May 4, 2015
UW lecturer joins Farm Sanctuary president for May 8 talk on ethics of eating meat
Bill Clinton and Prince have embraced it, as have Moby, Ellen DeGeneres and Alec Baldwin.
Veganism has moved from the foodie fringes into the mainstream in recent years, as celebrities and others are adopting a plant-based diet over concerns about health, animal welfare and the environment. Vegan celebrity chefs, meat-free products in grocery stores and a proliferation of innovative new restaurants boasting cruelty-free cuisine have helped broaden veganism’s appeal.
Katie Gillespie
UW lecturer Katie Gillespie will join Farm Sanctuary co-founder Gene Baur at Town Hall in Seattle May 8 for a discussion about the ethical and environmental impacts of eating animals. The two, both vegans, will share lessons they’ve learned about animal rights and the value of respecting nature.
Gillespie is a lecturer in the UW’s geography department, Honors Program and Comparative History of Ideas program and co-organizes the UW-based Critical Animal Studies Working Group.
Her upcoming book “The Cow with Ear Tag #1389,” slated for publication by the University of Chicago Press next year, stems from Gillespie’s dissertation research into the lives of cows in the Pacific Northwest dairy industry. An essay about the cow in the title was published online last year (warning: it’s not an easy read).
Baur is the president of Farm Sanctuary, a New York-based organization he co-founded in 1986 to combat factory farming and raise awareness about animal rights. The organization runs sanctuaries in New York and California for rescued farm animals and advocates for policy changes around factory farming. Called “the conscience of the food movement” by Time magazine, Baur is the author of “Living the Farm Sanctuary Life.”
Gillespie and Baur’s talk starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 8. Tickets are $5 and available online.
