This unusual video was brought to our attention recently. Here is actor John Schneider, after seeing Earthlings. His emotional response is quite moving. Please watch it!

Sarah Stremming is a dog lover and trainer in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her blog Sarah in Dogland includes a review of Earthlings. 

While many pet lovers avoid 'making the connection' between what's on their lap and what's on their plate, Sarah has done a terrific job looking atall five areas the film covers. Thanks Sarah! The entry is here.

Our friend, NHL star Georges Laraque of the Montreal Canadiens, is in the news again and talking about not only his vegan diet, but the clothing choices he's made. Here he is on hockey site Faceoff.com talking about his non-leather shoes as well as maintaining his 245 pounds of muscle.

"After seeing (Earthlings), it wasn't a tough switch. When you see what an animal goes through, it would have been way tougher for me to contribute to the meat industry. I mean, I never really liked tofu but if this was a diet, it might have been harder because maybe you'd miss the meat. But I am doing it because of the animals, so it's totally different."

A few weeks ago Georges appeared in Toronto's newspaper The Globe and Mail, too. See the article here . 

"People still think it’s kind of funny, but I’m not doing this to be funny. There are more puppy mills in Quebec than anywhere else in Canada, and no laws to shut them down. People get slapped with a fine and six months later they reopen. Do you think that’s funny?" 

Thanks to Georges for all he does for animals! 

 

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Todos Somos Animales, based in Spain, is one of Earthlings writer/director Shaun Monson's favorite organizations. Here, Javier Alberdi speaks about their work and his feelings about Earthlings.

Todos Somos Animales es una organización que se dedica a promover el respeto por la vida y la libertad de tod@s los animales.

 

Vegan.com is one of the web's most authoritative and informative sites dedicated to veganism, vegan lifestyles, vegan health, and animal activism. Publisher/creator Erik Marcus sat down with us at the recent Animal Rights Conference to talk about his latest book, The Ultimate Vegan Guide: Compassionate Living Without Sacrifice, and the film Earthlings.

“There’s nothing like Earthlings. It’s an incredible resource for getting people turned on to animal exploitation and getting people aroused and sympathetic towards the issues. Earthlings has been one of the vital touchstone resources out there for the non-vegan world. It makes a huge difference for the animals.”

 In The Ultimate Vegan Guide, Erik is the vegan big brother you wish you had, offering honest, sensible how-to advice for any new vegan (or nearly vegan) as well as the occasional noogie. Readers benefit from his experience as he covers the tried and true, including shopping tips, basic nutrition, what to cook, dining out, and explaining your ethics to family and spouses.

Bravo Erik for another fine addition to the vegan library.

 

 

 

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The blog Liivtoday.com ("Real Earth. Real questions. Real life") has posted an especially clever review of Earthlings. Perhaps it's something your non-vegan friends would appreciate:

“Earthlings” documentary a must-watch

 

"If you can watch the whole thing without thinking differently about the agony that permeates that fast-food burger, I’m not sure I want to know you."

 

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We are honored that Earthlings will be included in the first annual Blue Planet Film Festival, a four-day animal and environmental film fest and forum to raise mainstream awareness and motivate people to action on the most important issue of our time: saving the earth.

As part of the festival, numerous workshops and events are planned, including a release of rehabilitated penguins back into the wild, food demos, and even how to create a green roof. If you are in Southern California, please join us! (The festival is also seeking volunteers.)

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Last month at the Animal Rights Conference in Los Angeles, we caught up with Author Will Tuttle (The World Peace Diet), who spoke with us about his work and his feelings about Earthlings.

 

"What Earthlingsdoes, the great gift it gives our culture, is that it makes us aware of what's behind the curtain of our denial. It may be painful, we may be resistant, we may not want to see it, we don’t want to know, but once we do, then we have the power to transform our consciousness. We can begin to behave in new ways, go to a higher level where we’re not actually causing that kind of misery.”

Dr. Tuttle has also just written a fascinating piece on the cultural history of the movement for animal rights on the blog Crazy Sexy Life. Read part one here and part two here. 

"It’s important to understand that owning animals as property to be killed and eaten is the hidden and defining core of our culture, and that all of us were, and are, routinely indoctrinated into the mentality of domination, exclusion, reductionism, elitism, and disconnectedness required by the food practices of this culture."

Check out the video (and listen for how he’s shown Earthlings in Lawrence, Kansas):

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Recently we caught up with PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. We asked her to speak about Earthlings and share her advice on a vegan lifestyle from her new book The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights: Simple Acts of Kindness to Help Animals in Trouble.

Here's what she had to say: 

 

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SB 250, The Pet Responsibility Act, and AB 241, The Responsible Breeder Act, are some of the most important bills in Sacramento today.

SB 250 requires that dogs be spayed or neutered unless their owner/guardian obtains an unaltered dog license when they license their animal, and also requires that roaming cats be spayed and neutered by their owner/guardian.

SB 250 will dramatically increase the number of pets who are spayed and neutered, thus reducing shelter overpopulation by decreasing the numbers of accidental pet pregnancies. In Santa Cruz County, where a similar law was passed over 10 years ago, shelter impounds dropped by over 64 percent. You can read about their success here. Santa Cruz is so successful that they are now taking in animals from other shelters to help ease overcrowding in those areas.

The rest of the state is not so lucky. California shelters bring in approximately one million dogs and cats every year, and euthanize over half because there are not enough homes. Every dog born in California today has nearly a one in four chance of ultimately becoming homeless and dying in a shelter. Two-thirds of the cats entering California shelters are euthanized. And the numbers are getting worse every year. Meanwhile, California is in a budget crisis, yet it spends three hundred million dollars per year housing and killing these unwanted pets.

SB 250 will be voted on in the Assembly Appropriations Committee later in August, followed by the full Assembly vote, and then the Governor's desk.

AB 241, The Responsible Breeder Act, places limitations on cruel puppy mills by setting the number of unaltered animals anyone may own to a maximum of 50. While 50 unaltered pets may sound like a lot, in reality, puppy mills in California today can house up to 500 animals. They live in overcrowded, filthy, and inhumane conditions with inadequate shelter, no exercise or socialization, and no veterinary care. Many puppy mill breeding dogs live in concrete pens or on wire mesh and never touch the ground their entire life. For a detailed look at a recent puppy mill investigation in Palmdale, California, please see Last Chance for Animals’ Special Investigations Unit.

AB 241 will be voted on in the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 17th, followed by the full Senate vote, and then the Governor's desk.

Both of these bills have powerful opponents with deep pockets. Underground animal breeders who fear that new legislation will affect their unscrupulous businesses are joined by hunting groups, fur farmers and others who make their living off the backs of animals. These groups have the means to call, fax and visit legislators in person to complain against the bills.

If you live in California please visit www.YESonSB250.com and www.YESonAB241.com, fill out the easy support letters, and join the thousands of people working towards making our state a better place for pets. If you don’t live in California but know people who do, please send them this information and ask them to use the links to send letters to their legislators.

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Our dear friend Kathy Freston is a health and wellness expert and a New York Times best-selling author. Her most well known book, Quantum Wellness: A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Health and Happiness, explains that our lives are interconnected with all other life on the planet, and having “spiritual integrity” requires conscious eating in the form of a plant-based diet. Hermost recent book The Quantum Wellness Cleanse helps readers embrace a cruelty-free lifestyle kick-started by a 21-day cleanse. Kathy was applauded by vegans and animal lovers for helping Oprah Winfrey experiment with a vegan diet last year.

"You cannot explain to someone what an animal goes through in the way that Earthlings shows it. All you have to do is look and you'll see. It's a visceral experience. It's not pretty; it's terrible, actually, but it's something that just rips people open, and they go straightaway to a more conscious path."

Visit Kathy Freston's site here. 

 

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Dr. Jeffrey Moussaief Masson, author of "The Face on Your Plate" and other books on the sentience of animals, tells an embarrassing story about the time he almost saw "Earthlings."

Got a video to share? Post it in the comments below.

In addition to the trailer and director featurettes, our YouTube channel offers additional content as well as some of the staff's favorite videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/earthlingsthemovie

You can be the first on your block to see new videos by subscribing or friending us, and if you've got a video you'd like us to add to our favorites, let us know by posting the link in a comment (which requires a brief login).

Thanks for playing!

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Rory Freedman, author of the bestseller "Skinny Bitch" and the new "Skinny Bastard," spoke with us recently about why she buys Earthlings DVDs and gives them out.

"There's nobody who can watch Earthlings and not be profoundly changed. Once you see this movie, your life is going to be different."

 

 

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Kris Carr is an inspiring woman who beat a rare form of cancer on a plant-based diet, and chronicled her journey in an amazing film, Crazy Sexy Cancer, as well as several books. Today on her blog, Crazy SexyLife , she features an interview with Earthlings writer/director Shaun Monson. Shaun talks about his new film Unity, and has some strong words on diet. 

I don’t mean to be rude, but I want to be real: the only thing animal products do for health is deteriorate it.

 

Check out the interview here and pass it along to someone who needs to know!

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We will be there! Will you?

Admission to the exhibit hall is free, but to hear Shaun Monson speak on Producing/Airing Videos (producing and airing of TV documentaries and PSAs), you will need a day pass for Sunday July 19 His talk will be at 4:30 p.m.

Shaun will also make a special presentation Saturday July 18 at 2 p.m. including scenes from Earthlings and a preview of our new film Unity. 

For complete event details or to register, visit http://www.arconference.org

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Shaun Monson wrote a brilliant piece on the Animal Planet series Whale Wars that appeared in the Hufington Post in response to an editorial that called the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society "terrorists."

“After all, it is a curious terrorist organizationthat hasn't actually killed anybody,” Shaun wrote. He goes on to wonder if the Boston Tea Party would have been accused of "Eco-Terrorism."

You can see the full article here , and post a comment if you’re inclined.

Clicking on the link, posting a comment, and sharing the article with friends will show Huffington Post that its readers care about animal issues.

 

 

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We are delighted to recommend a new children’s book That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals written and illustrated by Ruby Roth. Ruby was inspired in part by Earthlings, and has created the first book for children to explain tough topics like factory farms and the disappearing rainforest in the context of a vegan diet.

“Whether it has gills, wings, whiskers or roots, every living being shares the will to live and grow. We are all earthlings.”

 

Read more about the book, and Ruby here.

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If you're in the Austin area, check out the 3rd annual "Revenge of the Buns" Veggie Dog Eating Contest at the Tiniest Bar in Texas, 817 W. 5th Street, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Sign up to compete here, and you could win fantastic prizes, including the wonderful Earthlings extended DVD edition. 

 

Merseyside Animal Rights recently screened Earthlings at FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) in Liverpool, England. It was the culmination of FACT's "Climate for Change" Exhibition. Merseyside’s Rhonda Moorhouse sent us her thoughts:

Eventhough the sudden arrival of the first good weather of the year kept some people away it was a success. We had colourful artwork and political posters with an animal rights theme on the walls. We had nine of the same poster (a picture of a beagle inside Huntingdon Life Sciences with the words, "They suffer until YOU stop it") to drive home the point that the film is not an end in itself but should be a prelude to action.

We took care to make available campaigning leaflets which corresponded to each of the five sections of the film – pets, food, entertainment, clothes and research – so that people could take immediate action in response to what they had just witnessed.

About thirty people attended, sitting or standing around the large, darkened auditorium. I was humbled to see that the audience included some elderly people: in particular, an elderly lady who had difficulty walking (she used two sticks) had made the effort to come. The large screen (about four metres by four metres) maximised the film's impact and we had the special extended version of the film so the director's featurettes set the film in context perfectly for the audience. The moment I clicked on the mouse to start the film was a moment of profound satisfaction and fulfillment for me. They all watched in complete silence, riveted to the screen. Alas, about six left before the end, obviously overcome with emotion, both men and women.

I think it was definitely worth doing and I learned much about putting on a screening by doing it. We have planted a seed that will grow; through our publicity scores of people in Liverpool now have heard of Earthlings who otherwise might not have. I am proud to have been the first to arrange a public screening of it in Liverpool.

As for myself, Earthlings has changed me even though I was already an activist. I knew nothing before I saw Earthlings. The scales have fallen from my eyes with regard to man's capacity for evil. I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther King in his book The Measure of a Man : 'The nature of man is dual; he is capable of great evil and great good.'

There is hope. It was man who built Auschwitz but it was also man who walked in and liberated it.

Society needs to change and it can change because it has changed before. The International Slavery Museum is here in Liverpool. It overlooks the George Dock where the slave ships docked for over a hundred years. Walking around that museum, one is aware that a revolution in consciousness has taken place; people used to think that trading and keeping slaves was OK but they no longer do. The same kind of revolution in thinking can be applied to the treatment of animals. Picking on animals is not right. It has got to stop. Earthlings made me realise I have to work harder, much harder, to achieve this. In the words of Heather Nicholson, who is at present serving an eleven-year prison sentence in relation to the campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences at HMP Bronzefield in England, even though she is completely innocent of any wrongdoing (even the judge agreed she had done nothing wrong): 'If we all pull together we can make a difference. Never stop fighting to stop animal abuse.'

A big THANK YOU to Shaun and the team for all your efforts. I look forward to working with again in the future.”

Thank you, Rhonda! We can’t wait to do it again.

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Earthlings is now available in audiobook format in the Earthlings store !

Narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, the Earthlings audiobook has been adapted from the original feature-length film by writer/filmmaker Shaun Monson. While the documentary includes graphic footage from puppy mills, factory farms, slaughterhouses, circuses, animal research facilities and other industrial animal production, the audiobook allows the listener to absorb the facts, statistics and information that served as the script’s central narrative thread.

“Releasing Earthlings as an audiobook allows us to present this sensitive issue in a way that educates its audience without alienating or overwhelming them. We understand that the film’s shocking images are not suited for all viewers, so the audiobook is ideal for anyone who has been hesitant to see the film, or as a way for animal activists or pet owners to introduce their friends and family to animal rights, vegan lifestyles and the exploitation of animals for profit.”

- Earthlings executive producer Babak Cyrus Razi

The Earthlings audiobook is available as an immediate download for $13.97 or preorder a two-CD set for $19.99.

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