Humane Planet: Thought Leaders for a Sustainable World

Sep 19

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Speaker series inspired and sponsored by ZOOM Marketing

ZOOM joined forces with Palo Alto Humane Society and Sweet Farm to create The Humane Planet Speaker Series: Thought Leaders for a Sustainable World. The series features inspirational speakers—entrepreneurs, scientists, politicians and thought leaders—who are exploring new ways to create a more sustainable and compassionate world with positive impacts on animals, plants and the planet.

What’s the connection between ZOOM and the speaker series? Rethinking the food we eat and creating a more sustainable food system is one of the biggest positioning challenges facing humanity and ZOOM loves mongo positioning challenges!

Why is it such a big challenge?

Most people focus on fossil fuels as the culprit in the fight to save our planet from climate change, pollution, deforestation and water risk.

Global meat production is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all trains, cars and airplanes in the world combined
About one-third of the world’s water consumption is for producing animal products
You can reduce your carbon footprint by 73% by not eating meat and dairy
79% of deforested land in the Amazon is used to feed livestock

Most people don’t consider a plant-based diet until they’re sick.

Heart disease is the leading cause in the US, but is practically nonexistent in regions of the world who don’t consume the Standard American Diet (SAD)
A low fat whole food plant-based diet is the only diet that has been shown to arrest and reverse artherosclerotic plaques in the heart arteries, responsible for causing heart attacks
A study of people under the age of 65, who eat 20% or more of their calories from animal protein, had a 400% increase in cancer and a 500% increase in Type 2 diabetes

95% of Americans are not getting the minimal recommended amount of fiber. The single greatest predictor of a healthy gut microbiome is the diversity of plants within our diet
We can prevent 80% of chronic disease with a whole food plant-based diet
The rate of Alzheimer's is up 70% in the last decade. 90% of dementias can be prevented with a plant-based diet. Only 3% of Alzheimer’s cases are genetic

We know animals endure horrors in our factory farm system, but it’s too overwhelming to think about.

80 billion land animals are raised and killed for food in the world each year

99% of animals used for food in the US are raised in factory farms
COVID-19 is the dry run we needed, the fire drill to wake us from our complacency to reform the food system before it's too late. When we overcrowd thousands of animals in their own waste, it's a breeding ground for disease
Most food labels do not have legal definitions and the accuracy of the claims is not verified, such as humanely raised, free range, natural, naturally raised, kosher, no added hormones, USDA process certified, vegetarian-fed

So, while the challenge is enormous and sometimes overwhelming, we believe in the power of ideas to inspire, innovate and make a difference.

Some of the brightest thinkers and doers in the world are here in Silicon Valley. There is no better cabal of people to invent and deliver the technology and breakthrough innovations required to achieve a sustainable planet. This series is about inspiring them, us and the extended community.

Want to join our speaker series?

Events are free to the public and held online or in Silicon Valley or New York. Please click below if you’re interested in getting involved or subscribing to our Humane Planet emails.

Inspiring a humane planet

ZOOM co-CEO Ellie Victor with her husky-shepherd rescue, Sheba

Since childhood, our co-CEO Ellie Victor has recognized animals as sentient creatures. Her first awareness of animals suffering for our food system was witnessing fish flopping and gasping for breath in fishermen’s buckets on the docks of her Florida home. At 16, she became a vegetarian, at a time less than 4% of Americans chose this lifestyle and even fewer stuck to it for decades.

Ellie believes her empathy for animals is related to her skill at positioning. Both come from appreciating others and a deep desire to see what’s unique and special in each of us. Anyone who has bonded with a dog, cat, horse, or wild animal knows the joy of connecting with another species comes from a willingness to step into their world.

Seeking ways to marry her vision for a humane planet with her love of positioning, Ellie suggested to the Palo Alto Humane Society her idea for the speaker series to explore new ways of creating a more sustainable and compassionate world.

The entire ZOOM team is honored to participate in this speaker series partnering with The Palo Alto Humane Society and Sweet Farm. We’re all fired up, please join us!

Learn more about animals and the planet by picking up one of Ellie’s book picks.

About Palo Alto Humane Society
The Palo Alto Humane Society is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit, charitable, volunteer-supported organization. One of the few humane societies nationwide with no animal shelter, we work to keep animals out of the shelter through humane programs in intervention, advocacy, and education. For a century, our mission has been to alleviate the suffering of animals, increase public sensitivity to animal issues, and elevate the status of animals in our society.

About Sweet Farm
Sweet Farm is the first non-profit sanctuary in the world to address the global climate impacts of factory farming across animals, plants, and the planet. Our food web is incredibly complicated and it’s impossible to move forward without first understanding how these pieces are connected. By linking climate education, veganic agriculture, farm-animal rescue, and the technology that is sustainably disrupting food and agriculture production—Sweet Farm is redefining what it means to be a sanctuary.

About ZOOM Marketing
ZOOM Marketing is Silicon Valley’s first and longest-lasting agency focused on brand positioning. Our clients gain leadership through data-driven positioning that builds and differentiates category leaders. ZOOM’s clients are the positioning leaders in their market, including Snowflake, Databricks, ThoughtSpot, FloQast and Infoblox.