Conference Synopsis: United Poultry Concerns’ Conscious Eating Conference brings expert speakers to Berkeley, California to share their ideas about the best food choices we can make for the planet, ourselves, and other animals. We will explore the ethics of eating and the effect that each food choice has, and why it matters.

Our conference features a fearless investigator who went undercover to document the inside story of animal farming. We will reveal little known facts about the fishing industry, including factory-farm fishing and how the oceans are being affected, and we will hear startling new information about the consciousness and emotional lives of fish. We will examine controversial strategies for farmed animal advocacy – especially the arguments raging over “single-issue” campaigns and confrontational activism in restaurants and supermarkets. Along with our speakers, this year’s conference highlights an interactive discussion with the audience on how to heighten our message with the most effective voices and actions. You don’t want to miss this exciting day of information exchange and advocacy support!

• 2015 Conscious Eating Conference Videos 14 May 2015
  
  

Location: David Brower Center
2150 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
Near the UC Berkeley Campus

Date: Saturday, April 4, 2015

Registration Opens: 8am

Program Begins: 9am - 5pm

Fee: FREE for students with IDs. $15 pre-registration for all others, $20 at the door the day of the event

Food: For all participants, continental breakfast of vegan scones and fruit, lunch will be vegan mac-n-cheese with roasted butternut squash-cashew cheese with braised collard greens, caramelized shallots, cashew crumbles and organic salad courtesy of Hella Vegan Eats.

TJ Tumasse spent more than six years working in 30 states as an undercover investigator with PETA and Mercy For Animals inside many of the nation’s largest commercial farms, local shelters, and roadside zoos. His cases exposed the ugly truth about what happens behind closed doors, and led to groundbreaking criminal convictions for felony abuse of farmed animals. His work as an undercover investigator has helped to effect change for millions of animals across the United States. T.J. has been interviewed or quoted on ABC, Nightline, 20/20, and numerous podcasts, blogs and websites. He currently manages the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s undercover investigations department, overseeing all aspects of undercover investigations for ALDF and creating a support network for investigators in the field.

Kim Sturla is the Executive Director of Animal Place – a sanctuary for farmed animals that she co-founded in 1989. Animal Place has three facilities in California, its 600-acre sanctuary in Grass Valley, its 60-acre Rescue Ranch shelter in Vacaville and its new residential internship site also in Grass Valley. Sturla has been a central figure in the animal rights movement for more than 30 years. Before working for farmed animals 25 years ago, Sturla worked in shelters and in the legislative arena. Kim is the resident Pig Whisperer, able to communicate beautifully with even the wiliest of pigs! She shares her home and life with dogs Ralph and Marty. www.animalplace.org

Mary Finelli is President and Chairperson of Fish Feel. Mary is a long-time animal rights activist with a B.S. in Animal Science. With a primary focus on farmed animals, she has worked for various animal protection organizations, including as Researcher and then Program Director for The Humane Society of the United States from 1992 to 1999. Mary was the Producer of Farmed Animal Watch, a weekly on-line news digest sponsored by numerous animal protection organizations. She has assisted with research for several books, and co-wrote a chapter of In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave. Mary has long been a top contributor to AR-News, Animal_Net, and other animal rights and vegetarian news listservs. www.fishfeel.org

Victoria Moran is a vegan of thirty years and the author of twelve books, including The Good Karma Diet, coming in May 2015, and Main Street Vegan, which VegNews magazine calls “The Vegan Bible” and whose fans include Russell Simmons, Ellen Degeneres, and Bill Clinton. A professional speaker and two-time Oprah guest, Victoria is a Certified Holistic Health Counselor (CHHC, AADP) and holds the T. Colin Campbell/eCornell Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition. She is the Director of Main Street Vegan Academy, a 6-day intensive in New York City to train and certify Vegan Lifestyle Coaches and Educators. She also hosts the weekly Main Street Vegan podcast on Unity Online Radio, and is in pre-production on a feature film, Miss Liberty, about a cow who escapes from a slaughterhouse, co-written with her husband, William Melton. They live with their rescue-dog, Forbes, in a LEED-certified green condominium in New York City. www.mainstreetvegan.net

Karen Davis, PhD is the President and Founder of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization that addresses the treatment of domestic fowl in food production, science, education, entertainment, and human companionship situations. She is the author of several books including Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry and More Than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality. Award-winningly profiled in The Washington Post for her outstanding work for the birds, Karen maintains a sanctuary for chickens on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. www.upc-online.org

Brian Burns is an organizer with the international grassroots animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE). He co-leads DxE's press working group, which has gotten coverage on CNN and Fox News, and has spoken about social science and the history of social justice movements at UC Berkeley and Northwestern Law. He currently studies mathematics at UC Berkeley and will continue his studies at the University of Chicago. www.directactioneverywhere.com

Katie Cantrell is a UC Berkeley graduate and former president of the Berkeley Organization for Animal Advocacy. She founded the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition in 2010 to educate people about the ecological and social justice hazards of industrial meat production in the United States. Katie has delivered over 200 presentations on factory farming, and her presentation has been used as a resource by food justice activists across the country. www.ffacoalition.org