In the 1970s,
Alex Hershaft started noticing that animal rights people were attending his vegetarian conferences. After discussing with them and doing more reading on the subject, in 1981 he organized Action for Life, a joining of the vegetarian and animal rights movements, and launched a series of annual conferences. These conferences were held annually for seven years (1981–1987) and typically included training sessions for activists, networking, ceremonial activities, video showings, and open discussions. The conferences helped spawn other animal rights organizations with different focuses, including
Farm Animal Rights Movement (Hershaft's organization),
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Trans-Species Unlimited, Mobilization for Animals, and Animal Rights Network. In 2018, Alex Hershaft retired as Conference Chair. Jen Riley took on the post of Conference Chair and organizes the conferences along with Ethan Eldreth as Program Manager and a newly formed Program Advisory Committee. ==Conferences==