Vegan Earth Day March Was a Hit in Over 22 Countries
For the first time in history, marches in over 22 countries took place on April 22, 2023, as part of the Vegan Earth Day March global event
Los Angeles, April 23rd, 2023 — The Vegan Earth Day March is a new international public event that was simultaneously staged on April 22, 2023, Earth Day, in more than 50 cities over 22 countries. It took the form of street marches, rallies, vegan outreach, and other vegan-related activities.
Animal agriculture is one of the most destructive and harmful industries on the planet, and the production and consumption of meat and dairy are a driving force behind climate change, resource depletion, species extinction, and many social injustices. The Vegan Earth Day March event aims to raise awareness about this and alert the world that, while many people and governments continue to ignore these facts, we are quickly reaching a point of no return due to the lack of action.
This international day of action took place in New York City, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, London, Amsterdam, Porto, Mexico City, Toronto, Zurich, Lagos, and other major cities worldwide. Stops were made at local government buildings to show elected officials that urgent policy changes are needed to address our current food system’s negative environmental and climate impacts. Its creators, Sarina Farb and Chelsea V Davis, together with Amy Jean Davis from Los Angeles Animal Save, and Dr. Sailesh Rao from Climate Healers, formed a panel chaired by UnchainedTV’s Jane Velez-Mitchell to discuss what this event is about. You can watch it here:
The Creation of The Vegan Earth Day March
Sarina Farb is a co-founder of the Vegan Earth Day March. She is a science educator, speaker, and creator of Born Vegan. She has been traveling the country in a vegan-info-covered camper van to raise awareness about the ethical, environmental, and health impacts of our current food system and to empower people to think critically and make a positive difference. As she explains, one day she got inspired by watching another event:
“I have been in the activism for a good portion of my life. In 2019, I was teaching high school in Kansas City and had the opportunity to help a bunch of my students participate in the Youth Climate March that was largely inspired by Greta Thunberg. I love the momentum and energy I saw.”
However, there was one big glaring omission. Almost nobody, from politicians to the mainstream media, or even environmental activists, were talking about animal agriculture. So, she got an idea:
“That really inspired me and kind of put the idea in my head of wanting to see a worldwide march and campaign like this, that centers around animal agriculture and raises awareness of the role that it plays in destroying our planet, polluting the Earth, and causing climate change.”
She ended up finding Chelsea Davis who had similar visions and ideas.
“We need to change the system, and we need to take personal responsibility and be willing to say ‘what am I willing to change in life if I want to see things change.'” — Sarina Farb, co-organizer of The Vegan Earth Day March
What Will Happen in The Vegan Earth Day March Events
Chelsea V. Davis is the other co-founder of the Vegan Earth Day March. She is known for her on-camera vegan cooking demos and a host of plant-based projects. She is the founder of the Vegan Night Market and the co-founder of Animal Rights Collective Portland. She offers more details about the event:
“We are up to 50 cities and over 22 countries. We have organizers from all over the world that are very excited to be participating in the first-ever Vegan Earth Day March, and we have cities that are marching, cities that are doing rallies, and cities that are doing outreach like here in Portland, Oregon. We are partnering with the Farmers Market actually. That way we can expose the truth of what is going on within our climate crisis to people who, generally, we wouldn’t be able to talk to.”
Pulling this off has required a massive team effort, as Chelsea Davis explains:
“We have a lot of different people that have come out of the woodwork that are really excited about an event like this. We have partnered with Animal Safe Movement as well. So, we’re working with people like Amy Jean Davis who is on here today, who’s one of the people organizing the LA event.”
The Vegan Earth Day March in Los Angeles
Amy Jean Davis is an animal rights advocate, spokesperson for the Save Movement, and the founder of LA Animal Save, the Los Angeles chapter of the global Save Movement. After having become vegan in 2002, she started an animal sanctuary in Los Angeles. She explained what happened in Santa Monica, California.
“We are actually going to do a two-hour rally ahead of the March. Climate Healers with Dr. Rao will be there with their free food giveaways, which they do every month, and do amazing work. And, we’re going to be right there on the beach. So, hopefully, we will have a lot of eyes and people interested in our message.”
The rally took place at Ocean Park Blvd. Boardwalk/Lot 5/Lifeguard Station 26. The group marched to the Santa Monica Pier. Hosted by Paige Parsons Roache, speakers at the rally included Amy Jean Davis, Sean Hill, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Dr. Sailesh Rao, Gwenna Hunter, Dr. Shabnam Islam, Cesar Asebedo, plus a few surprise guests. Amy Jean Davis explains one of the advantages of having chosen that day:
“Being Earth Day, we’re hoping that people will just be a little less rigid in living out their programming and be open to hearing what we have to say. We have some amazing speakers lined up, and free food. So, it’s going to be a really great event before the march. And then, of course, we’re going to do the march which is going to be led by Cesar Asebedo of Animal Alliance Network.”
“We just need to keep trying and trying and think of new ways to do it. Otherwise, we’re just going to collapse.” — Amy Jean Davis, LA Animal Save
We Must Consider the Cow in the Room
Dr. Sailesh Rao has over three decades of professional experience and is the founder and executive director of Climate Healers, a non-profit dedicated to healing the Earth’s climate. He is a systems specialist with a Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University who decided to utilize his expertise to solve our planet’s biggest problems. He explains why he will be participating in these events:
“I’m so thrilled that Sarina and Chelsea started this because… it’s about time. We have had our arguments and we have already gone through the science. We understand now that land use is one of the major reasons for climate change. And, on land, we have cut half the trees on the planet. If we just stop eating animals, all that land can be reforested and we can revert climate change. It’s a solution that is staring us in the face and we need to seize it.”
He explains why events like this are part of the solution:
“We need to now start acting as if we have already won the argument… This is why I like the initiative that Sarina and Chelsea started because to me it is telling the people who are environmentalists that we need to take that step. Stop ignoring the cow in the room. We are going to have Vega the cow in Santa Monica, and she is there to send a message that we have to start considering the cow in the room.”
“There are ways in which we can work within the system, but we also have to be creating the new system, and we have a responsibility to do that as well.” — Dr. Sailesh Rao, Climate Healers
What's Your Reaction?
