#10 – Vegan activism and its place in our plant-based future w/ Viva!'s founder Juliet Gellatley

Greenhero

Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of the Greenhero Podcast! This week, we’re with Juliet Gellatley, a British author of several reports, guides, and books on veganism, an animal rights activist, and founder and director of Viva! She’s the former director of the Vegetarian Society and winner of the Linda McCarthy award for animal welfare and the P.E.A award.

Juliet’s journey to a vegan lifestyle started at a young age. Even then, her mother would describe her as someone rooting for the underdog. She first demonstrated her activism by petitioning against snaring in the UK. From there, she was impassioned by leaflets and flyers on animal cruelty and factory farming, eventually leading her to become vegan. Growing up, this was isolating, but her drive pushed her through. She witnessed first-hand the horrors of industrial animal farming during that time, further hammering home her passion for helping animals. Once she made the decision to go vegetarian and eventually vegan, there was no going back, even though the options were slim and the support virtually non-existent.

From there, Juliet went to university and studied a combination of psychology and zoology so she could pick the parts of each degree that served her best in understanding the holistic view of an animal's life. When she graduated, she felt that a job in the field studying animals was too slow and wouldn’t have the impact she was looking for. So, she transitioned in media as an editor of a magazine and became the first Youth Education Officer for the Vegetarian Society. This was faced with media backlash, but she knew her heart was in the right place. Viva! came to being after Juliet became the Director of Campaigns, but felt the Vegetarian Society was more of a food body and less of an actionable, campaigning organization.

A combination of a generous donation, support from her then-husband producing content for the organization, and a team of passionate people got Viva! off the ground. At that moment, not only was it about educating the cruelty inflicted upon animals, but the fact that veganism was the solution. At the time, no one was making that claim, which resulted in some hesitancy from folks outside the organization.

From Juliet’s perspective, the words ‘plant-based’ were certainly more accessible for a time, but in recent years and in working with big brands like Tesco, the word ‘vegan’ has exploded. It went from a dirty word, she says, to a lifestyle to aspire to. Her take? Simple. Whatever works. Sell vegan food so people stop eating animals.

Juliet is seeing an emerging trend in reasons why people are going vegan. Whereas animal wellbeing has always been at the top, environmental reasons have recently surpassed health as the second most popular reasoning to go plant-based. The proof is in the media. Brands are making it easier to go vegan under a campaign of helping the environment and people are seeing it.

Juliet’s view on accepting people who are still eating meat is based on empathy. She calls it a road of compassion–a journey everyone goes on that is driven by the desire to improve. No one is perfect and gatekeeping a vegan lifestyle is only going to turn people away. The path is different for everyone. Everything should revolve around kindness; to animals, to yourself, others, and the earth.

Things you’ll learn

The vegan movement has only just recently exploded, and the market is ready to support the lifestyle

Environmental reasons for going vegan are on the rise, but animal wellbeing is at the top

Becoming vegan is a road of compassion. No one is perfect, and the journey will look different for everyone

Links and Socials

Viva.org.uk

@vivacharity on Instagram

@vivacampaigns on Twitter