A WEEKEND OF HOPE AND COMPASSION 🙌
The photo above looks like Prof Andrew Knight and I are on a tropical holiday abroad, but this was a Friday evening just before I gave my talk at Vegan Campout north of Nottingham, to the biggest crowd I have ever been fortunate enough to speak to.
How I LOVED it as I could truly be myself in front of so many of you who I got to meet, and share in a future of such optimism and health for our dogs and cats through my talk.
The entire 30 minute talk entitled 'Celebrating Dogs and Cats in Vegan Households' was fortunately recorded and please listen below as I'm sure there will be something that I said that you have never heard before. 🥰
Like all vegan events, Vegan Campout is a short time of pure paradise where you never want to leave, and this year, I came home filled with such overwhelming hope for our future that I just have to share (even if you too were at the event this weekend). 🙌
One of the speakers (I attended as many talks as I could) mentioned that we are all expecting others to sort out all the problems that we are facing - we just imagine that governments or scientific groups or companies are working on all the crises we face with climate change and a shortage of food and water.....but the reality is that they aren't and we ALL know that and it frightens all of us....... But after one weekend, I have never felt more hope as I do, as I was surrounded by THE individuals who are our solution!
Environmentalist and Journalist George Monbiot gave an impassioned talk about how when we reach a tipping point, change happens very fast and history has shown this to be true. I danced and sang along to the famous reggae rapper Macka B, who for 40 years has spread the message through his music and now has reels on TikTok (inspired by his granddaughter) to inspire the younger generation to eat plant-based!
The same message came through with musician Moby who played a video sent to him by the late wonderful Jane Goodall just last year, also gently reminding us that we should all be going plant-based.💚
Prof Andrew Knight's talk to hundreds of people (maybe even thousands), reminded us of his groundbreaking studies and how dogs and cats going vegan around the world could quite literally save our planet!
The same went for listening to health professionals inspire us with the health benefits to our health of a pure plant-based diet AND they had the perfect looks and muscles to be believable and gain a huge following!
It was listening to Zack Polanski and sharing in a few tears of relief with the enormous crowd around me realising that for the first time we have a leader showing true compassion and emotional intelligence all balanced by overwhelming bravery that he is prepared to stand up for what he knows is right.
Through intelligent questions by the equally as inspiring Juliet Gellatley who started VIVA!, we glimpsed for the very first time a leader who is prepared to stand up for the animals - ALL animals!
He mentioned ending Greyhound racing, closing and banning all slaughterhouses and returning land to the insects while carefully balancing it with enough housing for all of us - a dream come true hearing his words 🥰
I have never felt more safe as I felt on Saturday night tucked in my sleeping bag in my tent surrounded by thousands of others who thought the same as me. I was exhausted from a full day of meeting so many darling dogs (who LOVED BioBuddy) and being inspired by so many stories that you shared with me about your dogs, that I went to bed much earlier than my daughters excited to socialise with as many other vegans as they could.
I heard karaoke belting out with the crowds screaming with delight as someone sang to 'It's Raining Men', and in the morning, I realised that it was Zack Polanski who had joined in with that karaoke, while Prof Andrew Knight (an amazing salsa dancer), had danced the night away in the WTF (We The Free) disco with my delighted daughters (a vegan doctor and vegan paramedic).
It is only individuals with such big minds and even bigger hearts such as Prof Knight, Zack Polanski, George Monbiot, all you enormously brave activists; and YOU reading this article that are going to allow the change that we all so desperately need and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for giving me that hope 🥰
- Warmest wishes Dr Arielle 🌱
