Freedom of Species

Feb 01 2025 406 ep. 864

Freedom of Species Podcast artwork

Animal advocacy on the airwaves, hosted by a team of local animal advocates.

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Project Fresh Start with Jolene and Duaine

Our guests on today's show are Jolene and Duaine from Project Fresh Start, a vegan food relief charity operating in the south eastern region of Melbourne/Naarm. Project Fresh Start's mission is to address the challenges of food insecurity and food waste. They aim to eliminate the obstacles faced by marginalised people in accessing nutritious plant-based foods. Their initiatives are

Rope, Dope and the Empire: A Brief History of Humans and the Cannabis Plant (Summer Special)

In today’s summer special, Betty takes Nick and the listeners through 12,000 years of the cannabis plant. Starting in the ancient world, through the age of sail and into the modern era, we follow the cannabis plant on its global journey and its role in human politics and development. We finish with a discussion on cannabis pharmacology, drug prohibition and challenges facing the

Wales and the Welsh Language with Meg (Summer Special)

Summer Special Join Meg as she talks about her father's country of Wales, the Welsh language, mythology and people and her connection to this historic and mysterious land. All music is in the Welsh language. The music has been edited out of the podcast due to copyright issues, please see below for menitoned music in order of play. Y Bwci Bos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3YwB0rc

Call Me Queen! Reddit Stories through a Social Justice Lens (Summer Special)

On this Summer Special, Hayden and Nick discuss Reddit stories covering a wide range of topics, including: chosen names, religion, work, class, dogs, sexuality, gender and cheating. Happy Holidays! During the Freedom of Species timeslot Sunday 1-2pm, there will be Summer Specials for the next few weeks. Meg will be covering the women’s liberation movement on Dec 29 and Jan 12 and

Am I The (Vegan) Asshole?

Hayden, Katie, Nick and Moo Moo discuss Reddit stories through a vegan lens, focusing on the social aspects of veganism. The stories are from Am I The Asshole, Confessions and Vegan sub-Reddits. Links: Happy Cow’s Top 25 Vegan-Friendly Cities 2025: https://www.happycow.net/vegtopics/travel/top-vegan-friendly-cities Vegan Australia’s 12 Days of Vegan Christmas campaign – check

Who Cares About Insects?

Why do we overlook insects so often? In this show we decided to focus on insects for a change. Our guest Alex Hill is doing his PhD research on human insect relationships. We discuss why people including animal advocates and vegans do not consider insects much at all. We have a short quiz on insects, we talk about the threat of insect extinction and look into the details about diff

Is “Soft” Activism a Path Forward? Veganism in Japan with Ruby Ramsden

This show features Ruby Ramsden on her PhD research on vegan activism in Japan. Some of the specific topics covered are: barriers to eating vegan in Japan, Ruby’s vegan/animal journey, “insider” and “outsider” research, a history of veganism and animal consumption in Japan, and tactical vegan advocacy. You can look further into Ruby’s work by checking out her article Ve

Animal-Free Science Advocacy interview with Rachel

In this episode Meg interviews Rachel from Animal-Free Science Advocacy (AFSA), a not for profit organisation dedicated to advocating for the removal of animals from experimental science. We talk about AFSA's efforts to facilitate a culture of animal free alternatives in research, experimentation and training, and how this relates to the evolution of non animal experimental models

Vegans For Trump? Conspirituality in the Vegan Movement

Katie and Nick discuss well-known vegan spiritual figure Supreme Master Ching Hai supporting Donald Trump. We use this as a starting point to cover broader issues around connections between spiritual/wellness movements, including some vegans, and the far-right. This broader discussion draws on Naomi Klein’s book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World. Links: We’re releasing

Is Uglies Really A Dystopian Story? Pop culture through an animal rights lens

Katie and Nick analyse the book and movie Uglies through an animal rights lens. The movie is streaming on Netflix but Katie recommends the book over the movie! We’re releasing this show as two separate podcasts. You can hear part two of this show, covering wellness/spiritual people including some vegans supporting Donald Trump, via our website and a range of podcast apps: https:/