Why Humans Disappearing From the Planet Could Be a Very Bad Thing For Animals
Humans are responsible for incredible suffering. But would animals be better off if we all disappeared?
Author Tobias Leenaert / The Vegan Strategist
Tobias Leenaert / The Vegan Strategist
My name is Tobias Leenaert. I am the author of How to Create a Vegan World: a Pragmatic Approach (Lantern Press, 2017). I think about strategy and give presentations world wide about vegan advocacy. Most of those are part of trainings that I give together with Melanie Joy, for the Center for Effective Vegan Advocacy (CEVA). I’m also co-founder of ProVeg International, a new pro-vegan food awareness organization that wants to reduce the consumption of animal products worldwide with 50% by 2040. And I identify as an Effective Altruist. I think about the best ways to achieve a compassionate society. I’m also a slow opinionist. Click to see author's profile.
How to Be a Non-Judgmental Vegan
Assuming we want to help animals, we need to open hearts and minds, and judgments tend to do the opposite. So how do we avoid being judgmental?
What It’s Like to Be a Meat Eater: On “Confirmation Bias Cheering”
One of the things we need to do to reduce animal suffering is change people’s hearts and minds. To do that, we need to understand others, know where they come from, listen to them, and know what attracts them and turns them off.
That’s Disgusting: Should Animal Activists Aim for the Stomach?
Maybe we can help de-sterilize meat’s image and help create the disgust that decent people are bound to feel when they think about eating the bodies of mistreated creatures.
When Veganism Becomes Angry-ism
Anger often drives people towards activism. But is advocacy grounded in anger effective?
Would You Press a Button to Make Humanity Go Extinct?
The suffering humans cause can make it seem like the world might be better off without us. If you could make humanity painlessly disappear with the pressing of a button, would you press it?
Into the Wild: Animal Dilemmas After Moving to the Countryside
A vegan and animal advocate uses his experience with recently moving to the countryside to work through the difficult subject of wild animal welfare and how humans can best live among wild animals.
With the Rising Success of Vegan Businesses, Should the Role of Vegan Advocacy Change?
Is activism old news? In the light of incredibly exciting developments in the private sector, the role of advocacy may need to be re-evaluated.
Turning Adversaries into Allies: An Interview with Leah Garcés
Garcés discusses working together with animal farmers to help animals, why it’s important to work on welfare improvements, and what’s so special about chickens.
Why the Animal Protection Movement Will Win
“The stakes are high, the steaks are on every table, and the task seems incredibly daunting. Yet I am sure that we will win.”
Finding Your Activist Sweet Spot
To figure out what kind of activism you should do, find the intersection between what you love, what you’re good at, and what makes the biggest difference.
Slaughterhouse Workers: The Meat Industry’s Other Victims
“My aim was to peek inside the slaughterhouse and to show that the workers shouldn’t be called “evil” or “bad people.” The core problem is the animal-industrial complex, the system of exploiting animals, which also has negative effects on the workers.”