- [Narrator] This week,
Lizzo Nick's vegan chicken
and biscuits, Hasan
Minhaj exposes big meat,
and Billie Eilish supports
Black Lives Matter.
This is LIVEKINDLY News.
Remember to hit the Subscribe button,
click the bell icon to
turn on notifications
and leave your comments below.
Patriot Act host Hasan Minhaj
recently exposed big meat.
He explained how six companies
control the majority of
the US meat industry.
- Coronavirus outbreaks at meat plants
are causing historic
disruptions to supply chains.
- [Narrator] In early May,
18% of Wendy's restaurants
were unable to serve hamburgers.
- [Reporter] Where's the beef?
Wendy's made that slogan
famous back in the 1980s,
but now they're having trouble
answering the question.
- [Narrator] Major
retailers Costco and Kroger
also anticipated meat shortages
and placed limits on meat purchases.
- They're like: Attention customers.
During these difficult times,
Costco will no longer be selling
our kiddie pool of ground beef.
Our deepest apologies.
- [Narrator] Minhaj
said, The New York Times
published a full page ad by Tyson Foods,
the world's second-largest processor
of chicken, beef and pork,
warning that the food
supply chain is breaking.
These disruptions are happening
because six companies control two-thirds
of the US meat and poultry sales.
- All these brands are
actually just subsidiaries
of six companies: Tyson,
Cargill, Smithfield,
National Beef, Hormel, and JBS.
- [Narrator] In the Reagan era,
many smaller meat companies merged
into corporations in
the name of efficiency.
This efficiency is what allowed COVID-19
to spread so quickly through
meat processing plants,
where workers stand shoulder-to-shoulder
to meet production demands.
- This isn't just a part
of their business model.
It is their business model.
Efficiency depends on workers
being packed on the line.
Meat plants were basically destined
to become COVID hotspots.
- [Narrator] The coronavirus
pandemic has also contributed
to a major surge in US vegan
food sales due to panic buying.
According to data from the
Plant Based Foods Association,
a trade organization that represents
top vegan food producers,
and retail analytics firm Spins,
in the 16 weeks leading up to April 19th,
sales of plant-based
meats, cheeses, tempeh
and tofu outpaced total food sales.
Compared with the same period in 2019,
vegan food sales jumped 90%.
Plant-based meat sales were 50% higher
than meat sales during the
peak panic buying period.
For the four weeks following,
animal-based meat sales declined,
but sales of plant-based
meat grew at a rate of 61%.
Dairy-free cheese sales were
also up 95% compared with 2019,
during the peak panic-buying period.
In the four weeks
following, they were up 54%.
Animal rights activists
have published a map
revealing the locations of
more than 27,000 factory farms.
This includes 5,812 Farms
identified via satellite,
many of which previously did
not appear on public records.
The map, known as Project Counterglow,
aims to assist activists and investigators
by providing an overview of the
scale of animal agriculture.
Project Counterglow users
can also attach photos
and videos documenting animal
cruelty at specific locations,
as well as pin new
factory farms to the map.
The project encourages activists
to document health and safety violations,
as well as animal welfare violations.
Supporters of the investigations claim
that they demand accountability
in an industry plagued
by human rights and
animal rights violations.
Three-time Grammy Award winner
Lizzo is cooking vegan on TikTok.
The "Juice" singer shared a
few soul-inspired recipes,
including biscuits stuffed
with vegan sausages,
and oyster mushroom fried chicken,
drenched in just vegan egg and flour.
- [Lizzo] Bow, boo, boo, boo.
After everything came
out, it tasted delicious.
Listen to this crunch, boy, stop.
(chicken crunches)
- [Narrator] This wasn't
Lizzo's first time
bringing the vegan spotlight to TikTok.
She recently shared
recipes to the platform
for vegan Jamaican beef patties
and fried chicken sandwiches.
- [Lizzo] So I wanted some
vegan Jamaican patties.
Here we go.
These are the ingredients I'm gonna use.
I'm want y'all to see all my seasonings.
So, (grunts) you know,
(chuckles) adds the flavor.
- [Narrator] Lizzo says in the video.
- [Lizzo] Hey, so I'm eating my feelings
because the world
continues to let me down.
- [Narrator] She started her
recording career in Minnesota,
where the recent death
of an unarmed black man,
George Floyd, has led
to nationwide protests.
Coming up, Billie Eilish explains
why All Lives Matter is racist.
Six-time Formula One
champion Lewis Hamilton
is also speaking out amid the
Black Lives Matter protests,
he applauded the destruction
of a UK slave trader statue.
Hamilton shared a video on
Instagram originally posted
by civil rights activist Shaun King.
He wrote: I do not condone
violence or criminal acts,
but you have had plenty of time
to do this yourselves and haven't.
Power to the people.
Colston was a white slave
trader in the 17th century.
The protesters then rolled the
statue into Bristol Harbor.
King wrote on Instagram:
Edward Colston was a monster
who bought, sold and traded
Africans, human beings,
and forced them into
slavery until they died.
Nobody who did this should be honored.
It was and is terrorism.
Now, then, he never
should have had a statue.
- A lot of emotion and
hatred that has been built up
inside of us, we've
internalized for years.
That coming down today
hopefully signifies change.
- [Narrator] Vegan musician Billie Eilish
has also expressed her support
for the Black Lives Matter movement.
She took to Instagram
to address the problematic
phrase, all lives matter.
She said: If I hear one
more white person say
all lives matter one more (beep) time,
I'm going to lose my (beep) mind.
No one is saying your life doesn't matter,
no one is saying your life is not hard.
No one is saying literally
anything about you.
Los Angeles vegan restaurant,
Nic's On Beverly, is paying
homage to the Black Lives
Matter movement with a mural.
The plant-based eatery had the names
of nearly 100 black people
killed by police painted
on the side of its building.
The mural also features a
black star with a portrait
of George Floyd painted in its center.
Constantin Lefou, founder of
the apparel brand Vegan Club
and one of the mural's painters,
shared a video on Instagram
along with fellow painter Elisa Yarnell.
He captured the post, "Zero
sleep, red-flag heat wave
"and wind blowing off the
stencils, all worth it."
Restaurateur Nic Adler, the
owner of Nic's on Beverly,
took to the restaurant's
Instagram to denounce racism.
Adler revealed the restaurant's
Operations Manager,
Stephane Bombet, was no longer associated
with the restaurant.
This came after a photo of him
wearing blackface surface from 2011.
Adler wrote: Racism of
any kind is not tolerated.
We believe strongly in
inclusion and respect for all,
and apologize for any hurt
his actions may have caused.
We stand firmly with the
black community in the fight
for long-term systemic
change, justice and equity.
Coming up, adidas turns two
of its iconic sneakers vegan.
In order to protect pangolins,
China has updated the official
list of ingredients approved
for use in traditional Chinese medicine.
It no longer includes pangolin scales.
- [Reporter] The move came after China
upgraded the protection of the pangolin
to that of first-class protected animals
on par with species like
the giant panda on Friday,
as part of a crackdown on wildlife trade
following the coronavirus pandemic.
- [Narrator] Animal
Protection groups have praised
these decisions, which
could drastically reduce
trade in pangolin.
The scaly anteater is the
world's most trafficked animal
and international law
protects all eight species.
The International Union for
the Conservation of Nature
lists three out of four
species native to Asia
as critically endangered.
Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General
of the China Biodiversity Conservation
and Green Development
Foundation told The Guardian,
"I am very encouraged."
Jinfeng has long campaigned
for improved protection
of pangolins, and against the use
of their scales in medicine.
"Our continuous efforts for several years
"have not been in vain."
Steve Blake, the Chief Representative
of WildAid in Beijing has also pushed
for improved protection for the pangolin.
Blake told The Guardian,
"We highly applaud this
announcement made in recognition
"of the need to protect
critically endangered pangolins."
Europe's greenhouse gas emissions
from energy production are plunging
as countries pivot from
coal to renewables.
By 2030, 13 EU countries
will be coal-free.
The move toward more sustainable forms
of energy has seen emissions drop.
According to a recent report
from the watchdog group,
the European Environment
Agency, EU member states
and the UK reduced overall
GHGs in 2018 by 2.1%.
The agency attributes this
to a nearly 50-million-ton
reduction in coal burning.
Two countries have committed
to going coal-free this year so far.
Austria shut down its last
coal power plant in April.
One week later, Sweden closed
its last coal power plant,
two years ahead of schedule.
Exergy AB, which operated
the Stockholm-based plant,
said in a statement, "Our
goal is for all our production
"to come from renewable
or recycled energy."
adidas has released new versions
of two of its iconic shoes,
the revamped Samba and
Continental 80 designs
are now made with vegan materials.
The two sneakers are part
of the brand's Our Icons Go Vegan range.
The shoes have the same look
and feel as the originals,
but are made with recycled polyester
instead of animal-based materials.
- [Man] For this particular
shoe, you have an EVA midsole,
and it's actually
encased for the most part
in the rubber cupsole,
it's not a full-on cupsole
but it's cupped in the heel and forefoot.
- [Narrator] The Continental 80's midsole
includes an algae-based EVA foam.
According to adidas,
this foam helps to clean
around 30 liters of polluted lake water
through the production process.
The cupsole is made
with 90% natural rubber
and 10% waste rubber.
Each of the new designs
features an embossed patch,
with the words adidas Originals Vegan.
adidas also teamed up with Allbirds
to design and produce the
world's most sustainable shoe.
The brands aim to use
innovative manufacturing
and supply-chain processes
to create a low-impact,
high-performance sneaker.
adidas is known for its
stringent performance standards
for its athletic shoes,
while Allbirds uses a unique
lifecycle assessment tool
to measures its end-to-end
carbon emissions.
When combined, the companies'
respective production methods
will accurately measure both the impact
and performance of their new sports shoe.
That's it for today.
What do you think about
China removing pangolins
from the traditional medicine list?
What do you think
about Billie Eilish's
response to all lives matter?
Let us know in the comments below.
Remember to subscribe and
hit the notification bell.
We'll see you again next
week for LIVEKINDLY news.
