The panelists from Meaty Issues, sponsored by The Berry Good Foundation, joined Joe and guest host, Michelle Lerach, for a passionate dialogue with diverse perspectives examining the environmental, human health and animal welfare issues related to America’s meat-eating habit.
Dr. Richard A. Oppenlander, Founder/President, Inspire Awareness Now, Author, Food Choice and Sustainability & Comfortably Unaware, Featured in the documentary Cowspiracy

Dr. Oppenlander is a consultant and researcher whose award-winning book, “Comfortably Unaware”, has been endorsed as a “must read” by Ellen DeGeneres, Dr. Jane Goodall, and Dr. Neal Barnard, among many others. Dr. Oppenlander also serves as an advisor to municipalities in the U.S. and to world hunger projects that are designing programs from his model of multidimensional sustainability. Dr. Oppenlander’s main objective within both his writing and speaking is to raise the level of awareness and accuracy of information as it pertains to the critical topic of a plant-based diet being the best and most sustainable option for our bodies, the animals, and the earth.

Kari Hamerschlag, Sr. Program Manager, Friends of the Earth, Author, Meateater’s Guide to Climate Change and Health, Contributing author, Food Tank, Civil Eats

Kari Hamerschlag is a senior program manager with Friends of the Earth’s food and technology program, based in Berkeley, California. Kari carries out research and implements market and policy campaigns aimed at reforming animal agriculture, protecting pollinators and promoting sustainable, fair, healthy and resilient food and farming systems.

David Bronner, CEO, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Activist, Regenetarian, BA in Biology, Harvard University

David Bronner is Cosmic Engagement Officer (CEO) of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, the top-selling brand of natural soaps in North America. He is a grandson of company founder, Emanuel Bronner, and a fifth-generation soap maker. Under David and his brother Michael’s leadership, the brand has grown from $4 million in annual revenues in 1998 to over $65 million in annual revenues in 2013.
David and Michael established Dr. Bronner’s as a trendsetter in the organic body care industry by becoming one of the first brands to certify its soaps, lotions, and balms under the USDA National Organic Program in 2003 — marking the beginning of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps’ issue-oriented activism in the natural products marketplace.

Corinne Bush, Executive VP, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Board Member, American College of Nutrition, Contributing author, Obesity, Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, and Prevention

Corinne Bush, MS, CNS is an integrative nutritionist in practice in Bedminster, New Jersey. Her mission to transform complex, chronic disease through nutrition is realized through her work in clinical practice and as a leader in key organizations. Corinne is the Executive Vice President of the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists, the foremost credentialing body for advanced nutrition professionals. She serves on the Board of Directors of the American College of Nutrition, a charitable organization focused on stimulating nutrition research and publication, elevating nutrition knowledge among clinicians and researchers, and providing practical guidance on clinical nutrition.

Leslie Durso, Vegan Chef, Healthy Living Educator, Author, Media personality

Southern California native, Actress, Vegan Chef, Eco‐Lifestylist Leslie Durso represents a fresher plant‐based movement that isn’t sacrificing style for sustainability. A practicing vegetarian since eight years old, this So-Cal native shares her farm‐to‐stylish‐table recipes and passion for the whole food daily on lesliedurso.com, and in live appearances as Veggie Leslie has appeared on Food Network, Discovery Channel, Hallmark Channel, Everyday Health and Mother Nature Network, determined to inspire life‐long eating habits and bridge the gap between the meaties and the meatless.

Dr. Aaron Gross, Founder/CEO, Farm Forward/JIFA , Assoc. Professor of Theology, USD, Author, The Question of the Animal and Religion: Theoretical Stakes, Practical Implications

Dr. Gross has played a leadership role in a wide variety of national and international farmed animal welfare campaigns in the Americas, India, and the Middle East since the mid-1990s. While collaborating with novelist Jonathan Safran Foer on Foer’s internationally best-selling critique of industrial farming, “Eating Animals”, Gross saw the need for an organization devoted entirely to ending factory farming and creating humane and sustainable alternatives to it. As a result, he incorporated Farm Forward in 2007. Gross also serves as a tenured Associate Professor at the University of San Diego where he teaches courses on animals and religion, food and religion, and modern Jewish thought. He has authored two scholarly books and numerous articles dealing with animal and food ethics from both religious and secular perspectives, including his critically acclaimed “The Question of the Animal and Religion: Theoretical Stakes, Practical Implications”. Gross serves as Vice President of the Society for Jewish Ethics and serves on the Faith Advisory Council of the Humane Society of the United States.

Kara Wentworth, Ph.D., UCSD: politics of inequality and food systems in the US, Researcher, SSPAD: urban soil testing & agriculture, Anthropologist, documenting community gardens, soil mapping & small slaughterhouses

Kara Wentworth received her Ph.D. in Communication and Science Studies at UC San Diego. Her research is focused on the politics of inequality and food systems in the U.S. As a researcher with UC San Diego’s new Center for Sustainability Science Planning and Design “SSPAD”, Kara works alongside scientists, social scientists, and community organizers on urban soil testing and agriculture projects. She works as an anthropologist, documenting the work in a variety of sites including community gardens, scientific laboratories, neighborhood soil mapping, and over the last six years, small slaughterhouses.

Jack Ford, Owner, Taj Farms, Valley Center, Farmer, rancher, cheese-maker, food activist, Berry Good Food Academy

Jack Ford, owner/rancher of Taj Farms http://www.tajfarms.net/TAJ_FARMS/Welcome.html and Ranch Coordinator for the Berry Good Food Foundation. Over the last 10 years, Ford has raised sheep, goats, poultry, and pigs on his acreage in Valley Center, using food from the farm or his neighbors, and treating his animals with respect. “Every living thing deserves a quality of life and death,” he says.
Ford’s meat is top quality. And San Diegans can’t buy it at any retail outlet. In fact, San Diegans can’t really buy much locally raised meat at all. Why? In order to sell meat retail, ranchers must have their animals slaughtered at a USDA-approved facility. San Diego doesn’t have one. The closest is in Riverside.

Uma Valeti, Co-Founder/CEO, Memphis Meats, A cardiologist by training Uma believes that meat is safe and sustainable, Early Board member of New Harvest

Uma Valeti is CEO and co-founder of Memphis Meats, a Bay Area cultured meat company that is laser focused on advancing the commercial viability of meat farmed directly from real meat cells. A cardiologist by training, Uma believes that meat that is safe and sustainable should be good for the body and the soul. Uma trained at the Mayo Clinic and was one of the early Board members of New Harvest, a non-profit dedicated to advancing cellular agriculture research and mainstream adoption of cultured meat. He has extensive business experience and is an investor in a variety of food and tech companies. In addition to his many contributions in health sciences, he wants his biggest contribution to be leading the development of a profitable and a world-positive future food system.

Bruce Friedrich

Bruce Friedrich is executive director of The Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit organization that promotes market-based and technological solutions to the problems of animal product consumption.

Bruce’s articles appear regularly in the Huffington Post, and he has penned opinion pieces for USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and many other publications. Bruce is a popular speaker on college campuses and has presented repeatedly at most of the nation’s top universities, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. Bruce co-authored one book, contributed chapters to four books, and authored six law review articles.

Listen to a podcast of Meaty Issues Panelists’ interview!
Listen to a podcast of Dr. Richard A. Oppenlander, Kari Hamerschlag and David Bronner’s interview!
Listen to a podcast of Leslie Durso and Corinne Bush’s interview!
Listen to a podcast of Dr. Aaron Gross, Kara Wentworth and Jack Ford’s interview!
Listen to a podcast of Leslie Durso, Dr. Uma Valeti and Bruce Friedrich’s interview!