Occupation Writer, speaker Notable awards 24 Carrot Award Role Writer | Nationality American Name Erik Marcus Education Columbia University | |
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Born October 25, 1966 (age 57) ( 1966-10-25 ) Subject Veganism and animal agribusiness Notable works Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating and Meat Market: Animals, Ethics and Money Books Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating, Meat Market: Animals, Ethics, & Money | ||
The End of Factory Farming - Erik Marcus
Erik Marcus (born October 25, 1966) is a writer and public speaker who runs the website Vegan.com, which discusses veganism news, vegan topics of interest, animal rights and animal welfare through a short, weekly podcast. Marcus has written five books, including: Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating and Meat Market: Animals, Ethics and Money. Before that, he was an accomplished computer scientist and creative software developer, and had developed the VeggieCard for the Apple Macintosh computer, a compressed set of archived files on a 3.5" computer diskette which unfolded with most of the text from Diet for a New America by John Robbins. He currently resides in Haiku, Maui, Hawaii.
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Life and education
Erik Marcus was born on October 25, 1966 to Sonja and David Marcus. He was raised in Westport, Connecticut and graduated from Staples High School in 1985. The 1985 Staples yearbook, "Stapleite," quotes him as follows: "If you love something, set it free. If it returns, it has a good sense of direction. If it doesn't, it is probably starving out in the woods somewhere looking for you." Marcus further stated that he will always remember "watching [biology teacher] Mr. Haugh eat lunch as he dissected a cat."
Marcus has a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1991 he completed a master's degree from Columbia University Teachers College in New York City.
Marcus is single. He enjoys reading, cooking, going hiking, and other outdoor activities.
Media, Event, and Public Speaking Career
In October 2000, Vegetarians in Paradise bestowed its "24 Carrot Award" upon Marcus for his efforts to bring the vegan message to the public through his writing and his internet website.
Marcus is one of several people who provided information used in the writing of the book Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism (2008) by Mark Hawthorne.
Marcus wrote the Foreword to Vegan Lunch Box: 130 Amazing, Animal-Free Lunches Kids and Grown-Ups Will Love! by Jennifer McCann (2008).
In 2008, Marcus changed his podcast format to a shorter, weekly podcast, called "VegTalk". These podcasts feature interviews with notable people in the vegan movement while still having some of the similar content as the previous podcasts. People interviewed in these podcasts include Jonathan Safran Foer, Paul Shapiro, and Nathan Runkle. These podcasts are available for free online listening at Vegan.com.
Marcus's most recent book is Nexus 7: Basics and Beyond (Mocana Productions, 2012), about Google's Nexus 7 tablet computer.
In addition to his regular podcasts, books, and Vegan.com, Erik Marcus is known as a conference and public speaker who travels widely across North America. His early career writing software has been folded into his current technical ventures.