David Blatte

David has been a public defender, animal law attorney, executive director of Vegan Action, where he instituted the “certified vegan” logo, high school math and social studies teacher, and professional blackjack player (card counter). He is currently CEO of IBS-80, a business with a breakthrough approach to treating irritable bowel syndrome.

He is author of two books - 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑛 𝐼𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 and 𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑠 - and director of the film 𝐴𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑢𝑑𝑑ℎ𝑎. He is a cofounder of Dharma Voices for Animals, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting veganism within the meditation and dharma communities.

Raised a Democrat, David left the party in 1999 and became active with the Green Party. After that, he left party politics and became an Independent.

His primary pursuit is meditation. In over 20 years of meditating, he has lived on monasteries in Asia and the United States and has accumulated over two years of silent, intensive practice. He teaches meditation and offers a free online beginning course at www.vipassanameditationteacher.com.