti-vegan arguments, talks to us about his top five favourite fallacies. Not the ones we might be familiar with, but those requiring a bit more work and thought. In the second half of the program, I'll share my top three strategies when choosing to engage with others on the topic of veganism.
Credits Host: Emilia A. Leese
Guest:
Ep. 7 Veganism isn't ableist
Geertrui Cazaux, author (Een Ander Soort Zuster), blogger and vegan, animal rights and inclusivity activist talks to us about why and how veganism is not an ableist ethical practice. We'll hear about what it means to live as a vegan with a chronic illness and how to centre veganism on solid ethical foundations.
Credits
Host: Emilia A. Leese
Guest: Geertrui Cazaux; https://criphumanimal.org; ht
Ep. 6 Animal experimentation in medicine: is there an alternative?
The Center for Contemporary Science works on replacing animal experimentation with more effective methods of research and testing based on human biology. Dr Aysha Akhtar explains how human biology-based methods offer a more effective way to understand the diseases that afflict us, enabling researchers to predict how people may respond to medicines and chemicals with far greater accuracy than anima
Ep.5 Using graphic images and the matter of consent
Using graphic images of animals in activism is almost expected. In this episode, I explore what doing so means in terms of consent, advancing the case for framing the question of use over welfare, and what might be some alternatives.
Credits Host: Emilia A. Leese
Production & Engineering: Jim Moore of Bloody Vegans Productions
Music Opening theme: “Flashbacks” by Jenny Moore’s Mystic Busin
Ep. 4 Reproductive rights and animal rights
Professor Sherry Colb speaks to us about reconciling the debates over reproductive rights and animal rights -- something that’s rarely discussed together and which was the subject of the book she co-authored with Michael Dorf, Beating Hearts. Professor Colb gives us an overview of the question “Do animal rights activists really care more about the well-being of nonhuman animals than they do about
Ep. 3 Animals as legal beings: a new legal classification
Most people never think animals are considered merely property, like your phone or your car. In this episode, Professor Maneesha Deckha will be speaking to us about her book, Animals as Legal Beings: Contesting Antrhopocentric Legal Orders, where she talks about what it would look like to replace the property classification for animals to a new legal status she calls “beingness”.
Credits
Host:
Ep.2 Veganism as a leftist political practice
Animals are classed as property. In an economic context, this means they're viewed as both the product and the machine. How does veganism fit into a leftist political practice? What language should we use? Professor Jason Hannan, editor of Meatsplaining: The Animal Agriculture Industry and the Rhetoric of Denial, talks to us about the rhetoric of animal exploitation.
Credits
Host: Emilia A. L
Ep. 1 Veganism is for everyone and so is activism
In this episode I talk about what "Veganism is for everyone" means. I break veganism down to its fundamental ethical component, show why it must be part of social justice discussions and demystify what it means to be an activist.
Credits
Host: Emilia A. Leese
Production & Engineering: Jim Moore of Bloody Vegans Productions
Music Opening theme: “Flashbacks” by Jenny Moore’s Mystic Busines
The Podcast Trailer
A podcast bringing you thought provoking deep dives across a wide variety of subjects from one of the authors of Think Like a Vegan: What everyone can learn from vegan ethics. Each episode is a mini talk about one topic which might not be the focus of an everyday conversation, including activism, ableism, reproductive rights, animals and the law, alternatives to animal experimentation in medicine
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