Working in the pharmaceutical industry, JoAnn Farb saw good people enabling harmful things. Although most of us think we’d have spoken out against culturally sanctioned injustices of the past that are so obvious to us today, we underestimate how susceptible we may be to social pressure, and how it can keep us from even seeing what is harmful. By comparing our cultural norms to past oppressive mindsets, we are less likely to be the people that future generations will ask, "Why didn't they do something?”

JoAnn Farb is a former microbiologist with a global pharmaceutical company, a nutrition educator, the mother of two lifelong vegan daughters and the author of Compassionate Souls -- Raising the Next Generation to Change the World. JoAnn is working on her third book, Gluten – The Science that Explains the Popularity of Paleo, Low-Carb and Keto, which answers why some people fail to thrive on plant-based diets, and how those who already avoid gluten can best reduce their future risk of chronic disease. She has a website and blog at www.JoAnnFarb.com.

What if scientists could create chickens and other farmed animals whose “adjustment” to industrial confinement consisted in their inability to experience their own existence? As long as they don’t “feel” anything, is this ethical? What if the chicken’s brain could be scientifically expunged by, say, genetically removing the chicken’s cerebral cortex? Some researchers and animal welfarists equate removing brain, sensation, and body parts of factory-farmed animals with the “removal of suffering.” I will examine this claim and present my own opinion of the ethics of evisceration as an animal “welfare” advantage.

Karen Davis, PhD is the president and founder of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization and sanctuary for chickens in Virginia that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl. Karen is the author of More Than A Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality; Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry; and The Holocaust and the Henmaid's Tale: A Case for Comparing Atrocities. She has been inducted into the National Animal Rights Hall of Fame for Outstanding Contributions to Animal Liberation.

Bruce Friedrich is executive director of The Good Food Institute (GFI), a nonprofit organization that promotes innovative alternatives to industrially produced animal products. Bruce has penned opinion pieces for USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, 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. He has coauthored two books, contributed chapters to six books, and authored seven law review articles. Bruce graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law and Phi Beta Kappa from Grinnell College. He also holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Economics.

Leah Garces is the president of Mercy For Animals, founder of Compassion in World Farming USA, and author of the forthcoming book GRILLED: Turning adversaries to allies in the fight to change the chicken industry. She is an animal advocate who has partnered with some of the largest food companies in the world with a mission to end the exploitation of animals for food. Her work has been featured in many national and international media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Buzzfeed, Vice Magazine, and The Chicago Tribune among others. She’s a contributing author to The Huffington Post and Food Safety News. Leah serves on the advisory board of Encompass and Seattle Food Tech. She is also the mom of three incredible kids.

Vasile Stanescu received his PhD in the program of Modern Thought and Literature (MTL) at Stanford University. He is currently Assistant Professor of Communication at Mercer University. His current research interests include locavorism, humane meat, invasive species, the linkages between food and colonialism, and the intersection between environmentalism and animal studies. Vasile is co-senior editor of the Critical Animal Studies book series published by Rodopi/Brill and the former co-editor of the Journal for Critical Animal Studies. He is the author of over 20 peer-reviewed publications on critical animal studies, and his research has been recognized by The Woods Institute for the Environment, Minding Animals International, The Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the Culture and Animals Foundation, among others.

John Sanbonmatsu, PhD is associate professor of philosophy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. John's work in critical animal studies probes the nature of speciesism as a mode of production (particularly as it intersects with capitalism). His articles and essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, and other venues. In addition, he is the editor of the book, Critical Theory and Animal Liberation (2014), and author of The Postmodern Prince (2004). At present, he is at work on a new book, The Omnivore's Deception, about the ecological crisis, the myth of humane meat, and the troubling nature of our relations with other animals.