From death's door to saving lives: Friend of Show Zach Skow joins us!

Burgers, Bacon, or Beans: Vegan or Carnivore, can you justify what you eat?

Welcome back to your favorite ethical lifestyle podcast, Know it All with Peggy Bunker.  "Are you a vegan?" Wow, what a loaded question.  It’s similar to "do you smoke?" or "do you drink?"  or even "do you NOT drink?!"  In fact to many people, “vegan” is practically a dirty word.  These days there’s plenty of social judgement around people’s personal choices, and for whatever reason NOT eating meat can really annoy meat-eaters  BUT, the tides are turning as awareness about factory farming, our physical health, and the destruction of our lands continue to dominate headlines.  Shoppers understand that their dollar has power, and they are demanding change.  The era of ruthless, violent and destructive farming is now facing its biggest nemesis yet: consumer awareness.  Consumers are learning what their dollars are supporting and they don't want to be a part of it anymore.  They don't want their money to support animal torture, destroyed waterways, or polluted air. They want to know their food was raised organically.  Sustainably.  Without salmonella, toxic pesticides, or e. Coli. Shoppers are willing to pay for sound mind and conscience, and  the suppliers know it.   So what about you?  Are you only buying responsibly-raised foods? What are your standards for what you put in your mouth, your kids’ mouths?  Have you decided?  This quick listen will have you thinking about the main factors to consider before you spend a dollar on food - is that dollar supporting your values........or betraying them? It’s a good idea to know where you fall….. be it vegan, carnivore, or somewhere in between.  A conscientious consumer is a smart consumer.  Have a thought or suggestion? - Leave us a comment wherever you're watching or listening! And please rate and review our show as well so that more people can know it all too. Have your own story about your conscious consumerism journey? Email us at knowitall@peggybunker.com [knowitall@peggybunker.com]  and tell us about some of your favorite products and life hacks to support ethical consumerism.

Taking Direct Action with Cassie King

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." This quote by famed psychologist Wayne Dyer is at the heart of the animal rights movement....how can we stop viewing animals - thinking, feeling animals that are similar to ourselves - as products for our use? In a society that actively inflicts torturous pain and suffering on billions of animals per year so that we can eat them, one fact is true: we don't want to know about it. Cassie King, and her incredible colleagues at DxE, has devoted her life to bringing the truth to light.....for the safety of the animals, the earth, and us, the consumers. She is soft-spoken, but don't misjudge - King is a complete badass. Please meet our guest, Cassie King of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE).

Defending Beef with Nicolette Hahn Niman

Is it actually possible to eat meat in an ethical way? According to Nicolette Hahn Niman, it most definitely is. After living as a vegetarian for 33 years, Nicolette fell in love with a rancher by the name of Bill Niman and discovered a way to raise animals responsibly and ethically. She is a wealth of information about the history of factory farming and how we got here, and her perspective is vital to this issue. Because if people are going to continue to eat meat, shouldn't we make sure that we are raising animals responsibly and humanely? If you want to learn more about Nicolette's perspective and methodology, she has written some incredible books and you can find the links to them below. Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms https://www.harpercollins.com/products/righteous-porkchop-nicolette-hahn-niman?variant=32207905685538 Defending Beef: The Ecological and Nutritional Case for Meat https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/defending-beef-pb/ On a Lighter Note: To find out more about Owamni Restaurant, check out their website https://owamni.com/

Escaping Factory Farming: A Farmer's Story with Tanner Faaborg and Megan Hunter

It's easy to point the blame at factory "farmers" for the way the animals are treated.....but once we learn their backstory, you realize the farmers are victims, too. Indebted to large meat producers who create cycles of debt with madatory farm upgrades, former family farmers can find themselves literally trapped like the animals in their sheds. There is a way out. Meet former hog-now-mushroom farmer Tanner Faaborg and Trans"farm"ation specialist Megan Hunter, who teaches factory farmers how to escape, and become proud of their farms again. It can be done!

From death's door to saving lives: Friend of Show Zach Skow joins us!

Zach Skow knows what it's like to be at rock bottom. Diagnosed in his twenties with end-stage liver disease and turning yellow due to liver failure, Zach was given less than 90 days to live. Surrounding him was his support system, his beloved dogs, particularly his dog Marley. Seeing the love in their eyes, Zach decided to pull himself out of addiciton, and was able to turn around his liver disease in six months. Recognizing he couldn't have done it without his dogs, he began to volunteer at animal shelters, rescuing dogs about to be euthanized. After a friend, recently released from prison, asked to adopt one of the the dogs, Zach realized the life-saving capacity that dogs bring their owners. He created the Pawsitive Change program in 2016, pairing incarcerated men with death-row dogs about to be put down, and created a new breed of ex-convicts: ones that don't go back. As of 2025, Zach has saved thousands of dogs and helped stabilize the lives of hundreds of formerly incarcerated Pawsitive Change students. Zach has been profiled in Oprah's O Magazine, appeared on Ellen and numerous other TV shows, and is a recipient of the American Red Cross Real Hero award.