So I'm Thinking Of Going Vegan

happy summer solstice!

And happy summer reading.

Whether on vacation, long weekends, or on breaks between all the other activities that keep vegans busy, I hope you'll get the chance to indulge (no, that makes it sound like a luxury) crack open a bunch of new favourite books over the summer months. I'm still finishing a few I started and because one of my quirks is to save until last what I like best, Nick Cooney's Change of Heart will have to wait a bit. (Pssst, I may feature this book as a giveaway sometime--I think it's that useful!--so keep your eyes peeled.)

Two books on top of my must-read-this-summer list are Green is the New Red by Will Potter and Vegan for Life: Everything You Need to Know to Be Healthy and Fit on a Plant-Based Diet from our favourite nutritionists Jack Norris and Virginia Messina. But there's also a couple of other books (okay, a whole pile but I can only read/buy so many at a time) that I think would be super interesting. For a Canadian perspective I can't wait to get my hands on John Sorenson's About Canada: Animal Rights in part because most vegan books are American, but also because John teaches at Brock University which is close enough that I'm even entertaining fantasies of going back to school! On my own personal Amazon list I've got three books that look at animal rights from a gender perspective, including (despite the two kinda odd reviews) Women and the animal rights movement, Sister Species: Women, Animals and Social Justice (you gotta check out the cover!), and Sistah Vegan: Food, Identity, Health, and Society: Black Female Vegans Speak. Hmmm, that'll be a hard pick. Also a couple of books that directly compare animal exploitation to slavery and the Holocaust, but the list is so long that it'll keep me anticipating for years ahead no doubt.

But enough about what I want to read. Yes, make sure to take advantage of the weather (remember how long winter was?), get away if you possibly can (whether in Canada or elsewhere), spend extra time with beloved furry, finny or feathery ones, and enjoy your vegan reading this summer!

vegan mail delivery part 1

Woohoo! Received Nick Cooney's Change of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change in the mail Friday and after only one chapter I already think it'll be invaluable. Not only is it interesting reading (although I'm biased towards the social sciences), but I feel it will help us to become more effective activists. I like how the title is Change of Heart as opposed to Change of Mind because while facts, logic and reasoning are certainly part of the activist's arsenal, facts by themselves are not enough. Compassion is more a matter of the heart, and hearts have to be opened before information can settle in. 

Chapter One is called Looking Inward and it deals partly with the relationship between self-identity and activism. Cooney reminds us that because we're so strongly and emotionally invested in our cause, we tend to believe that our own advocacy methods are the right ones and that any criticism of them can feel like criticism of us. That in turn can make it hard to abandon them if it's shown they're flawed.

He also suggests that negative aspects of self-identity (like ego, jealousy and insecurity) need to be kept in reign if we want to be effective, and asks the following:

Are we as activists willing to keep our anger and passion in check so that we're directing them rather than they directing us? Are we willing to put those we hope to help ahead of our desires for self-expression, for standing up for ourselves, and for loudly proclaiming what we believe regardless of how others will respond? Are we willing to go beyond the comfortable boundaries of our current self-identity in order to be as effective as possible? (p.15)

All good questions.  (And it makes me wonder what HE thinks of the VegNews scandal, snort. My own take on it is expressed in a comment I left at The Discerning Brute, but check out the excellent post Vegan Feminist Agitator has written on the matter.)

So I'm looking forward to the next chapters, and if any of you are interested I may share bits in the future that resonate with me. Or, if you don't want to wait, you can read a complete interview posted by Vegan Outreach to get a sense of what's in store.

Better yet, buy the book! :)

animal rights work getting you down?

Because let's face it, building a vegan world (or at least, reducing animal cruelty and suffering as much as we can until everybody else catches up) is a daunting task. While being vegan is rewarding (how many other actions have the direct impact of saving lives?) and ultimately a win-win-win solution for the planet, the environment and ALL animals including ourselves, being immersed in the continual bombardment of animal pain can be stressful. Especially, I think, because most vegans are more empathetic to the violence other sentient beings face on a daily basis, we can easily get lost in negativity and despair and wonder if what we do will ever be enough. And that we need to be careful of because burnout isn't going to push our cause forward whatsoever. To that end, I'd like to share a few articles that should banish some of the pessimism you may feel, and help you deal with the stress of being an activist.

Vegan Outreach has written some great stuff over the years about the process of building a vegan world piece by piece, about how much things have already changed, and more recently, strategies with real results. And this week on their blog they're having a series of interviews with  Nick Cooney author of Change of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change. Cool. 

A guide for animal activists called Animal Action! by David Sztybel has a lot to offer to both new and seasoned activists whether you're an animal welfarist, partial abolitionist or total abolitionist, and covers private activism, public activism, empowered and disempowered thinking, and ways of avoiding burnout. It's comprehensive, and some of the things I like about it include the cognitive approach, inclusiveness of different types of activists, and its concrete action orientation. I defy anyone to read it and not feel encouraged! David has also written an excellent document on coping with animal rights stress using cognitive therapy techniques, which you may find useful as well. 

Remember, just by being vegan you are already doing so much. You're part of a growing social justice movement that is getting stronger by the day, one that will eventually change the lives of every sentient being in this world for the better, and for that (regardless of what our ideological differences may be), I think you're awesome. :)