The articles on this blog are intended for everyone who is interested in reducing our massive consumption of animal products, for whatever reason. They are about strategies and ways of communication, but also about the personal challenges of being an effective activist for animals. As of November 2024, this blog is continued on tobiasleenaert.substack.com.
My name is Tobias Leenaert. I am the author of How to Create a Vegan World: a Pragmatic Approach (Lantern Press, 2017), which has been published in fourteen languages. I think about strategy and give presentations world-wide about the plant based movement and about vegan advocacy, to companies or NGOs, at universities and conferences.
I’m also co-founder of ProVeg International, a pro-vegan food awareness organization that wants to reduce the consumption of animal products worldwide with 50% by 2040. And I identify as an Effective Altruist. I think about the best ways to achieve a compassionate society. I’m also a slow opinionst.
I told myself I had to be a vegan more than ten years before I actually became one. I just loved meat too much. At university, someone finally helped me to stop eating it. I started to read, and wrote my master’s thesis about the human-animal relationship. By the time I graduated, the only thing I wanted to do was to help farmed animals. There were no opportunities in Belgium, so I went to the US for six months to do internships at various non-profits. Coming back, I cofounded EVA (Ethical Vegetarian Alternative– now Proveg Belgium), which in 2005 became the first veg organisation in the world to receive structural funding from its government. In 2009 we convinced our city of Ghent to become the first city in the world to officially support a weekly vegetarian day. I left my position as director in 2015, and apart from my work for Proveg, I’m also an independent speaker, consultant and writer.
I live in a hilly region in Belgium, together with my girlfriend Melanie, who runs our small animal sanctuary/B&b Feathery Forest. We rent out a cozy forest cabin to visitors.
You can book me for talks and panels, in companies, at conferences, for business, lay and activist audiences. I talk about everything that has to do with the protein transition, animal welfare, effective altruïsm, and other topics.
contact info:
tobias.leenaert@gmail.com
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter: @tobiasleenaert
Check out some of the videos on my other site, www.veganstrategist.org. Also, here are some audio and video interviews with me:
English
- How the animal movement can do better – on Humane Hangouts
- On What Matters Most
- On Our Henhouse
- On The Alcohol and Addiction podcast
- On The Vegan Entrepreneur
- On the Morality is Hard podcast
Dutch
- De onstuitbare opmars van de planteneter – de Rudi en Freddie show (2022)
- Werkt veganisme averrechts? – Studio Plantaardig (2022)
- Over het pad naar een vegan wereld – De Vrije Gedachte (2024)
- Op de podcast bij Janneke van der Meulen (2024)
- Dierenwelzijn: de goedkoopste manier om levens te verbeteren (2022)? – effectief doneren podcast
See more podcasts (in English and Dutch) here.
The Vegan Strategist logo pictures the road to veganism as not straight, but windy. It was developed by Thrive-Creative
Copyright: you can translate or publish whatever you want of this site, wherever you want. Just put something like: original article by Tobias Leenaert, www.veganstrategist.org.
I too took a long time to come (longer than you took) to realize that the horrors we are inflicting on feeling organisms are humankind’s biggest crime (yes crime) and by far the biggest moral problem of all and “I Am Ashamed to Have Been a Vegetarian for 50 Years”.
Excellent web site/ blog, thanks a lot for your commitment, thoughts, and for EVA too. Go Vegan to change the world. Merci. Regards. K&M
Very interesting site and really great work!!
Best regards + Liebe Gruesse!!
Andrea
I wanted to thank you for this site and the guidance you offer to vegans trying to convert others. I’ve just finished transitioning to vegetarianism and have found I feel “attacked” by vegans when they find out I still consume dairy and eggs (albeit, very small amounts). It is very likely that I will end up vegan but when existing vegans make me feel bad about where I am in my journey, I end up feeling alienated and discouraged. I stop asking questions, I stop trying to learn more about veganism and I most certainly stop hanging out with those particular vegans. I really appreciate that you are advocating for a more supportive, gentle approach when its appropriate because THAT approach, is the one that will bring me to veganism instead of strict, shaming activism, which is more likely to actually drive me back to being omni.
Kristyn, it is heartening to hear your opinion, as I know this feeling well. And isn’t it great that we have people like Tobias who can lead the way in understanding just how important step by step is?
I, too, am tired of being “attacked” by people – for example, when responding to a comment made by a (true life, not just FB) friend about veganism. People who are complete strangers, have no idea about me or my background and circumstances. Many of these radicals have choice in their lives, whereas those of us who have no or limited choice do the best we can – but in their eyes that is not enough!
Keep going with whatever it is that you can truly achieve, Kristyn. 🙂
U really don’t need any support in order to stop supporting cruelty and exploitation of cows and chickens. I never needed vegan friends to tell me what to do. There are millions of YT videos giving answers to your questions, Earthling Ed, David Ramms, Joey Carbstrong, Mic The Vegan… Veganism is about our victims not about our ego and insecurity.
And the problem is that all of the sources you mentioned are biased because they tend to take a “militant/extremist/abolitionist” approach toward veganism, which is exactly what this website is against. And not even just that, but here’s the thing – if we really want to encourage more and more people to go vegan to begin with, then how does negatively judging people who are non-vegan (including those who are actually taking advantage of Meatless Mondays or are even flexitarian, pescatarian, or vegetarian) help at all? It doesn’t. The best way to promote veganism in general is by taking a friendly and pragmatic approach, and by also trying to get non-vegans to take “reducetarian” steps too.
This website basically agrees with what I and several other animal rights activists, animal welfarists, environmentalists, and nutritionists believe too – which is that people in general should make it their eventual goal to reduce their current consumption of animal products by like, say, 90%. Industrial livestock farming (a.k.a. “factory farming”) is a major animal welfare and environmental catastrophe, not to mention that the human employees who are forced to work in them suffer severe physical and mental trauma, and are often exposed to pathogens that spread very quickly to all nearby people and start pandemics. And the sad truth is that factory farming comprises the vast majority of all animal products that people eat worldwide. Even over-hunting and over-fishing certain wild prey animal species to the point where they are becoming [near] extinct is a major problem in most parts of the world too.
However, it is still a fact that even a vegan diet and lifestyle is never “100% cruelty-free”, and that wild animals and the environment are harmed in the production of crop farming too. Veganism is just about generally minimizing harm – unless of course, we’re comparing industrial crop farming to sustainable livestock farming, or pretty much all crop farming period to hunting and fishing wild prey animal species in moderation. In fact, I do agree that hunting and fishing wild prey animal species in moderation can help to prevent wildlife overpopulation, and that livestock animals on sustainable farms have generally better and longer lives than wild prey animals do too (and this includes the wild prey animals who DO have a lot of nonhuman predators as well).
But the problem of course, is that with a world population of 7-8 billion people today, it is nowhere near possible for them to all eat animal products and still be “ethical/environmental omnivores”, so to speak. And this is why we are trying to promote veganism as much as possible, but only in a correct and science-based manner. I am also not denying the fact that a vegan diet isn’t QUITE as healthy as a conscientious “omnitarian” diet is either, and we have evolutionary history that proves this too. However, veganism isn’t about living the 100% healthiest diet possible and it never has been. But the fact still remains that the vast majority of people today can still survive at least fairly healthily on a vegan diet (although I still fully admit that not everybody can…even after supplementing as well).
Yes, eating too many or the wrong kinds of animal products is not any healthier than being vegan is – but that goes without saying. However, when people start making claims like: “Humans are biological herbivores”, “Non-vegan products are causing people to live shorter and worse lives than vegan products are”, etc., we know that these claims are not science-based at all. Most vegetarians and vegans can live just as long and good lives as meat-eating people can too, yes, but many meat-eating people in general also don’t take care of their bodies well in other aspects too (i.e.; they don’t physically exercise very often, consume too many drugs, etc.). In other words: Correlation isn’t causation.
So, long story short – I am all about promoting veganism, but for the right reasons and in the right manner. And that’s what this website has always been aiming for too.
It’s good to find another vegan who thinks similarly to me in the way we try to promote veganism. I have never believed that moralising, however well intentioned or kindly done, is an effective way to encourage others to follow. Like any basic animal instinct, humans are driven primarily by their immediate needs, so we must present it in a non-threatening way that is easy to understand and follow, such that the benefits to themselves easily appear to outweigh the disadvantages (i.e. a no-brainer) – but without necessarily seeking to convert people directly. For it to work, it has to be their choice, they must own that newly found belief and be allowed to become their own advocates free from guilt and shame. When we impose, we fail! Please keep up the great work!
Sarah – see my reply to Kristyn! You are another one who has a similar approach to my own, and I find it encouraging to know your opinion. Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you Tobias! This is truly an inspiring site!
thanks, glad you enjoy 🙂
Thank you, Tobias, for your intellectual and approachable articles! I’ve learnt a lot! Keep writing and inspiring!
Shuman
Ik had graag een kleine kanttekening gemaakt bij een alinea uit jouw boek.
“In addition to these ethical concerns, vegans may be worried about environmental pollution and animal agriculture’s contribution to climate change, as well as how raising animals or crops for feed skews a food system that leaves millions of people hungry. That said, these last two worries may be thought of as “indirect” reasons in the light of many vegans’ fundamental belief that animals should not be used instrumentally.”
Voor mij zit het net omgekeerd. Het niet meer willen eten van vlees/vis, de hele bio-industrie en het dierenleed dat daardoor veroorzaakt wordt, was voor mij de reden om vegetariër te worden. Maar het is “the bigger picture” die mij steeds meer richting het veganisme trekt. Omdat veganisme net de lijn doortrekt naar het grotere geheel. Het is niet uitsluitend uit liefde voor dieren en respect voor hun rechten dat je weigert dierlijke producten te nuttigen. Althans, voor mij toch. Het gaat me ook om de impact van de hele bio-industrie op het milieu – en zelfs op de voedselvoorziening voor de mens zelf. Belangrijkste voorbeelden zijn hoe de graanproductie grotendeels voor de bio-industrie bestemd zijn, terwijl datzelfde graan zoveel hongerige mensenmonden zou kunnen voeden. Of hoe ons grondwater vervuild wordt door de antibiotica dat standaard en roekeloos gebruikt wordt in de bio-industrie. Maar veganisme gaat ook verder dan dat. Het is een bewuste ecologische en duurzame keuze die langzaam doortrekt in je algemene koopgedrag. Hoe je niet alleen voedsel, maar ook kledij, cosmetica en gebruiksvoorwerpen wilt aankopen waarbij niet alleen geen dierenleed, maar ook geen mensenleed veroorzaakt werd – waarvoor eerlijke lonen in humane werkomstandigheden worden uitbetaald, duurzame materialen worden gebruikt, de belasting voor het milieu zo laag mogelijk gehouden wordt. Duurzaamheid en veganisme gaan voor mij hand in hand en dat strekt zich zoveel verder uit dan enkel het voedsel dat ik eet. De “indirecte redenen” zijn voor mij net de hoofdredenen. Het totaalplaatje om tot een betere wereld te komen.
You’re an idiot, bleeeeeh, vegan shit makes people absolute losers.
Hi Tobias, I’m glad I found your website and video talk. I’ve always thought of animal rights activists as extremists: people so fixed on their ideology, not open to any conversation except aggressively stating their opinion. I avoided them at all cost. Thanks for opening my mind to the fact that there are others. I’m not vegan (well maybe 80%), but I care a lot about animals, the planet and the impact we as people have. I also felt, and in part still feel, uncomfortable with the label “vegan”, especially when talking to people not familiar with the term or the ideology. I found your point that everyone is different and therefore needs a different approach to “get enlightened” a very valid one. I would like to hear more on your opinion to translate that into practice. By the way, I’m a scientist, so I like data and facts to make my opinion.
Hello sir….I am Tsering Diskit from India…….happy to see you work on animal and human relationship…..I am also a vegetarian…..I don’t like to eat meat of others animals…..I feel pity because they also have a soul and also they want happiness….when I saw them killed I feel very sad……
I just read this blog with happiness about your vegan advocacy but also with equal happiness and fascination about your strategy for changing people’s minds. It’s a powerful strategy for inducing many social changes.
I’m seeing the term “plant-based” diet everywhere now and I think that’s a great way to allow non-vegans to feel good about changing their eating habits (without feeling preached at) and hopefully making their way to full vegans. It’s helped me.
I can’t wait to read more of your work.
Tobias, your site is not only encouraging, entertaining, informative, fair – and SLOW OPINION (good!) but seeing that it attracts comments that are supportive, in agreement, enheartened, learning, and also a very typical “can only use aggression about something they disagree with” as opposed to constructive opinion, but everyone has a right to express their viewpoint – you must be doing it right, to reach such a cross section of the human world. 🙂
If we can make sense to just one human, and help at least one animal, then that is the foundation for the building of greater things.
Looking forward to reading more of your older posts and keeping up with your new ones.
thank you Clare, glad to have you around 🙂
Your book is truly life-changing Tobias! Thank you for the important work you are doing to help build a better world for animals, people, and the planet 🌎🥹🫶🏼