Philip Wollen - The greatest Philanthropist you've never heard of.

TLDR: - Watch this, he's amazing - World Vegan Day Melbourne

The long version:-

I've been going through some major changes of late, really looking inward at what's important to me in terms of mind and body, what is my "philosophy" on life and how can I more actively minimize my impact on the planet in an age where we appear to be destroying the only place we can all call home at an alarming rate.

In some ways I have found a degree of enlightenment shall we say and in other ways I have opened my eyes to just how much we are poisoning the world, the shear volume of cruelty we inflict on animals and the abhorrent ways we are treating one another, it bummed me out a little to be honest. It makes it feel like the small steps we can make are so insignificant in the big picture so as to be a waste of time.

Then, I came across a video shot in 2012 from a debate about eating meat, one of the speakers was Philip Wollen, the 10 minute speech was mesmerizing so I Googled him, this is the Wikipedia entry:-

Philip Wollen OAM (born 1950) is an Australian philanthropist. He is a former Vice-President of Citibank and was also General Manager at Citicorp. Wollen became a vegan[1] following his departure from Citibank and is a prominent member of the animal rights movement. He conducts intervention programs to rescue abused animals and funds outreach programs that promote animal welfare and abstinence.[2] At age 34, Australian Business Magazine named him in the "Brightest and Best" top 40 headhunted executives in Australia.[2] In 2005 he received the Medal of the Order of Australia [3] and in 2007 he won the Australian of the Year (Victoria) award.[3][4] In 2012 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Oxford Centre of Animal Ethics, UK. In 2014 he received the University of Adelaide Distinguished Alumni Award . He also received the award "Vegan of the Year 2014" Wollen went to school at the Bishop Cotton Boys' School, Bangalore. He delivered The General Thimayya Memorial Lecture Bangalore, India in 2008. He lives with his wife Trix and his four dogs in Melbourne, Victoria.

Winsome Constance Kindness
Philip Wollen's main project, Winsome Constance Kindness, is a global initiative whose mission statement is "to promote kindness towards all other living beings and enshrine it as a recognisable trait in the Australian character and culture".[5] The initiative emphasises ethics, compassion and co-operation, and opposes crueltyto humans and non-human animals. In 2006 it had initiatives in 34 countries and is growing.

Philip is essential a recluse, but the work he has done with his wife Trix and the Kindness Trust is unbelievable and gives a degree of hope for the future of humanity.

We were in Melbourne at the weekend for the Vegan Festival at the showgrounds, I was stoked to find out Philip was flown in as a last minute speaker! The below video was receded by the even for their Facebook page and is Philips speech from Sunday (12th November 2017).

I'd urge any one (vegan or otherwise) that has a remote interest in none-profit humanitarian work to give it a watch, it is amazing to know there are people like this still out there with far greater reach than we may imagine.

World Vegan Day Melbourne

Cheers.