Conference Synopsis: Conscious Eating will inform and empower our community on the true nature of sustainable food choices. Food is in our lives every day, but what are the most ethical, environmental and healthy choices to make? Are you sure you know? Experts in the field of sustainable agriculture and eating will answer your questions and help you understand why we need a truly stable global and local food system where we all have access to healthy food, where all are treated with compassion, and where all are well fed.

Location: University of California, Berkeley

Date: Saturday, February 18, 2012

ATTENTION: if you are coming from San Francisco, the Bay Bridge will be closed to westbound traffic the weekend of the conference. Please take BART to the Downtown Berkeley Station (www.bart.gov/stations/dbrk/) on Shattuck Ave. between Allston Way and Addison St. This station is a short 5 block walk from the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, the site of the conference.  

Registration: 8am

Program: 8:30am - 6pm

Conference Lecture Rooms: Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, 3rd floor- Pauley Ballroom

Registration: FREE for students with IDs. $10 all others

Food: Continental breakfast, Lunch for all participants, Dinner for speakers

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Conscious Eating Conference Schedule of Speakers
Saturday, February 18, 2012
University of California Berkeley Campus

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Conscious Eating Conference Presentations & Bios

Urban Chicken-Keeping: Problems and Recommendations
Presented by Karen Davis, PhD
9:00-9:50 am

In recent years, animal shelters and sanctuaries in urban and suburban areas have seen a dramatic increase in backyard chicken-keeping. As the popularity of raising backyard flocks in urban areas has grown, farm animal shelters have become inundated with calls to take in unwanted chickens. Karen Davis will discuss the pros and cons of keeping backyard chickens in urban areas, what chickens need for happiness and wellbeing, and suggestions if you are considering or already have a backyard flock.

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. Karen Davis was profiled in The Washington Post for her outstanding work on behalf of the birds. She maintains a sanctuary for chickens on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. www.upc-online.org.

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The Alternative to the Alternatives:
Veganism as a Response to Industrial Agriculture
Presented by James McWilliams, PhD
10:00-10:50 am

We are all well aware of the problems with factory farmed-animal products. But what about the alternatives? It's very common these days for concerned consumers to seek animal products from alternative--more sustainable and humane--systems of productions, or even to raise their own animals themselves. My presentation will explore the hidden ethical and environmental costs of these alternatives, arguing that as long as the act of eating animals is not actively stigmatized, factory farms will continue to be the dominant mode of production.

James McWilliams, PhD is the author of four books on food and agriculture, including A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America and, most recently, Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, and Forbes. He posts regular columns at the Atlantic.com and on his blog, eatingplants.org. He is a professor of history at Texas State University and lives in Austin, Texas. www.theatlantic.com/james-mcwilliams.

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Food Justice: Eating with a Conscience
Presented by lauren Ornelas
11:00-11:50 am

This presentation will explore the various ways in which individuals can have a positive impact on animals, workers and the environment. From farm workers in the fields of California to slavery in the chocolate industry, every food-related industry is laced with its own corporate greed. Ways in which every individual can help make a difference will be covered. Current inequities in our food system based on ethnicity and income will also be discussed.

lauren Ornelas is the founder/director of the all-volunteer Food Empowerment Project (foodispower.org), a vegan nonprofit seeking to create a more just world by helping consumers recognize the power of their food choices. She’s been active in the animal rights movement since 1987, has done numerous factory farm investigations, ran Viva!USA, and, with help from activists, got Trader Joe’s to stop selling duck meat. She is also the spark that got Whole Foods Market’s CEO to become a vegan. lauren is the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition’s Campaign Director. www.foodispower.org.

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Your Role in Global Depletion: New Food Choice Perspectives
from the book COMFORTABLY UNAWARE
Presented by Dr. Richard A. Oppenlander
2:00-2:50 pm

Dr. Oppenlander discusses the ways in which our food choices are affecting human health, the planet's health and the welfare of the animals, while discussing why sustainability initiatives would benefit from including food choice as a relevant topic in curbing global depletion. In this presentation, Dr. Oppenlander challenges the audience to rethink the way in which they view sustainable. He provides new scientific data about the rate at which our food choices are single-handedly contributing to the demise of our planet’s resources, while conveying viable new ways to change our current course by modifying our sustainability focus.

Dr. Richard Oppenlander is the author of Comfortably Unaware: Global Depletion and Food Choice Responsibility. Dr. Oppenlander is a sustainability and wellness advocate, writer, and speaker committed to improving the health of our planet. He brings an eclectic combination of experiences regarding this topic spanning the past 40 years. He is president and founder of an organic vegan food production and education business, an animal rescue operation, and has given hundreds of lectures, presentations, and open discussions on the topic of food choice. Dr. Oppenlander and his wife Jill have also raised three children, all of whom are athletes, on a purely plant-based diet and lifestyle. www.comfortablyunaware.com.

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Animal-Free Urban Farming: Compassion for All
Presented by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and Ian Elwood
3:00-3:50 pm

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and Ian Elwood will talk about the work they are doing to advocate for a healthful, humane, and sustainable urban farming policy. They will address issues that face the city in creating a food policy that will encourage residents to grow foods that are healthful to eat, while simultaneously having the least negative impacts on people, animals, environment and the city of Oakland.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is an award-winning author of five books, including the bestselling The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan, Vegan’s Daily Companion, and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge. Colleen Patrick-Goudreau has guided people to becoming and staying vegan for over 12 years through sold-out cooking classes, bestselling books, inspiring lectures, engaging videos, and her immensely popular audio podcast, “Vegetarian Food for Thought.” Using her unique blend of passion, humor, and common sense, she empowers and inspires people to live according to their own values of compassion and wellness. She also contributes to National Public Radio and The Christian Science Monitor, and has appeared on The Food Network and PBS. www.compassionatecooks.com.

Ian Elwood works to advocate for animals by reforming social and economic systems that contribute to the suffering of domesticated and free-roaming animals. He specializes in media and communications technology as they relate to nonprofit, social justice and advocacy work. He has worked for environmental and social justice nonprofits such as International Rivers, CorpWatch and Media Alliance. He is co-founder of Neighbors Opposed to Backyard Slaughter, an organization founded to help cities achieve food security while protecting animals, environment and community. www.noslaughter.org.

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Crocodile Tears: Compassionate Carnivores and Rise of Happy Meat
Presented by Vasile Stanescu
4:00-4:50 pm

There is a new genre of texts which argue for “local” and “humane” farms in terms of helping both the environment and protecting the animals. I critically engage with these so-called “compassionate carnivores” and their new arguments for “humane” or “happy” meat and document that the rise of small-scale farms can never serve as a truly effective strategy to improve the lives of animals. Instead, I suggest, those concerned with suffering of animals should join with animal rights activists to effect positive change.

Vasile Stanescu is PhD candidate at Stanford University in the Program of Modern Thought and Literature. He serves as Co-Senior Editor of the Critical Animal Studies Book Series published by Rodopi Press and as a co-editor for the Journal for Critical Animal Studies. Stanescu has presented at twenty-five academic conferences, has nine publications, and has received eighteen awards. In 2011, Stanescu received a grant from the Culture and Animals Foundation to help fund his current research on the topic of “locavorism” and environmentalism. www.stanford.edu/dept/MTL/cgi-bin/drupal/person/vasile-stanescu.

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CLOSING PANEL / Q & A. All Speakers. Hope Bohanec, Facilitator.
5:00-6:00 pm

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