Compassionate Living

08/31/2026

On this episode, Hope starts us off with a movie review, then we hear a conversation with Kathy Cullen, founder of Jolene's Retreat. Kathy and Hope discuss the importance of animals' agency as well as friends and family groups and how these are disrupted and broken up in animal agriculture and the psychological distress that can cause.

Kathy has rescued numerous small “companion” pigs and she and Hope discuss the problem of breeding “potbelly” and “teacup” designer pigs. We love to feature farmed animal sanctuaries and loved hearing all about Jolene's Retreat!

Listen and share: https://hopefortheanimalspodcast.org/episode-142-animal-agency-and-sanctuary-with-kathy-cullen/

08/23/2026

Our VR goggle vegan outreach at the Eugene Saturday Market was awesome! We had 12 people watch the videos, up from 9 last time. We had a lot of young people watching, including a very young girl (maybe 12?) watching with her Dad’s permission and she had no idea that bacon “came from” a pig. While watching the video she asked “why are they killing the pig?” and her Dad was honest and said, “That’s where our bacon and ham come from.”

We had another woman end the dairy cow video in tears and pretty shaken. Hope sat with her and told her that she had the same reaction to the VR experience 10 years ago (true story) and that’s why we are vegan so we know that we're not complacent or causing any harm. There are so many terrible things happening in the world, but this is one thing that we can actively do something about every day.

Such an FANTASTIC and rewarding experience. 🐓💜 This event was a collaboration between Eugene VeganFest, Compassionate Living, and Animal Compassion Eugene (ACE).

08/15/2026

This episode, Rev. Carol Sanders talks to Hope about the upcoming Whole Planet Spirituality Forum and Retreat at Unity Village. Carol is a Unity mister and shares how the founders were ethical vegans in the early 1900s! They also discuss the importance of bring love into our advocacy.

Listen here: https://hopefortheanimalspodcast.org/episode-141-gathering-with-spiritual-vegans-with-rev-carol-saunders/

08/10/2026

08/07/2026

We're gearing up and getting ready for the Sonoma County VegFest! Come celebrate the abundance of amazing plant food in the North Bay and get inspired to live greener, eat better, and thrive! Potential vendors, get those applications in. Tickets are on sale now.

Learn more: https://socovegfest.org

08/02/2026

Meet Peanut: Artificial Intelligence for Vegan Encouragement! Jeannie Walter is a retired librarian. longtime animal advocate and the creator of Peanut the pig, a vegan AI coach. Peanut uses warmth, humor, and a distinct personality to help people take meaningful steps toward eating more plants.

In the interview, Jeannie talks about the importance of embracing new technologies to assist in our animal advocacy outreach. She and Hope also discuss the concerns and challenges of Artificial Intelligence, the possibilities of AI sentience, and how this could potentially support animal advocacy.

Listen and share: https://hopefortheanimalspodcast.org/episode-140-can-artificial-intelligence-help-animals-with-jeannie-walter/

07/30/2026

You can pretty much find cage-free eggs everywhere now, but are the hen’s really living a better life? Hope Bohanec explains the truth about this label and what it truely means for chickens.

07/29/2026

Just 2 months out from the Sonoma County VegFest! Vendor applicaitons are open and we are looking for sponsors and volutneers. We're getting excited, join us on 9/26/26!