How to Create a Vegan World: A Pragmatic Approach
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It is also a perfect companion to Veganomics as this book focuses on how ...
In Animal Allies (an organisation I volunteer with), our volunteers have 6 essential agreements, the first being: “We focus on research-based, effective activism to save the most animals possible.” As a result, Tobias’ work on his blog The Vegan Strategist has been of immense use to us several times. With the extra space afforded in a book format, Leenaert is able to present a macroscopic view of effective vegan activism and develop a narrative through an analogy he developed: Veganville (a town on the top of a mountain - refer to image later in article). The result is a book that is accessible to all and very practical. It begins with a snapshot of the movement at this point in time by contextualizing where our movement is in terms of adoption and how that must affect our strategies. This highlights the pragmatic approach - while one argument/method may be morally right, it may not be effective until veganism is much more mainstream and accepted. It then explores what our call to action should be and what arguments we should be making. It finishes up with how we can support people on their journey to Veganville as well as improving retention once they are there. Creating a Vegan World excels at concisely articulating the overall approaches we should be taking to be effective at reducing harm. Leenhaert logically explores arguments and counterarguments in approaches and justifying the various conclusions he makes. The result is a book that any new vegan, or any vegan organisation, can read as a general manifesto for how to become stronger advocates for animals. It is also a perfect companion to Veganomics as this book focuses on how to turn the data into action.
Valuable insights for vegan activists, for vegans who are not activists, as well as for non-vegan activists
How to create a vegan world is a book that will help vegan activists who may sometimes feel disappointed or frustrated because their vegan activism efforts are not being as fruitful as they hope or expect. Vegans often believe they see the truth and they can't understand why others don't see it. The truth is that non-vegans see things differently and therefore need to be approached from a different angle. Not just from our point of view or what matters most to us, but instead starting from their point of view, their world, and what matters to them. It is not an easy road to go, but it can help realize small steps towards a vegan world, the end goal of all vegans. As such, Tobias' book is not only for vegan activists, but for every vegan, because it teaches us how we best communicate and approach non-vegans in a way that will make non-vegans open and interested towards eating vegan, even if for the start only now and then or once a week. Some vegans believe that this approach is not true to our goals, but the question is do you want to 'convert' some people towards a 100% vegan lifestyle or do you prefer a lot of people to eat vegan at least now and then. I prefer the latter, because it will lead to a faster acceptance, adoption and less alienation towards vegan food among the general public, more companies producing vegan food, more restaurants to cater to vegans, more people talking about vegan food and spreading the message that it can be tasty (and not only good for the animals, the environment, and our health). Planting a compassionate seed of the plant-based message among the general public will clearly help more in creating a vegan world than trying to make people go all the way from the start by overloading them with arguments they are not ready to hear. Even tough, we, vegans can't wait to make a vegan world make happen as soon as possible and end animal suffering today instead of tomorrow, I guess we need to realize that in order to give veganism a sustainable long term place in our world (accepted by the general public), we need to be patient and compassionate towards those who are not yet 'with us'. I like to end by adding that this book is not only interesting for vegans and vegan activists! It provides the same valuable insights for non-vegan activists by showing them the principles and patterns at work (among these psychological) when trying to get people interested for your cause and how you can maximize your impact.
Is Your Goal Actually Vegan Land?
Some vegans really hate Tobias Leinhart, they think he's a sell-out vegetarian hugger, but why shouldn't we hug vegetarians? His conceptual ideas about Vegan Land are spot-on, based on the realities of human nature and the physical world. He points out hard truths, like how life-long vegetarians save more animals than short-term vegans who go back to eating animals. This book isn't going to be for everyone, it's definitely for pragmatists or utilitarians not idealists or perfectionists. Definitely worth a look if you want strategies other than being the activist going to protests, or conversely the pacifist cowering in your room, afraid to judge anyone for eating animal products. Personally I'm trying to put together a project on environmental education about plant-based diets as a strategic angle, so this was one of many viewpoints I examined in forming my own ideas.
Effective vegan advocacy
I found this book extremely helpful. It's about how to be a more effective advocate in general and specifically of animal rights. Tobias Leenaert follows an utilitarian approach in his advocacy. He defends that the vegan movement need be more pragmatic. He argues that most often than not a "reduce animal consumption, for any reason" message is more effective than a "go vegan for the animals" message. That we need to be more inclusive and relax the concept of veganism (as well as not criticize people that are already doing more than almost everyone, e.g. vegetarians). He believes that many times reasoning follows behavior, and thus for example someone that starts reducing their meat intake or go vegetarian/vegan for health reasons might end up extending the reasons to animal welfare and environment. Therefore in this case we should be more concerned with the goal of reducing than the reason why and we should understand that health reasons are for most people more persuasive than ethical ones. At the end of the book the author gives a lot of resources on different topics: strategy; communicating and influencing more effectively; understanding people better; knowing what works; effective altruism; thinking more clearly and keeping an open mind; being productive and organized; staying healthy and advocating about health;etc which I also found very useful.
30 yr vegan activist learned how to be 10x more effective by reading this book.
Please stop what you're doing and read this book now. If all of us who cared about animals read this, we could transform the world SO MUCH FASTER. This book will help you figure out how to bring your very best self to the movement and how to be more effective for animals in your everyday interactions.
The roadmap to building a more compassionate and sustainable society.
Disclosure: I am not even finished with this book yet. Kindle says I'm now 80% through, but I'll assume the remaining 20% are just as deserving of five stars. Tobias's approach may ruffle some feathers in the vegan community, particularly among those who feel the all-or-nothing approach is the only way of discussing the topic of animal rights. Ultimately, I believe it will be the pragmatists among us who really move the needle forward and lay the foundations for a vegan world. If you feel the same, this book should definitely be on your list.
Vegan brain-food
Tobias Leenart is a great thinker, and his conclusions are often right on target. A thorough understanding of the current state of the vegan movement provides a solid foundation for his ideas and recommendations on how best to achieve the goals of the movement, through better strategy, good communication and a bit of pragmatism. While sometimes challenging the assumptions that, until now, have been at the core of veganism, Tobias forces the reader to THINK about the impact, rather than focus on dogma. If enough vegans read this book, I do believe it will make a big impact.
Turning vegan advocacy on its head
The ideas in this book have the power to change the vegan movement from the movement we want, to the movement the animals need. From accepting the idea of the 98% vegan to utilising non-animal arguments in our outreach, Leenaert turns intuition-led advocacy on its head, armed with compelling observations, research, and analogies. While the arguments may seem alarming to some, it becomes quickly apparent that an approach rooted in human psychology and the reality of the societies we live is the fastest, if not the only road to Veganville.
An absolute must read for anyone interested in vegan advocacy.
A very pragmatic approach to advancing the vegan agenda. I really appreciate the focus on inclusivity and permissive definitions of 'vegan'. For anyone who feels that absolute purity is either desirable or achievable, hopefully this will change your mind.
Amazing for becoming a better activist
I appreciated Tobias' insight into walking the line between pragmatism and idealism. As a life-long activist and hardcore idealist, it's something that I constantly struggle with. This was a very helpful and useful book and I believe it's relevant for any kind of activist- not just one that is interested in veganism. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to make a positive difference in the world.
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