Glenn's blog

A lot of conversations about animal rights activism deals with whether or not to advocate for veganism as the solution to issues of animal exploitation and mistreatment.

I've been thinking that this solution-oriented approach may not necessarily be the best option in many cases. The reason being that much of the time when doing outreach on the street we are talking to people who don't think that animals are worthy of concern or who don't realize the extent to which animals are mistreated and exploited.

We all need to see that there is a problem before we seek a solution. If I feel that animals don't have rights or haven't ever really thought about the issue, then what good is a long conversation about going vegan?

A prerequisite to advocating for the solution (veganism) is awakening concern and respect for animals. Otherwise we're just trying to offer a solution to a problem that isn't there, as far as our audience is concerned.

So, how can we work to awaken a concern for animals in a large percentage of the population?