Linking a Revolution

Besides going vegan, volunteering one's time at Animal Acres is one of the best ways to help farmed animals.

And when someone volunteers at a farmed sanctuary like Animal Acres they are directly helping animals that have been rescued from the fate of being another countless victim of the meat, dairy and egg industry. However, there's also another way of volunteering one's time that can help save countless farmed animals lives too and it's nearly as easy as just turning on your computer.

From Your Computer Comes A Vegan World

Social activism creates change in the world when people communicate with one another and the ideas behind that activism spread within a community, then beyond. When one human empowers another to make the connection from, what they sense is true about the world in their heart, to doing the right thing in their lives.

When people volunteer to make a difference in the world not only do they help those in need but they also empower others to communicate and spread the word. This is what assists getting people involved in the specific cause as well.

This is what effective activism is all about. Not telling people what to do...but encouraging them by example and engaging them to see for themselves what is really happening in society.

Great activists change the world by laying down the foundation for other people to make the connections to other people and so forth and so on. This is so much different and extremely more successful than demanding or commanding that people change.

Empowering others to see for themselves is how revolutions start and today it's actually easier than ever.

We see this type of foundation for change happening right now before our eyes with the uprisings in the Middle East.

Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, cell phones etc are playing the main role in keeping the momentum continuing for the usually voiceless masses by making communication simple and by exposing the oppression to the world.... in real time.

Animal activists have this same power right now. The power to connect to other potential future vegans by using the Internet to be a very effective uncensored news agency and a revealer of oppression, cruelty and truth.

We have the opportunity now to spread the word so to speak, by showing the images of oppression and violence. When we share the videos that reveal the reality of how animals are violently turned from living, feeling beings into unnecessary food items we make that unjust universe known.

We live in a time that no matter how hard the animal killing industries try they can no longer censor the images and reality of where our animal food comes from. The lies, myths and walls that have been erected to specifically prevent people from seeing for themselves the misery, death and pain they actually cause when they themselves buy animal products... are now disappearing.

Even though bills are being passed

as this post is written to outlaw filming undercover video in businesses that kill animals for food products the censorship is slowly however, coming to an end because we all now possess the power of the internet at our finger tips.

It's now up to each and every vegan activist to volunteer our time in sharing the images of truth with the rest of our social network. The videos available online now are some of the most important tools we have in changing the world for the animals.

Yet, it is impossible to change the world without taking action.

The non human animals need your volunteer efforts now.. to paste that video link in an email, tweet it to a twitter, or link it on that "friends" Facebook page.

This is why people volunteer in the first place. They want to make a difference.

If we do nothing at all the world remains a cruel and more hopeless place where apathy becomes the actual camouflage that maintains the cover for those who continue to abuse and exploit.

We can easily see in politics here in the US as well as throughout the world that those who are overwhelmed by greed, selfishness and hate need to maintain their power with lies, fear and violence.

We live in a society where extreme violence toward non human animals is completely accepted because those who might actually care, or who might demand change or who might fight the powers that be are kept ignorant of how their meat and dairy is created.

We now have the opportunity to challenge a violent system of oppression with a simple few clicks from our computers. It is we animal rights advocates who now have the power to awaken the world to a possible future without so much ignorance and so much killing.

By simply volunteering a few minutes of your life to posting this video here on the pages of your social network contacts, your twitter followers or email contacts we can slowly destroy a world built on speciesism and controlled through ignorance.

I can tell you now for a fact that these videos are having an effect and are waking people up and changing their lives.

Living vegan not only entails a life that refrains from causing harm to others but also includes recognizing that we can change the world by educating other humans of what the consequences are when they eat or wear animal products.

There is no such thing as humane meat.

Be a sanctuary for others, go vegan and share a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-xLc0C8u9Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUkHkyy4uqw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWVu1Pnc-iQ

Farmed Animals Are Not Food, They Are Our Teachers

Lorri Houston is the founder of Animal Acres and considered the "pioneer" of the farmed animal sanctuary movement. In 1986, Lorri co-founded Farm Sanctuary, which opened the country's first sanctuary for farmed animals. For 18 years, she directed the group's rescue and fundraising efforts.

Through her farm animal sanctuary efforts, Lorri has directly saved thousands of animals from the cruelties of factory farms, stockyards and slaughterhouses, and brought national attention to the plight of animals used for "food production."

In this months blog post Lorri tells us the lessons that can be learned from farmed animals when we see them as teachers and that the farmed animal sanctuaries which protect them are not only places of refuge but places of learning and transformation for humans.

In 1986 I discovered a living sheep on a stockyard “dead pile” and her rescue led me to establish the first shelter in the country for farmed animals, as co-founder of Farm Sanctuary. The sheep, who was named Hilda, was my first teacher. She was the one who set me on a path to rescue thousands of other suffering farmed animals and establish the farmed animal sanctuary movement.

Hilda enjoyed 12 blissful years at Farm Sanctuary, and during our years together, she continued to show me how much can be accomplished when people care enough to be a vital participant in programs and campaigns to stop farmed animal suffering. In 1986, very few organizations were advocating for farmed animal protection, most people thought the word “vegan” was a character from Star Trek, and there were no shelters in the country devoted to farmed animals.

Today, along with Animal Acres there are now over 30 farmed animal sanctuaries throughout the country.

In our first year of operation in 2005, I saw how much an urban farmed animal sanctuary can do – and how much people wanted to have farmed animal sanctuaries in their cities. A dedicated team of over 200 people came out to help us build the sanctuary. We saved over 200 animals from slaughter, welcomed thousands of sanctuary visitors, and reached millions of people with news coverage of our efforts in the Los Angeles Times, the Daily News and other major media.

Dozens of Hollywood’s famous friends of farmed animals joined Animal Acres to lend their voices and support.

Although I have been involved in the farmed animal sanctuary movement since 1986, the success of Animal Acres was a reminder to me of the crucial role played by farmed animal sanctuaries – both for animal advocates and the general public.

In our own animal protection movement, farmed animal sanctuaries are helping teach animal advocates that cows, pigs, and chickens need our help, too – and the new and growing interest in farmed animal protection issues continues to prompt campaigns to ban cruel factory farming and marketing practices.

Humane enforcement agencies are more willing to intervene to stop farmed animal cruelty if there is a shelter facility in the area for farmed animals. Shortly after Animal Acres opened, a California humane agency was able to conduct the first U.S. raid on a slaughterhouse for cruelty to animals, and subsequently confiscated dozens of severely neglected animals, who were then brought to Animal Acres for rehabilitation and refuge.

For people who come into contact with farmed animals only at breakfast, lunch, or dinner, farmed animal sanctuaries provide a positive way for the public to learn that farmed animals are friends, not food. Sanctuary visitors interact with the “animal ambassadors” while being educated on the harsh truth of how farmed animals are treated to produce meat, milk, and eggs.

It’s just a little easier for people to hear about the cruelties of dairy production when they are getting a big cow lick. Even the youngest sanctuary visitor “gets it” after giving a pig a belly rub and sampling a veggie hotdog. Farmed animal sanctuaries make it fun – and profound.

As a founder of Farm Sanctuary, and now Animal Acres, I have personally seen thousands of people “touched” by a farmed animal, and then make the decision to save ALL farmed animals by going vegetarian or vegan.

More than anyone, those of us involved in direct rescue efforts for farmed animals recognize the only way to “be the change” is to use the sanctuary to open peoples’ hearts and minds to the plight of farmed animals.

Every year, over ten billion animals are raised, transported, and slaughtered under the most inhumane and cruel conditions possible. During my own investigations of the meat, dairy, and egg industries, I have witnessed more suffering than I could have imagined in my worst nightmare.

At hatcheries, I have seen tiny day-old chicks thrown alive into trash dumpsters because they were male and could not be used for egg production.

I have given water to thirsty “downed” cows who were left suffering for hours, in parking lots, with temperatures over 100 degrees.

I have looked into the hopeless eyes of calves chained to veal crates, unable to walk or even turn around.

I’ve watched in horror as pigs with broken legs dragged themselves to the killing floor, as they were kicked and shocked by slaughterhouse workers.

People often ask me what is the hardest part of doing farmed animal rescue and sanctuary work. Witnessing animal cruelty is very difficult, but leaving suffering animals behind is devastating. Over the years, I have had to make hundreds of “Sophie’s Choices” -- choosing which ones to save, and which ones to leave behind. I remember the hardest rescue I ever worked on like it happened only yesterday – the Buckeye Egg Farm Rescue.

The Buckeye Egg Farm in Ohio is a typical egg production factory farm. To produce eggs, four to five hens are crammed into a bare wire cage about the size of a folded newspaper. The confinement is so severe, the hens cannot walk, stretch their wings, or even lie down comfortably. The Buckeye Egg Farm was one of the largest egg production facilities in the country, housing 14 million hens in large warehouses which held 80-100,000 birds per building. Tornadoes struck the Buckeye Egg Farm facility, and overnight, over one million birds became trapped in demolished buildings.

There was no way to prepare myself for the devastation, and the suffering. The warehouses which housed the birds had been severely damaged, and most of the buildings were missing sides,

For several days, we tried to rescue as many hens as we could, while urging the owners of the facility to remove hens from cages as quickly as possible and humanely euthanize the ones that could not be taken to sanctuaries. On my last trip to the Buckeye Egg Farm, the birds had been in the cages without food or water for twelve days. I expected to see birds weak and near death--what I saw instead were birds who were very much alive and moving frantically in their cages.

The Buckeye Egg Farm would not allow animal groups to help release birds from cages, claiming it was “too dangerous” to allow non-employees to enter demolished areas. They agreed to let us have as many hens as we could take, but we had to agree to this stipulation. Still, there were times I had to make a mad dash to a cage of hens. I approached one cage that was smashed in half and reached down to pick up a bird who was caught in the wire of a mangled cage. I tucked the hen safely into my shirt, and then I tried to pry open the cage bars to rescue another hen who had her wing caught in the wire – but I was forced to leave the area before I could get her. The look on her face will never leave me. I also had to break the rules when I saw birds stuck in the manure slurry pits that accumulated under the cages. The live birds were slowly sinking into the wet manure. I got three birds out of the pit before I was stopped.

After a great deal of pressure, the Buckeye Egg Farm agreed to remove trapped birds and euthanize them. The "bird removal" crew consisted of six to eight workers to remove almost 100,000 birds from piles of debris and mangled cages. It was agonizingly slow, and cruel. The workers grabbed the birds by the legs and threw them into a tractor loading bucket. The tractor then drove to a large trailer, and dumped the live birds into it. The birds fell, flapping their wings and screaming, onto the other birds in the trailer, who lay dead, or dying. A tarp was then pulled over the trailer, and CO2 gas was pumped into it for 5 minutes. When the tarp was pulled back, many of the birds lay gasping until the next loader full of birds was dumped on top of them.

After attempting to remove and euthanize birds for a few days, Buckeye Egg Farm halted its bird removal effort, and sent in bulldozers. Hundreds of thousands of birds were crushed and buried alive.

We documented all of this cruelty and death. The endless rows of trapped birds. The animals stuck in quick-sand like manure pits. The birds being thrown into gas chambers and left suffocating, gasping for breath. We tried to convince authorities to prosecute the facility for animal cruelty, but we were unsuccessful. It was considered a “natural disaster”, though it was clear the suffering was caused by the “unnatural” confinement of millions of animals. In the end, there was nothing I could do but save as many as possible. On the last day we were allowed in, I drove off with 500 hens. I didn't glance back as we pulled away...I couldn't.

It is hard to witness animal cruelty and leave suffering animals behind – and when I am struggling to cope with my anger and grief, I try to remember another animal teacher who crossed my path, a hen named Henny.

When I was directing Farm Sanctuary’s shelters, I received a call from the ASPCA that a chicken needed a home–a chicken that someone had managed to take from a factory farm, and ended up on a New York City bus. Fortunately, the kind driver knew this was a chicken in trouble, and drove her to the ASPCA. At the time, our New York shelter was completely full because of the Buckeye Egg Farm rescue. We didn’t have any rehabilitation pens open at our shelter, but after hearing about her heroic escape, I just couldn’t say no. So, until she was healthy enough to be with the other shelter chickens, “Henny” moved in with us.

At the time, my family consisted of four dogs, three cats, two humans (and now one chicken), and we were all residing in a small, one bedroom cabin. I didn’t want Henny to be locked alone into the bathroom, so I cautiously let her into the main room, keeping a particularly watchful eye on the dogs. I was concerned that Henny would be intimated and not “fit in”, but I didn’t have to worry for long -- at least about the chicken.

The dogs were the first to learn that Henny would rule the roost. The minute my largest dog KJ stuck her nose into her, Henny gave KJ a peck on the nose—clearly there was going to be no dog “nosing” in this household. This chicken had attitude–she was from New York City alright.

Later that night, after everyone seemed to settle in and things were starting to get peaceful, I was relaxing on the couch with Pierre (cat) in my lap. Henny walked over to the couch, surveyed the situation, and then jumped on to my lap–which of course meant, she also jumped on to the cat. Pierre leaped into the air hissing and screaming and Henny didn’t ruffle a feather. She just calmly settled into my lap, ignoring the glaring cat, and started cooing.

The first night, I put her into a bedded carrier so she (and the rest of us) could sleep soundly throughout the night. She didn’t seem to like this idea, and I felt a little guilty as her eyes followed me into the bedroom. That night, she must have worked her way into my dreams, because I woke up knowing I couldn’t put her in the carrier again.

By now, everyone had accepted Henny into the household, so it seemed safe enough to just let her find her own sleeping spot in the house. The big dogs grabbed the couch, the cats and small dogs jumped on our bed, and we all crawled under the covers. Within seconds, I heard the tiny “click-click-click” of Henny’s feet, and they were coming closer and closer. I peered over the side of the bed, and there was Henny, looking up. I’d seen this look before – Henny was going to jump on to the bed. I went to the bathroom and grabbed a towel for the bed, and Henny jumped up and slept with us until dawn. (In case you’re wondering, Henny was “housebroken” and never had an “incident” on the bed or furniture.)

At night when Henny and I cuddled together, I was amazed by her trusting and loving nature. She was after all, a hen who had lived her entire life under cruel factory farm conditions. She had suffered “debeaking” a painful mutilation that involves cutting off the tip of hens’ beaks to reduce pecking injuries because the birds are so severely overcrowded. Then, for months, she endured intensive confinement in a bare wire cage with several other hens–a cage so small that she could not even stretch her wings. Finally, when she was no longer “productive” she was literally torn from her cage and thrown into a transportation truck headed for slaughter. Bruised, battered and worn-out laying hens are ground up and used for pot pies and baby food.

In the few weeks she stayed with us, I discovered that Henny was curious and intelligent (she learned in one night to stay on the towel in her corner of the bed). Henny was fearless and self-assured (I learned this when I saw her “take on” a ninety pound growling dog because SHE wanted the chew toy). Henny was friendly (she greeted me at the door each day after work and then followed me around like a puppy dog). And, Henny loved to be loved (and gave me enormous amounts of love in return.)

Henny had never known a kind touch from a human. Humans had only inflicted fear, pain and endless days of torment. Yet, she had chosen to bring us into her family – a family filled with generosity, forgiveness, and hope. It was a sad day when Henny was ready to be with her own people (well, maybe not so sad for my companion dogs and cats), but I was grateful for the time I had with this remarkable teacher, who reminded me of all that one chicken, or person, can be.

My biggest mission in life is to teach people that farmed animals are animals. Animals who feel pain or comfort, or joy or sorrow, just like a dog or cat. Farmed animal sanctuaries provide the opportunity for people to learn, and love.

At times, working on behalf of ten billion suffering animals is heartbreaking, and daunting. But Hilda, Henny, and the other farmed animals who have touched my life, have given me hope – because each and every person can do something to stop the suffering now, simply by choosing what, or whom, to eat.

When people learn about the suffering these farmed animals must endure, they are shocked and appalled, and they will go vegetarian, or vote to stop an abusive farming practice. In addition to the creation of dozens of new farmed animal sanctuaries, the past ten years has ushered in laws and initiatives banning cruel animal agriculture practices, along with the introduction of vegetarian and vegan food options at almost every major supermarket and restaurant throughout the country.

For the first time in history, people are seeing cows, pigs, and chickens as living, feeling animals, and it is changing the way society views and treats farmed animals. Farmed animals themselves finally have a voice. They can be their own advocates – and perhaps that is why the farmed animal sanctuary movement is so successful.

I urge everyone to get up “close and personal” with farmed animals. You don’t need to open and run a farmed animal sanctuary to help spread the word that farmed animals have feelings too. But I do believe, that the farmed animals themselves are the best advocates, and it takes you and I to tell their stories.

Visit and volunteer at farmed animal sanctuaries as often as possible – if you don’t live near one, do an internship at one (Animal Acres offers one month live-in internships, as do other sanctuaries.) If you let yourself be touched, if you open yourself to farmed animals voices, you will be inspired – and the messages you learn and share on blogs, facebook, myspace, twitter, and all those wonderful communication mechanisms now available, can be brought to millions.

It took Jane Goodall to show the world that chimpanzees were more like humans than other animals, that chimpanzees had complex emotions and lives, not unlike our own. We need Jane Goodalls for cows, pigs, and chickens, too, and you can be that person. We need everyone who cares about farmed animals to do everything they can to show the world that farmed animals are animals too, that there is a face on their plate.

If farmed animals can be the teachers, there might be hope for the human race yet.

Join the farmed animal sanctuary movement – and help us save lives.

Become a living sanctuary for others.

Go vegan.

Nick Cooney- Interview

What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change.

Author/Activist Nick Cooney

Understanding the human brain is an essential ingredient in winning the fight for the rights of non human animals. It's also a major in road to developing a strategy for convincing humans to have a change of heart toward the other species in this world. After all the architect of speciesism as well as every other wrong belief held about the other animals of the world is the human brain.

Understanding why we believe what it is we believe is at the "heart" of grasping what the human brain actually does.

Our human brains are also the generators of what we call intuitions and we often act on those intuitions without always knowing if we are right or wrong about the intended consequences of those actions.

This is especially the case when it comes to the ethical questions we are often confronted with.

Our intuitions are also what gives us the motivation to take the well being of others to "heart" and to move toward living vegan. It is from our brains where our empathy originates which in turn gives rise to our making ethical decisions.

Our longing for compassion and justice comes from a sense of what we share with others rather than what separates us.

Yet just because we feel deeply about an issue, such as advocating humans to live vegan, does not ensure that we will always do what's best.

Feeling passionate about a cause does not prevent us from making mistakes as advocates or activists.

The important part is learning from those mistakes and working together for a world that becomes a sanctuary for everyone.

The new book Change Of Heart authored by Nick Cooney gives us much insight into ways in which the assumptions we make about our own activism and our beliefs as animal rights supporters might be wrong.

The search for correct answers and discerning the correct path to take in the struggle for animal rights is not as simple as just going with what our heart feels.

And it should be said that while I don't agree with Nick on a few of his strategies I do very much appreciate his compassion for animals. I also respect his advice, insight and his perspective.

I also commend him for searching to find answers in the piles of data provided by nearly 8 decades of empirical research and then putting it all together as a practical tool for activists to utilize in making the world a better place for non human animals.

Living vegan is as much about ethical integrity as it is about compassion. Living a life that is a sanctuary for others requires both the intelligence to understand the current situation of things as well as the results of what our past choices have brought forth.

Going vegan is simple.

Arguing for non human animal rights is not. None of the advocacy work is ever easy.

Yet, it empowers us all to embrace the uncertainty of change and to do our best to live with integrity and compassion for the animals as well as our fellow human activists.

The term change of heart may be a poetic metaphor for transforming ones perspective on life but it is also the perfect reminder that if we live with an open mind we may actually have the courage to learn from our own mistakes.

Nick Cooney is the founder and director of The Humane League, an animal advocacy organization based in Philadelphia, PA that focuses on farm animal protection issues. Nick has written for publications including The Philadelphia Inquirer and Z Magazine, and his advocacy work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio. He holds a degree in Non-Violence Studies from Hofstra University and formerly worked conducting nutrition education programs with the University of Pennsylvania's Urban Nutrition Initiative.

Philip:

When did you go vegan? What was the motivation for you becoming vegan?

Nick:

I went vegetarian and then a few months later went vegan at the age of 18. I'd never had a companion animal growing up, nor had I ever met a vegetarian - I don't think my high school had a single one as far as I knew. So I'd never really thought about animals much before. Then, while on my college orientation the summer before college, a girl I was hanging out with told me about how she was against animal experimentation and how she'd done a paper about it in high school. I'd never thought about the issue before, so when I got home I went to my local library and checked out the two books they had on animal rights. One was "Animal Liberation" by Peter Singer, which opened my eyes not just to what goes on in animal testing labs but to what happens on factory farms as well. It was pretty clear that the right thing to do was go vegetarian, so I made the switch right away. A few months later I started college and met some vegans through the campus animal rights group. That was the first time I'd heard about veganism, and I decided to go vegan myself - again, it just seemed like obviously the right thing to do. This was 11 years ago.

Philip:

What inspired you to focus on farmed animal issues in your life and your work?

Nick:

I haven't always been focused on farm animal issues - my early years as an animal advocate were focused mostly on campaigns against animal testing. Eventually I realized that I was able to help many, many more animals by focusing on farmed animal issues. As we all know farmed animals account for about 98% of the animals that are tortured and killed for human use in our country, with about 11 billion land animals used every year. That's a massive number, but the silver lining to that dark cloud is that because there is so much suffering going on, each of us also has the ability to do so much good and help so many animals. With time and effort and an intelligent approach, it's really not that hard to get members of the public to go vegetarian or go vegan. And since the average American consumes dozens of farmed animals per year, that means each of us can easily help hundreds if not thousands of farmed animals a year just through veg outreach efforts.

Philip:

Can you talk about your new book and what led you down the path to studying psychology and activism?

Nick:

I've always been interested in psychology - trying to figure out why people do what they do, why they respond to life and to other people the way they do, etc. And as someone running a non-profit, I wondered day in and day out for years whether what we were working on was the most effective thing we could be doing, or if there was some other issue, approach, or message that would do more good.

Change Of Heart combines these two areas of interest, and was written to answer one basic question: how can we activists more effectively persuade people to change their behavior (to go vegan, boycott fur, etc.) ?

Everyone has their own opinions about how to influence others, and some anecdotes to back up their opinion, but no one in the advocacy or non-profit world has ever taken a thorough look at what the science has to say. Researchers have conducted literally tens of thousands of studies over the past eighty years on what does and does not motivate people to change their behavior. These include studies in the fields of psychology, sociology, persuasion science, communication, diffusion, social marketing, and more. I wanted to systematically comb through that research and pull from it lessons and techniques that we activists can use to be more effective in our work. In doing this, I think that Change Of Heart fills a much-needed gap in our knowledge about what it takes to create a more compassionate world. Putting what I learned into practice has already made me a more effective advocate for animals, and I'm sure the same will hold true for anyone else who reads this book.

Philip:

Can you provide some advice for vegan activists who want to help influence other humans to find a place in their hearts for farmed animals and to go vegan?

Nick:

Well the most accurate way for me to answer that question is by not really answering it, by saying that there is no single best way to get people to have compassion for animals and go vegan. For one thing, we need to target our message to our audience, and keep in mind what is important to them and what influences them; a "one message fits all" approach is not ideal. Leaving that aside, here are a few quick tips that the research indicates will make us more effective in getting people to get people to go vegan:

1) Don't encourage the general public to go vegan.

Encourage them to make a smaller change like meat reduction or perhaps vegetarianism. Usually.

It may seem counter intuitive, but just because we want people to go vegan doesn't mean that saying "you should go vegan" is the most effective way to get people there. The research is very clear that if we want people to make a large change, we'll usually be more successful by first getting them to agree to a smaller change and then later encouraging them to make the larger change. This is called getting our "foot in the door," and a meta-analysis of over 900 studies found that by getting our foot in the door first with a smaller request, we'll be overall about 15% more effective at getting people to agree to our larger goal, such as going vegan. Some activists are concerned that if a person is encouraged to make a smaller change (anything less than veganism) that person will become complacent and think they are already doing enough, and will never move on to being vegan. The research indicates that we don't need to worry about that. People who make a small change become MORE likely to later make a larger change, as long as down the line someone encourages them to take that next step.

Communication researchers have also widely studied what they call "message discrepancy," which is how different a speaker's message is from the audience's current belief. Researchers are interested in finding out which message will create the most attitude and behavior change in an audience: a message that is only slightly different than the audience's current belief, a message that is moderately different than their current belief, or a message that is extremely different than their current belief. In a nutshell, it is the moderately different messages that create the most attitude and behvaior change. Suggestions like "have a meatless meal one day a week" are probably too minimal, and encouragements like "you should go vegan" are too different from what the general public currently does to create a lot of behavior change. A message somewhere in the middle of these should be more effective, create more change in people's diets, and thereby help more farmed animals.

Of course, there are some places that are perfect for encouraging veganism: when we're addressing an audience that is already very sympathetic towards farm animals and/or that has already made changes in their diet. Animal Acres is an example of a place where promoting veganism to visitors and members makes perfect sense. But when we're reaching out to the general public, we'll create more change for farmed animals and get more people to eventually go vegan by making a more moderate initial request.

2) Don't guilt people

Let's all put away those "Meat is Murder" t-shirts, please. It may be true, but the research is clear that guilt-inducing messages are counter-productive. They really do make people less likely to be persuaded. The next time that you're having a conversation with someone about being vegan, don't say things like "Did you know that every time you drink milk, you're paying to have little male calves pulled away from their mother the day they are born and stuffed into veal crates?" While it is good and of course appropriate for us to explain what happens on factory farms, saying "you're causing this" will make the person pull back and be resistant to change. So leave the guilt trip out.

3) First Conform, Then Dissent

People will only doubt their beliefs about eating animals when they find themselves in disagreement with someone who they would expect to agree with, someone who is similar to them. If people perceive you to be very different from them (based on your looks, political beliefs, general lifestyle, etc.), they're going to expect you to hold the wrong opinion. Countless studies have found that people are more likely to be influenced by those who are similar to them in appearance, dress, demeanor, and political beliefs.

If you're going out for an afternoon of veg outreach, try to look as similar as possible to the people you'll be interacting with. It may mean dressing in a way that you don't particularly enjoy, but keep in mind that you're out there to help animals, not to express your self-identity. Furthermore, when you're in a conversation with someone, try to agree with them on other topics of conversation as much as possible and steer clear of any political or religious debates. That will help people decide that you are "one of them," and it will cause them to listen more closely to your reasons for being veg.

(please see * at the bottom of this post for my comment)

Philip:

It's an incredible time now for people interested in psychology with the explosion in the fields of the cognitive sciences, cognitive behavior research and the advancement of knowledge in understanding human behavior as it relates to the brain. What are some of the findings coming out now in this era of cognitive related study that relates to how people might become more compassionate toward non human animals?

Nick:

One thing that research in this area has been finding is just how irrational people are when it comes to analyzing situations and making judgements. For example, one study used an fMRI machine to study the workings of the brain when people were confronted with information that their preferred political candidate had been making contradictory statements. The results indicated that instead of dispassionately analyzing the situtation, people searched for justifications as to why their preferred candidate's statements weren't really contradictory. When they found a justification, they were rewarded with a rush of pleasurable emotion. In other words, our brains reward us for not thinking. These sort of findings make it clear what we are up against in trying to alter anyone's beliefs to make them more compassionate towards animals. Sadly, humans are not the logical, rational creatures we believe ourselves to be. And let's please keep in mind that we animal advocates aren't either!

Philip:

From my experience of living vegan for over 20 years I've evolved into one of those people who tend to think that you'll never reach some humans with a vegan message, never. So, I feel it's important to focus on only those who, with the right information/education will actually go vegan.

For instance, when you meet someone who has the potential let's say to become the next Will Tuttle why waste time on attempting to change someone who is a Ted Nugent personality type?

Is this an accurate or worthwhile strategy?

Nick:

I agree with you. In a world of unlimited time and money, we could focus our efforts on everyone equally. But since we live in a world of very limited time and very limited money, we need to focus on the "low-hanging fruit" - those who are most likely to make a change. This is why groups like Vegan Outreach focus on college students and why peta2 focuses on teenagers - young people are statistically more likely to go veg, and they are much more open-minded than adults, so by focusing our outreach on them we'll create more change and help more animals.

If I'm out passing out veg leaflets and someone wants to argue with me about the issue, I ignore them. There are two many other people out there who are potentially interested in the issue to waste our time on those who are almost surely never going to change.

Philip:

With that said, I also think that when people become psychologically more comfortable about the so called better treatment of farmed animals (like what Prop 2 in California proposed) they will actually increase their consumption of animal products rather than choose to live vegan. That is my experience.

What are your findings in regard to the treatment vs use or the welfare vs abolition argument?

Nick:

Based on the research and my own experience, I would actally strongly disagree with you on this point. This is a long and involved question but let me just note a few points from the research. First, as I discussed earlier, the research clearly indicates that if we want people to make a large change (like going vegan) we'll be more effective by first making a smaller request of them (like meat reduction or vegetarianism). The reason this is the case is that once a person makes a small change, their self-identity shifts - they start to see themselves as someone who cares about farm animals, who enjoys vegetarian food, etc. Similarly, when people vote "yes" on bills like Prop 2 they now start to think of themselves, at least in small part, as someone who cares about farm animals. This will make them more receptive to pro-vegetarian messages they may be given in the future, especially when those messages point out that even with the new legislation animals are still badly mistreated.

Secondly, in terms of treatment versus use, the key question for us advocates is not "what do I believe?" but "what message will create the most behavior change and help the most animals?" Seeing or reading about the suffering of animals will motivate many people to go vegetarian or vegan. Reading a philosophical tract about the inherent rights of animals will motivate far fewer people to make such a switch. That's just human nature - in general, we respond much more to emotional arguments than to logical ones, and we care much more about tangible phenomenon (like suffering and cruelty) than about ideas.

But you don't have to rely on my research or anyone's opinion to answer these questions - they are easily testable. We can look at data on the consumption of animal products in states that have passed anti-confinement legislation, control for population growth and possibly other variables, and see whether or not consumption of animal products went up more in those states than other states. Based on my research I think it's highly likely that consumption went down slightly or stayed the same in thoes states, but the data can speak for itself. Similarly, it is easy to test which message (one focused on animal suffering, or one focused on the philosophical rights of animals) creates more attitude and behavior change in recipients. We at The Humane League have actually done this testing to a limited extent and found the suffering-based messages to be exponentially more effective, but anyone can test this out for themselves.

(Please see * at the bottom of post for my comment)

Philip:

When is a good time to advocate veganism to a friend or family member?

Nick:

I think that living by example, and always being willing to share information, answer questions, and share vegan food is the best way to get friends or family to move towards veganism. We have to remember to never, ever be pushy. The research is clear that people don't like to be told what to do, and if they feel we are trying to convince them of something they will instinctively pull back and become less likely to be persuaded. They need to learn about how and why we are vegan without feeling like we are trying to convince them to be the same way, even if secretly we are.

Philip:

What are a few examples of how people can become more effective advocates for animal rights and living vegan?

Nick:

I think that the best thing that anyone can do to be an advocate for animals is to engage in veg outreach in order to spread the veg message to others. In just a few hours time we can get someone else to go vegetarian or vegan. In other words, in just a few hours time we can do as much good for animals as we will do from our whole lifetime of being vegan! That's pretty amazing to think about.

The most effective techniques I've found are simply getting graphic video, pictures, info and resources into people's hands. Whether it's passing out Vegan Outreach booklets at your local college or music show, spreading Meet Your Meat or other graphic videos to new audiences online, leaving stacks of Veg Starter Kits around your town, using sites like take5save5.com to get veg info in people's hands, or funding online veg advertising, all of these are proven effective ways of creating new vegetarians and vegans.

While we're doing outreach, it's best to keep in mind some of the lessons that I noted earlier, other lessons and techniques outlined in Change of Heart, and the lessons noted in The Animal Activist's Handbook by Bruce Friedrich and Matt Ball, which I recommend.

Philip:

How much does speciesism play a part in keeping people from feeling empathy for the animals who are used by humans for reasons involving exploitation. Reasons such as entertainment, food or scientific research?

Nick:

Seeing non-human animals as different from us because they are not of our species is certainly a major barrier that we as activists have to get past. As I discussed earlier, most people see animals as part of the "out group": those other than ourselves, and therefore not worty of much ethical consideration. We need to work on breaking down those barriers by emphasizing our commonalities with animals: our desire to avoid pain and suffering, our care for those close to us, our pursuit of pleasure and happiness, etc.

One very interestinig thing I learned from my research is that people don't like victims. We often talk about "protecting the innocent," but the research shows that the more innocent a victim is, the less we care about them and the more dissimilar we feel from them. Since animals are particularly innocent and particularly exploited, that means that we are psychologically inclined to feel very different from them and to not have empathy for them. There is no easy way around this, but if we are aware of it we can at least try to recognize it and deal with it when trying to persuade others to live more compassionately.

Philip:

Do you have any final thoughts you would like to add?

Nick:

The reason that I wrote Change Of Heart was to share with other activists the lesson that research can and should play a vital role in our understanding of how to create social change. We all assume we know what motivates people, and therefore what approaches and messages will be most effective, but a lot of our assumptions are wrong. Looking to the research enables us to cut through all the dissenting opinion, infighting, and anecdotal evidence that we use to justify our own positions.

We each have a very limited amount of time on this planet in which to create change for animals. We need to be as intelligent as possible in our advocacy work, and use the messages and approaches that are going to create the greatest amount of behavior change and help the greatest number of animals. Approaching our work with this mentality, and always keeping our eyes open for newer and more effective ways of spreading change, can mean the difference between helping a couple hundred animals in our lifetimes and helping a couple thousand, or even tens of thousands. The animals that are suffering so intensely on factory farms deserve nothing less than our best, most intelligent efforts to free them from misery!

Philip:

Thank you Nick for all you do for the animals and for taking time to have this dialogue.

If anyone would like to learn more about Change Of Heart or read excerpts, please visit http://www.ChangeOfHeartBook.com

* As animal activists if we think it's wrong to kill animals for food... then of course we should never encourage killing them in small steps either.

* The data for this topic, taking into account for human population growth does not yet exist. However, the consumption of "cage free" eggs, "happy meat" and animal products in general have risen in places where so called humane legislation has passed. I strongly disagree with Nick on this point here. I do not think any animal advocacy group should ever encourage humans to use animals for food.

Readers. What do you think?