How to Create a Vegan World: A Pragmatic Approach

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is an awesome book. I strongly suggest this book to anyone on the field of animal rights, vegan activists and so on... I think Tobias has an excellent argument towards vegan activism 2.0. Solid book.

Bought the kindle version, read it in an afternoon. It's one of the best books on the modern animal rights movement I've been able to find. Buying a few print copies to give to friends, too. Def recommend.

This book rocked my 'vegan activist' world! As an activist, I think we need to constantly be aware and up-to-date with the best most effective ways to be activists! I loved how this author came to his conclusions based on scientific studies and surveys - rather than just his 'opinions'. I think this book is a game-changer (it certainly is for me!) and should be required reading for every animal activist. Unfortunately, too many vegans turn off those who are considering either veganism or even cutting down their meat/dairy intake by their negative and 'vegan exclusive' attitudes. This is truly the best book on effective activism that I've read so far! Being pragmatic is key!

This is a wonderful book. Reading it helped me see why my efforts to influence others were off-putting, rather than helpful, and what I could do differently to be more effective. The book also helped me get control of my emotions, which had been taking over, making it difficult for me to be around non-vegans.

This book changes you as a vegan. I could write an essay on why I love this book but to be short: I love how it makes you feel more optimistic about the movement and at the very same time it makes you a lot more effective! I feel more relaxed yet have more impact!! I am not kidding you when I say that my rate in converting people to go vegan has doubled since I started reading his work.

This is the book I will now recommend all animal activists read. If we all asked ourselves the questions this book asks before engaging in conversations and activism on behalf of animals we'd truly be on our way towards swiftly creating a better world for all of us. Thank you for writing this Tobias.

As a vegan struggling to find the balance between living a "nirmal" life and actively promoting the vegan cause, this book really helped me to be a bit less hard on myself when it comes to juggling the two. I believe more vegans would benefit from the books ideas, because we can tend to be very idealistic about our chosen path. A pragmatic, down to earth approach will take us way further than burning ourselves and others out. Loved it! Highly recommend!

Thank you, Tobias Leenaert! This book should be required reading for anyone trying to reduce animal suffering. I learned SO much and am more optimistic, hopeful, inspired, and excited -- Looking forward to putting all I've learned into practice!

This book very eloquently sets forward many of the tools and skills that we can use to help reduce the consumption of animal products and lead to a more sustainable, healthier, more moral society. It points out that we need to be pragmatic and not too idealistic in our approach. We cannot push this on anyone but rather foster growth in those who are already interested and promote a reducitarian mind set in regards to meat overall.

This book is excellent. Gives a great overview of where the vegan movement is right now and how we can most effectively push it to where we all want it to go. Highly recommended!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I really am enjoying the writing and also the message. This book will help me to carry on vegan message in more effective ways. And to feel better about the people and the world in transition.

Probably the most comprehensive book about veganism written to date. If you are a plant eater this is a must read! It will arm you with tools on how to spread the message about you diet and lifestyle to friends and family in a pragmatic, non confrontational and effective way!

A much needed non-dogmatic approach to creating a more just world for animals and people.

Great book for anyone who is interested in animal rights activism (and veganism). Helps you see the most practical approach, and it's also very relevant for any other type of activism.

This book made me feel uncomfortable and challenged at times - but I think that was healthy and well needed. Tobias argue well for a pragmatic approach and whether you wholesomely agree or disagree, this book will raise important question and make you a bit wiser in your convictions

Fantastic book. Well written. Sound information, and accurate facts presented in an easy way. Nothing in your face...just a great read, and I am grateful I read this super book.

Great book to help us all think about betters ways to build community around protecting the earth!

Compelling reasoning behind the strategic communication he advocates for, conveyed in a really conversational and easy to digest way. Helped make the daily conversations that come up in the vegan and environmental communities easier to navigate by sticking to a few key principles. 10/10 would read again.

An extremely useful book for any vegan, who wants to make a real difference in the world, rather than just feel superior and be proud of one's own purity. Reality check! and very engaging to read

Any animal rights advocate needs to read this now.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A well-written book that makes a persuasive and practical case for vegetarian/vegan eating and how this is most effectively promoted. Highly recommended.

An important book to read for those who want to effectively contribute to change things in favour of animals. Very useful indications on how to do effective activism.

This is a fantastic book. Very clearly written and extremely helpful in moving the movement forward.

5 stars ... book as described

This book is so desperately needed - for anyone who's looking to be an effective social change agent. Leenaert's approach is strategic and smart.

YAY!!!

Anyone interested in communications benefits from reading this book. Highly recommended.

This is a great book. It offers a very pragmatic roadmap and approach to achieve a vegan world. I really liked the inclusive approach that leverages a broad set of organizations, both non-profit and for-profit.

Well written, interesting approach to veganism. I recommend it!

Loved this book!!!!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Love it, very informative

A clear and clever book for people concerned about making a real difference with their actions. Provides concrete objectives and food for thought, to better ourselves and maximize our positive influence in the real world !

I really like and agree with the gist of this book. What's frustrating is its repetitiveness of message. It could have conveyed the same, essential points in 25% of the volume. Additionally, the author uses what they claim are diagrams and figures to emphasize points. These so-called diagrams are often a simplistic drawing rather than an actual graph or fact-laden image. For instance, Leenaert might "illustrate" a point with a see-saw, one argument at the bottom, the other at the top. Really not helpful nor necessary. English is not the author's native tongue and they would have been helped greatly by collaboration with a native English speaker or editor.

I am very happy that the book has finally been published. Tobias Leenaert is an inspiring writer and thinker that has already influenced thousands of animal advocates all around the world into practicing pragmatic approach in promoting veganism or plant-based diets. This book is an opportunity to reach even more people and bring about many fantastic campaigns, that will change the world for the better.

I loved this book! It focuses on pragmatic things people can implement when working for the animals. It was insightful and helpful. I recommend it to everyone who is working towards a more animal friendly world.

Wow, this book really lived up to its cost and praise. Tobias helped me realize that I needed to have more appreciation for pragmatists and a pragmatic approach with where the animal rights / vegan movement is today. I was too idealistic with many of my ideas and this book really emphasizes the following point: being EFFECTIVE is more important than being RIGHT if we want to help the most animals as soon as possible. Going to be reading this book a second time over, the information in it was that valuable. Take home messages from this book: vegans tend to overemphasize and overuse moralistic messages in their advocacy. we should welcome health and environmental approaches, and encourage all reasons for people interested in adopting a vegan diet We can leverage supply and demand in businesses to help more animals Psychology around diet and morality is more complex than is typically thought. It is so easy to make logical fallacies as a vegan and this book exposes some of them Don't forget who you were before you were vegan. "vegan amnesia" is a bad thing to have and can set you back in your activism and also help less animals. It is important to be humble in this regard, so you don't become incredibly snarky and morally superior. Be sure to leave a nice email for Tobias after you enjoy the book, he provides it at the end! :)

Tobias Leenaert makes a compelling case for why the vegan movement needs a healthy dose of pragmatism. I already had formed a positive impression of Tobias as a strategic thinker, thanks to a few of his blogposts that I'd read in recent years. But I haven't been the most faithful follower of his blog, so there was plenty in this book I hadn't encountered yet. Tobias makes pragmatic points such as this: while we vegans can all agree that yes, the *animal* argument is the only argument to reduce consumption to zero, the animal argument for vegan eating is at present less relevant socially and politically. Tobias argues that the movement needs more large, vibrant organizations that lead with food (rather than animal rights). Such organizations can successfully do the following things, among others: - Work with producers, restaurants, and other businesses to improve and extend their vegan offerings. - Work with chefs, cooking schools, and educational establishments to raise the bar for vegan cooking and improve training. - Lobby governments on the sustainability and health problems surrounding animal products. - Lobby health and environmental organizations to focus on the problem of animal products. I'd previously heard it argued that "reducers” play an important role in the struggle, but Tobias' gluten-free analogy, combined with the observation that behavior often precedes attitudinal change, helped me to really accept their importance to our movement. If you're not convinced yet, that's okay—you might be, after you give Tobias a chance to make the case. :) Tobias has teamed up with Melanie Joy & Sebastian Joy to morph VEBU (Sebastian’s German organization) into ProVeg International, which has the goal of reducing global animal consumption by 50% by 2040... as a benchmark on the way to the ultimate goal of ending animal exploitation. I do wish the book included the rocket analogy, because I think it's so helpful! Here it is, in a nutshell (as related by Sebastian, last year): Just as much of a rocket’s lifting work happens in the first stage—burning fuel & jettisoning empty tanks, yielding a lighter mass that needs less fuel to propel—the intermediate goal of pragmatic vegans is a substantial reduction of societal dependence on animal consumption. (Such as 50% by 2040.) Once much of the dependence is gone, the remainder of the mission—achieving a vegan world—will become feasible (in part because of the counter-intuitive reality that behavioral change often leads to attitudinal change). An important implication of this gameplan is that those who are “mere" reducers (i.e., those who would be satisfied with a less-than-vegan world) are nevertheless important allies for the first stage of the mission. I'm grateful to Tobias for promoting open-mindedness and empathy. I would love to see our movement grow beyond vilification and shaming. There may be some advocates who read this book and feel he's mistaken about something. If that's you, I hope you'll let your criticism be animated by love, rather than hate. And if you agree with me that it's a valuable read, I hope you'll encourage your activist friends to read it, too.

The animal advocacy movement can be roughly divided in two camps: the realists (or pragmatists) who use methods and strategies that work in the real world where people (meat eaters) suffer from cognitive biases and do not always make rational choices, and the idealists who use methods and strategies that only work in an ideal world where people always behave rationally and would be easily persuaded by rational arguments or indignant judgments ("meat is murder, meat eaters are moral monsters, factory farming is a Holocaust"). If the goal is to achieve a vegan world as fast as possible, a rational strategy uses effective means that not only work in the ideal world but also work in the real world. Hence, effective, rational animal advocates should be realists and should take irrationalities of meat eaters into account. Realist strategies are more effective but cognitively more demanding as they require rational, critical thinking and self-control, whereas idealist strategies are less effective but cognitively less demanding as they are based on spontaneous intuitions and gut feelings that can be very strong but irrational. Tobias prefers the realist or pragmatic approach. this book is a wake up call for all idealist animal advocates, to start being more effective by being more pragmatic.

Solid points, well thought out, and practical applications and examples of pragmatic veganism. Every vegan should read this. Tobias rightly states that this is a multi-pronged challenge to get people to reduce and then hopefully stop consumption of animal products. He makes it clear how extreme views (militant veganism, anti-human setiments) are not helpful to the cause and offers a more sensible way to go about this topic without being "that vegan".

Having read many articles and books about Veganism, and feeling overwhelmed by the information and extent of the industrialization of animal cruelty. This book is absolutely the most important book about advocating for the reduction of suffering for animals. I would say it could be a foundational book for any activist group to set sights on what Steven Covey's habit "Begin with the End in mind" entails. Don't take mine or any other reviewers word for it. It is a book that has to be read with the realization that we all have a part of our ingroup identity that can be threatened when facts run counter to our beliefs.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This book made a big impact on me. It has helped me be a better advocate and more effective in interactions. Tobias presents viewpoints from a fresh perspective. I see hope for changing the world.

Tobias Leenaert, widely known as the Vegan Strategist, has finally condensed years of experience in vegan meta activism into a handy compendium. Making a strong case for a pragmatic, non-ideological approach to creating a vegan world, he provides an in-depth and hard-hitting analysis of established tenets of vegan/animal rights activism. His suggestions often defy vegan orthodoxy and common intuitions and are intenionally thought-provoking. A truly new approach to an immensely relevant topic, this little book offers a wealth of strategic advice. Anyone interested in bringing about effective and sustainable social change for animals ought to read this book and heed its profoundly important insights.

The animal rights movement has been waiting for a book like this. I cannot recommend it enough.

I took some concrete actions to at least be the change I would like to see in the world. There was nevertheless always that feeling that there is more I have to do with it. In this search, the pragmatic approach is not always the one that comes first to my mind, well up to coming in contact with Tobias, it never even came to my mind. I love all the living creatures on this earth and after having read his book, I'm even more affirmative about that. Tobias provide a lot of experience in this book, what worked, what didn't and all explained by facts through history. There are some real concrete guidelines as well as actions for all readers, anywhere you are on your journey. There is vegan in the title, so yes the first target audience are the ones knowing what vegan is. This said, I found it a truly inspiring, positive oriented book and would recommend it to everyone that is in some way or another, wanting to work at a better world for all living creatures!

This is an amazingly practical book that really helped me to re-think my personal animal activism. However, the narrator of the audiobook is HIGHLY ANNOYING every time he takes on a bizarre affected voice when reading quotes from other people. Buy the paper or Kindle version.

This book is really different from most that I've read on this topic, and has led me to examine things from a new perspective. The "you are not your audience" point is an especially critical one to keep in mind, I think—not only in animal advocacy but also in so many areas of life. The pragmatic approach the author proposes makes sense and I can see how it could lead to less frustration and burnout while facilitating faster progress for the cause. Highly recommended!

This is a great resource for vegans who want to step outside the vegan bubble and effect real change in society. Leenaert spends a lot of the book just arguing for a focus on results, pragmatism, and effective altruism. So if you're already on board with an impact-focused approach (caring not about personal purity but instead about maximizing impact) then you might not learn much from those sections. Leenaert's main empirical argument once you accept the pragmatic approach is that we should focus less on purity, consistency, etc. and should instead be willing to work for incremental change because it ultimately has the biggest impact on the food system. He argues (1) Advocates should discuss veganism for the animals, but also include health, environmental, and reducetarianism for certain audiences. (2) Advocates need to utilize the private sector, governments, and non-vegan nonprofit organizations that focus on health and the environment, which requires, to an extent, the health/environmental/reducetarian messages. If you already agree with these conclusions, as most researchers on the topic do, then you might not change your views much after reading this book, though you might find new language and tools for helping other vegans step outside the bubble. If these ideas are new to you, if you feel pushing for incremental change is somehow a betrayal of your vegan ideology, then you could find this book completely overhauling your sense of vegan advocacy and empowering you to make a much bigger impact for the animals.

Fantastic read that should be required from all people who will be living here in fifty years. 5 stars.

A well conceived book. Interesting, not pedantic. A roadmap to a better world

I love this book. It is a breath of reality, rationality, and sanity about, quite simply, changing the world. No small task. Beautifully written too.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I found this a truly inspiring book! It confronts (vegan) readers about their actions and beliefs in how best to convince people to eat less meat or become a vegan or vegetarian. It forces you to look in the mirror. It is very well-written with plenty of scientific data and research to back up his arguments.

I found myself nodding in agreement as I read this thoughtful, well-reasoned, empirically grounded book. It provides cogent, actionable guidance for activists, and I recommend it highly.

This book challenges your thoughts and vision, and at the same time, gives you hope and trust about the future of our world, for human beings and other animals. I especially loved the 5th chapter, about "Encouraging every step", which gives a lot of practical advise.

This is the one. I'm a huge fan of Tobias Leenaert's Vegan Strategist blog (and have occasionally written for it). It's filled with compassionate, humane, pragmatic, and, most importantly, *effective* advice for building a vegan world, and now that wisdom is all distilled in this book. Another plus: this book's very clear and concise prose.

This is arguably the best book on the market right now for how to most effectively change how we raise animals for foods. For anyone interested in changing the attitudes and behaviors of others, I highly recommend it.

Highly intelligent, interesting and relevant read for everyone involved in the vegan movement, but also in any movement towards a better world. My hope is that it will be so influential en effective that it will make itself useless.

Hard to consider this 'text' as a legitimate way to move towards "Veganville", when the author states in the beginning "When I write about vegans, I also include vegetarians. When the difference between both is significant, I write vegetarians and vegans". If this is the case, is the author trying to create a genuine "vegan" world, or a "vegan" world by his definition where it is "vegetarian"? It is also concerning that the author promotes "Effective" Altruism, the biased "Animal Charity Evaluators" and talks about wild animal "suffering". There is more that I could add, though I am sure I will be labelled as "purist", "dogmatic", or even "the vegan police", for this small review...

Really nice book for vegan people. It's well writen and provides a nice guide for vegans to achieve their common goal of reducing animal exploitation. The book is full of examples and nice references to explain common dilemas among vegans. I trully recommend reading this book!

Highly recommend this book! It is a well-written, well-thought out argument for the need for inclusiveness and pragmatism at this point in the vegan movement. We are too early in the movement to expect or insist upon a binary overnight switch where the world suddenly flips to becoming vegan. Leenaert articulates a compelling and clear case for how we can have the most impact on reducing animal suffering by helping the masses reduce their intake of animal products. He points out that oftentimes beliefs follow behaviour rather than the other way around. Helping people eat more vegan meals will ultimately help them understand that eating vegan is both attainable and delicious and make them more open to further reducing their animal product intake. And as their consumption of animal products falls (for any reason -- health, environment, etc.) will often make them more open to sharing concerns over farmed animal rights. He also raises convincing points about why we should aim to reduce in-fighting in the vegan movement and stop worrying about whether someone is sufficiently vegan to use the label to describe themselves. All in all, a great read that is jam packed with thoughtful content to help us focus on maximizing impact in the vegan movement.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in doing good for animals, humans and themselves. The author offers a thoroughly researched approach looking at the actual impact we are having with advocacy. This way to a vegan world is very inclusive and compassionate. The author explains how we aren’t helping anyone when we feel guilty or make others feel guilty, but can instead focus on how to support everyone who helps! And that includes meat eaters, reducers, vegetarians, health fanatics, environmentalists, disruptive businesses etc. The book gives many very interesting examples on how behavior and systems actually change. On a personal level, I have to add that this book at its core with its warm-hearted rationality has a very convincing and strong optimistic message. I find that very nurturing, supportive and motivating.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I just love this book. Well and eloquently written, it works it's way into the heart of anyone who is even remotely sympathetic to the plight of animals, a healthier lifestyle or the sustainability of our planet. It gives us all a pretty clear roadmap of getting to where animal lovers would like to go, often pushing us into a direction which might seem counterintuitive upon being confronted with it, but it all makes perfect sense before you flipped (or tapped on) the last page. After reading this book, optimism reigns supreme, not only because of being a somewhat part-time vegan won't feel like an absolute failure in the grand scheme of things, but also because there is still a ton of work that needs to be done, and this book will help us all get there.

This book is an amazing tool to more effective advocacy in general, and for the Vegan cause specifically. Tobias argues that a more pragmatic approach might bring us faster to our destination than the idealistic approach, and backs that argument up with solid observation, scientific findings and historical examples. Absolutely essential read for anybody who wants to change the world!

An entertaining, important read, even for a person who was already familiar with the Animal Rights movement and the idea of Effective Altruism. Incredibly informative especially for people not engaged in the AR movement for sure, full of details about maximizing impact on animals and being pragmatic in your efforts. I truly enjoyed reading this book and picked up useful tips.

This is the book that is going to change the world! Every vegan should read it! It's incredibly unique and it presents an innovative more effective method to achieve what all vegans want to achieve. If all vegans applied the principles that this book describes, we would all live in a much better world. This book enriched me and opened my mind. I am very grateful to have learned so much from it!

Fantastic book that gives a perfect overview on how we can create a sustainable and ethical food system. The book gives in depth insights on how our behaviour and way of thinking works and how to use this knowlegde to change our behaviour when it comes to eating.

A book every ethical vegan should read! I found the ideas presented in the book pertinent, insightful and meaningful, and every piece of advice very practical and practicable. Read it ESPECIALLY if you haven't been vegan for very long!

What an inspiration! Every activist should read this.

The book is exactly what I was looking for, i.e. it is useful for someone who's been vegan for a few years and is wondering why animal rights issues are not making faster progress in our society considering that the information can be easily accessed through social media and documentaries. Why is there so much resistance to change and what can be done about it? I have experienced so much resistance to moral arguments even from highly intelligent people that I have concluded - in line with the book- a range of approaches is needed to create a vegan world. This is exactly what the book offers - a pragmatic and less idealistic approach. Personally, I liked the author's honest, self-reflective style which made me think that he's 'one of us'- he's experienced all the ups and downs himself. Secondly, his arguments are convincing because they are backed up by research/ studies. I definitely learnt a lot from reading the book e.g. about the abolition of slavery etc, and it also challenged my views. Finally, I found it an uplifting book. It made me more understanding of why others can be so resistant to change and more positive about successes, e.g. the availability of plant based products that might lead to more people changing their lifestyles if they enjoy them. The book strengthened my belief in creating a vegan world - by reaching out to others, by being open to different approaches and by winning people over with better, new alternatives.

Tobias has an engaging writing style, and his book is truly thought-provoking. Although some may find his approach somewhat alternative - even, perhaps, controversial - if we are sincere about paving the way for a kinder and more compassionate world, we need to sit up and listen. Although veganism is growing, the movement is still in its early days and vegans remain in the minority. Our passion and drive to speak up for the animals can, at times, unintentionally alienate those who would otherwise be allies. We need to recognise this, take a step back, and realise that we are not our audience. Tobias eloquently turns long-held assumptions on their heads and explores why 'Facts Don't Change Our Minds", "Awareness is Overrrated", and how "Attitude Change Can Follow Behavioural Change" more often than we might expect. He argues that we can, and should, use whatever non-moral argument that can help people change their behaviour. "Creating a substantial group of (animal product) reducers may be the quickest means to change the system" - the quickest way to a better world for the animals, for our planet, for us. And, isn't this what we all want? A refreshing read.

This book is pretty controversial and a lot of vegans will not like it because it explores the middle ground and invites people to reduce their meat consumption if they don't feel able to fully commit to a vegan lifestyle. However, the author is wiser than most and realises that the best way to help animals is to bring more people into the vegan fold, albeit one step at a time. Personally, I think he's spot on and I fully support his approach. The book is very well written and is an accessible and interesting read. I would recomend this book to vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters alike.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tobias Leenaert is a somewhat controversial figure within the vegan movement. Some of this controversy could be dissipated by reading this book and listening to him speak. I enjoyed this book. My beliefs were also challenged by this book. Those two sentences shouldn't be mutually exclusive. I would recommend this book to all vegans, if only to promote a more nuanced advocacy. If we are genuinely trying to work strategically towards a vegan world of 8 billion people, this will require a range of tactics, the ability to question and be responsive to what works, and also to step outside of our comfort zones. This will not be easy, but the strategies proposed in this book will help. I think it is very healthy to always be prepared to test the foundations of our intellectual principles. This book resonates with the words of the philosopher John Locke: 'try all things, hold fast that which is good.'

Practical, insightful, realistic... this is the one vegan advocacy book that hits the nail on the head with solving the animal rights crisis. I've read many books on activism, and while many are brilliant in their own right, this is the only book that truly explains a practical approach to long term, sustainable change. Tobias argues that disruptive tactics simply further the delineation between omnivore and vegan, which ultimately leads to segregation as opposed to a united front against the common enemies of global disharmony and global warming. But this isn't a book of criticism, Tobias suggests effective alternatives, a solid plan anyone can partake in to change the behavior of omnivorous people to eat less animal products or completely remove them, which he argues (and proves) will eventually lead to a change in beliefs on animal welfare and their standing in society. In short: If you want practical guidelines for making huge change, read this book and take notes. It is a clear, easy to digest manual on effective altruism and promoting the vegan cause.

If all vegan activists read and acted on the wealth of knowledge, rational, and wisdom in this book - the world would become vegan so much faster. It's understandable why the vegan movement is so emotionally charged, but we can't let that get in the way of effective activism that is ACTUALLY going to get the world to go vegan - this book is a great way to start acting with reason and efficacy rather than emotion which, while right and true, mostly goes unheard and too often makes people less open to a gradual change to veganism.

The book is at once compelling - a rallying call to a better world - and at the same time a display of how you would wish more people would think about more things (and not just when it comes to our relationship with non human animals). It is genuinely inspiring. You cannot help but be full of admiration for Tobias Leenaert. He gives us a glimpse of how the world we all want might one day be attainable. I cannot recommend the book highly enough.

Really enjoyed this book, very well written with lots of well thought out commonsense strategies for sucessful advocacy. The outlines the best way to achieve lasting change and how to keep the overall focus on saving animals lives and not getting too obsessed with achieving a moral goal right away. Controversial in parts and may be hard to take for purists, but as a vegan myself I can see how these strategies may achieve the objective more effectively than full on hard core tactics. Tobias also supplies a further reading list and websites of interest which I am working my way through also. Great resource for activists/advocates.

A very informative but also self aware collection of thoughts that had a rare theme of inclusiveness and a genuine level of empathy. Most importantly it is well written and can only help more people ask themselves if perhaps they could and should do more We all can and must. The references throughout have also meant my reading list is definitely longer now!

Absolutely brilliant book. Every Vegan needs to read this. would thoroughly recommend for all vegan activists who want to make as much difference for animals as we can by being as effective as possible. Our movement could benefit hugely from analysing where we are , what the best strategies are at this stage, what strategies have been proven by data to be effective etc which this book does very well. It provides a very good insight and perspective into the reducitarian/meatless monday/etc vs abolitionist approach debate also. I am extremely glad I took the time to read this book. I would also recommend checking out Tobias's speeches on the vegan Kanal youtube channel.

Essential reading for new and seasoned vegetarians and vegans - or indeed anyone interested in progressive social change - full of practical, evidence-based guidance on how to speak with people who don't necessarily agree with you without alienating them, how to think about the relative importance of idealism and pragmatism in different contexts, and when (and how) it can be useful to take ethics off the table. My only regret is not reading this sooner.

This has application to many areas not just animal welfare and anyone interested in the future of this planet can find something of use and interest in this book. A how to of doing something at least rather than aiming for perfection and achieving nothing.

A must read for all vegans! Offers key and practical ideas for vegan advocacy

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A must read for all vegan activists out there, as well as for people that are thinking of going vegan. Very well written, interesting sources, very practical tips on how to deal with the step by step approach without being frustrated that change takes (too) so long. Warmly recommended.

Interesting and pragmatic point of view, and as a vegan I can only agree with the author.

Every vegan needs to read this book.

Great book. Highly recommended!

I highly recommend this book for any person who wants to help the animals but is not sure how to go about this (sometimes overwhelming) task. You will find here a rational, non-dogmatic strategy that will help you become a more effective advocate for the animals. Advice and ideas are abundant in this book and need to be considered with an open mind. For me personally, Chapter 4 (Environment: making things easier) was especially inspiring, the connection between the vegan movement and business being something I was just starting to think about. After reading this book I feel better prepared to talk about veganism and have a few ideas about what I can do to help make veganism an easier choice for others. I am only sorry I did not purchase the hard copy (I got the kindle version instead), because I feel I will want to browse this book every once in a while.

Es mag nicht jedem Veganer gefallen, aber Leenaert plädiert für schrittweise Hinwendungen zum Veganismus, zu Kulanz und Kompromisslösungen, alles zum Zwecke der größeren Wirksamkeit der Bewegung. Den Tieren, um die es ihm vor allem geht, ist am meisten und am schnellsten geholfen, wenn so schnell wie möglich so wenig tierische Produkte wie möglich nachgefragt und verzehrt werden. Dazu muss nicht Jede_r gleich zum Voll-Veganer werden. Das ist unbequem, weil viele Veganer_innen moralische Überzeugungen haben (mich eingeschlossen), die unteilbar sind. Entweder ganz oder gar nicht. Aus strategisch-aktivistischer Sicht kann sich das aber auch anders darstellen, nämlich wie von Leenaert vorgeschlagen. Mich hat der Ansatz überzeugt. Da muss man in Diskussionen mit Omnivoren sich selbst eben mal zurückstellen.

The animal rights movement is trying to establish a vegan lifestyle in the society for decades. Unfortunately with moderate success. The reason why there is no real success although this topic is so important in an ethical and environmental way, not to say for our health, is the lack of strategic thinking in the movement. Dogmatism changes nothing. Tobias Leenaert describes the psychologic mechanisms, which keeps people away to adopt a vegan lifestyle and show a more promising way to convince people. For example is it way more effective to get people to behavior changes through little steps instead of the all or nothing message "go vegan". Tobias Leenaert runs the website The Vegan Strategist (Google it!). So you can make an impression of the quality of his knowledge. In the book all his knowledge is crafted into a systematic piece of gold for an effective animal rights movement. Enjoy!

One of the most important books in the vegan movement. I can recommend this book to every vegan, especially those who like to arguing about veganism or are active in the animal rights movement. It helps to change your own perspective to the perspective of these people who we like to join us (vegetarians and omnivores). Great book!

I really loved this book, it is a bible of common sense regarding vegetarianism and veganism, really supports the common person to follow through the path from omnivore to vegan, wherever point he/she is. I don’t think my review does justice to the book, it has so many good points I didn’t mention, but since I’m lazy, I’m stopping here, but everybody remotely curious or interested in how to deal with our meat culture or with the conflicts in the life of somebody going vegetarian will benefit from reading this book.

I wish I'd finished it sooner! Something that every 'freshly converted' vegan should read before ranting and venting on social medias, especially with trolls. Because it's true, we tend to be the most fanatical vegans out there... That book was a little water in my wine !

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I really enjoyed this book, and recommend it to anyone interested in reducing animal suffering. It's thought-provoking, well-written and compelling. Gave me alot to think about as I make decisions about which charities to donate to, and also about how I interact with others as a vegan. Bravo!

As a new vegan, I found myself being very disillusioned with my social circle, family, and the world around me in general. I thought I was going to be depressed about the world for the rest of my life now, as the problems seem insurmountable. This book gave me hope, and allowed me to put veganism in perspective, while still motivating me to keep doing the right thing for the planet, animals, and our fellow earthlings.

O livro apresenta varias indicações práticas de como tornar o nosso ativismo em torno da causa animal mais efetivo. É muito bem escrito e contém vários gráficos e estatísticas que nos ajudam a compreender melhor o cenário do veganismo atual. Recomendo a todos os vegetarianos e veganos, porque não basta tirarmos os alimentos de origem animal do nosso prato; para sermos realmente valorosos na vida dos animais devemos dialogar com nossos familiares e amigos sobre nosso propósito, e convida-los a se juntarem a nós.

This book is incredibly eye opening! I’ve been vegan for some years and sometimes I feel books might be a little repetitive because I’m always watching talks or reading articles. But this book had so much in depth information. A must have for anyone wanting to help make a better world. Absolutely loved it. Just buy it!

Das Buch sollte jeder Veganer gelesen haben, der so viele Menschen wie möglich in Veganville bei sich haben möchte. Ich kann mich den Kritikern nur anschließen: hätte ich das Buch eher gelesen, hätte ich mich in vielen Situationen anders verhalten und andere Perspektiven eingenommen. Pragmatismus ist hier das Stichwort. Gut geschrieben, durch Beispiele sehr verständlich gemacht. Top!

An outstanding book for anyone wanting to make a positive difference for animals or interested in smart strategy. It's refreshing to read a book that has such a pragmatic approach. The ideas are clearly laid out and spot on. *Highly recommended* for anyone who cares about being as effective as possible for animals.

What an essential book. Leenaert has tremendous empathy for the complexities of being human. It's why he is able to render a well researched, entertaining, and psychologically diverse path towards a world that is vegan. This book is inclusive and intelligent, and like all worthy narratives it's something that everyone can/should read to see where they fit in. This book really turns the traditional rhetoric of veganism on its head and lets us see it from new perspective. It's bright, positive, and exceptionally articulate. We have a new thought-leader .

Tobias Leenaert’s HOW TO CREAT A VEGAN WORLD is what I consider one of the few blueprints to a harmonies world. This is a MUST-READ book for meat-reducers, vegetarians, vegans, animal rights advocates, animal lovers, or anyone who wants to focus on the “effectiveness” of creating a planet-base diet world.

Un libro che chi si occupa di attivismo dovrebbe obbligatoriamente leggere

As a vegan this book gave me so much perspective over veganism, how to live it and how to address it with other people in a non toxic way, very happy about it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I read Tobias Leenaert's book in 2 days. It is very well written and structured, with tons of information and facts that are explained in a pragmatic way. This book gives me hope for the animal cause.

Just bought this week the Kindle edition, and as a former hard core idealist, I must say it is the most down to earth and pragmatic - as well as action oriented- vegan book I’ve read to date. Well done Tobias. Regards from Spain.

This book really helped me to overthink my relation to non vegans and my personal approach to convince them.

The best book about veganism and animal rights I have ever read. The author offers realistic and effective ways to help animals and talk about veganism.

La voix de la raison dans le monde de l'activisme végétalien. Un ouvrage assez radical dans les idées maïs écrit d'un ton modéré.

Let us be slow-thinkers Where are we standing? Where are we heading? What is our plan for change? And most importantly, are we being effective? Animal advocators should make themselves these questions periodically. This book is a thought-provoking introduction to a more reflexive way of activism. Straightforward and written in a very accessible language, this is a great starting point for activists seeking sustainable change.

Hard to consider this 'text' as a legitimate way to move towards "Veganville", when the author states in the beginning "When I write about vegans, I also include vegetarians. When the difference between both is significant, I write vegetarians and vegans". If this is the case, is the author trying to create a genuine "vegan" world, or a "vegan" world by his definition where it is "vegetarian"? It is also concerning that the author promotes "Effective" Altruism, the biased "Animal Charity Evaluators" and talks about wild animal "suffering". There is more that I could add, though I am sure I will be labelled as "purist", "dogmatic", or even "the vegan police", for this small review...

Highly recommend this book! It is a well-written, well-thought out argument for the need for inclusiveness and pragmatism at this point in the vegan movement. We are too early in the movement to expect or insist upon a binary overnight switch where the world suddenly flips to becoming vegan. Leenaert articulates a compelling and clear case for how we can have the most impact on reducing animal suffering by helping the masses reduce their intake of animal products. He points out that oftentimes beliefs follow behaviour rather than the other way around. Helping people eat more vegan meals will ultimately help them understand that eating vegan is both attainable and delicious and make them more open to further reducing their animal product intake. And as their consumption of animal products falls (for any reason -- health, environment, etc.) will often make them more open to sharing concerns over farmed animal rights. He also raises convincing points about why we should aim to reduce in-fighting in the vegan movement and stop worrying about whether someone is sufficiently vegan to use the label to describe themselves. All in all, a great read that is jam packed with thoughtful content to help us focus on maximizing impact in the vegan movement.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.