VP#73: The Weight of Empathy with Vegan World-Wanderer & Author Lucas Spiegel: The Lifelong Vegan Challenge of Staying Open-Hearted in World Rife with Animal Suffering

What happens when you leave everything and everyone you know behind, take a one-way flight across the ocean, and continue by foot, train, bus, rickshaw, motorbike, and ferry, until you’ve circled the Earth? That’s what Lucas Spiegel decided to find out in early 2016. What started out as an ambitious plan to travel the world for 22 months became a transformative exploration of our relationship with animals, food, and one other. The story of this journey makes for an impassioned and personal, yet thoroughly reasoned, plea for a kinder, more just, and merciful world. Lucas Spiegel is a lifelong animal-lover who has been vegan for over 30 years. After studying and practicing architecture in the U.S., Canada, and India, Lucas left it all behind in an effort to rethink what it is to live a meaningful life. Since then, he's traveled the world, started a dog treat company that donated all of its profits to farm animal sanctuaries, published a vegan travel memoir, and continues the process of learning and reinvention. Along the way, he enjoys playing frisbee, making things with his hands, and spending time with his dog, Rosie. They're currently riding out the winter in a village on the northern coast of Colombia. Resources: The Weight of Empathy by Lucas Speigel: https://weightofempathy.com/buy/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earth.and.eats Personal website: https://lucasspiegel.com/