r/VeganActivism

Abstract: Recently, social scientists, practitioners and advocates have dedicated increasing attention towards engaging the political right in animal advocacy (e.g., Jenni et al., 2026). This growing focus on conservative outreach reflects a broad concern about polarisation. While this concern is legitimate, it may obscure equally important challenges in the movement’s ability to sustainably engage the political left. In this commentary we explore the extent to which animal advocacy is already successful among left-leaning audiences and whether left-wing attitudinal support for animal advocacy translates into meaningful behavioural change (e.g., diet change, advocacy efforts, donating to animal charities). Last, we explore under what circumstances targeted social change is more effectively achieved by mobilising a cohesive, committed minority and when it is more appropriate to seek bipartisan support. Drawing on evidence from the behavioural sciences we argue for greater empirical attention to the forms, limits, and sources of left-wing inertia within animal advocacy.

Does the Billie Eilish event feel like a significant step for the animal rights movement? Will it shift the Overton window into allowing more space for and encouraging discussion about how humans relate to and treat other sentient beings?

I don't know if I recall a celebrity ever speaking out for animals like this before and it having this much of an impact on the social consciousness and topical conversations. There was Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar win speech, which exposed the "dairy" industry's treatment of cows and calves, but I don't think it got as much mainstream attention as this.

And it seems especially notable and significant considering it's specifically highlighting the animals themselves and the human-animal relationship, and advocating for not contributing to animals' exploitation and slaughter, or at least not "eating" them - which is one of multiple actions which cause those things to happen to animals.

Usually a celebrity if anything might say something about "meat" being bad for the environment, or a plant-based diet being healthier – or crediting it for their own health improvement.

E.g. comments by James Cameron, who is apparently vegan and making a documentary about Billie Eilish's concert where she had fully plant-based catering, and often publically speaks about the impact of animal products on the environment and health.

Or the plant-based rapper/actor Common, who has on multiple occasions attributed a plant-based diet to his health and youthfulness, but unfortunately allegedly wears cow leather on the show Silo, despite saying he's "vegan" as most people have a different understanding of the word and think it's just a diet rather than an ethical stance for animals' rights and against their exploitation – as well as the abundance of vegan leather alternatives, which are more rather than less environmentally sustainable, whether synthetic or even more so if plant-based, not to mention any kind of leather being an unnecessary product for humans to begin.

And that is all still incredibly important and valuable, and will ultimately probably help animals even if unintentionally or indirectly or for reasons other than for their benefit, but it still leaves the non-human animals out of the equation. Public discussion and understanding around the impact of "animal products" is minimal to begin with, but when it does happen it's usually limited to how those products affect humans rather than the other species of sentient beings involved in their production and use.

That can include other crucial topics but which don't centre the animals and their interests in the discussion, like impact of animal products on human health, on the environment/climate (primarily as it pertains to how it affects humans rather than other animals), zoonotic diseases and pandemics, or other humanitarian considerations like its link to food insecurity/famine, poverty, displacement of indigenous human populations (ironic given some of the reactions to Billie's comments, right?), and the treatment and experiences of humans who work in slaughterhouses and animal farms.

And it's worth mentioning Billie Eilish herself has also spoken quite extensively as of late about the impact of animal farming on the environment. But I also don't think any of those topics have, at least so far, gotten people talking about humans' consumption of animal products quite as much as this - even if it's somewhat removed from the resulting actions to living animals, or focused on what someone in particular has said about it and who they are as an individual and their speech and actions.

The thing that really gets people focused on animal products right now seems to be things that cause them to become outraged by what a vegan has said about them – and specifically what they do to animals, or the actions and values of humans who choose to consume them. Maybe shaming people does have some positive effect on increasing discussion about humans' exploitation of animals and consumption of animal products after all – I believe Chris Bryant, PhD has shared research showing it does.

That might sound unfortunate given the unpleasantness of everyone being angry at vegans and making such bad-faith arguments to either attack veganism or justify animal exploitation, but there's actually a few silver linings to it.

One silver lining is that because the thing that really causes a reaction and kicks up a stir is getting people to think about and focus on something that usually doesn't get much light of day and is almost a taboo subject, which is the impact on animals of using and killing them for food and other products and how consumers are responsible for it, this indicates what psychological studies have revealed:

Most humans genuinely do have some level of empathy and care toward other animals, and may genuinely "love" (in some way) some or even all animals, but they are deeply uncomfortable with the moral and emotional contradiction, and resulting cognitive dissonnance, between having those feelings while simultaneously continuing to take part in actions which cause significant harm to animals, despite the option to not use those products and not contribute to those violent and cruel actions to beings they claim to love or respect. Since the hypocrisy and contradiction is there, as well as underlying positive values that are essentially corrupted and distorted, that is an unstable state which inevitably must be resolved, and that real sense of care for animals simply must be teased out in order to convert the value-action gap into aligned actions and values.

Another silver lining can be summarized in 2 similar quotes, one from Arthur Schopenhauer, and one popularly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, who was vegetarian, but which potentially in fact originated with socialist labor union advocate Nicholas Klein.

Arthur Schopenhauer:

"**All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."**

Popularly shared "Gandhi" quote (disputed):

**“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."**

Nicholas Klein:

**"First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you."**

It's inevitable that when the animal rights movement becomes more mainstream or gets more media attention, it will cause a significant reactionary backlash, which is the case if you look at every other progressive or rights-based movement especially at the beginning but also right now. Traditionally the resistance to progressive movements has come from the right, and it's very notable that this backlash is coming mostly from the left in the case of Billie Eilish's apparently millions of outraged fans as well as many other people who have an opinion on it.

There's an extreme tension between the usually progressive stances of the political left, and the reactionary anti-progressive stance of opposing vegan/animal rights advocacy as well as plant-based environmental messaging (even if framed as misguided progressive arguments against it in this case, since a progressive ideology here is the existing moral framework which contains the inconsistent elements being challenged). This indicates a strong likelihood that it's only a matter of time before this becomes an issue and cause that more leftists embrace or take seriously and address, and is then reworked into the existing leftist political ideology and piled onto the array of other causes that the left advocates for – and will probably still continue to receive pushback from the right, unless miraculously they also start agreeing with animal rights as we have surprisingly seen some of recently as well.

The label says "small victories", but I think even though it might not feel like it right now especially to the people who oppose animal rights or criticize Billie Eilish's statements and approach, in my opinion we can probably consider this a considerable win and potentially even a historical milestone for animals and the animal movement – perhaps the first time a highly prominent and respected celebrity truly broke form and abandoned social etiquette and expectations to conform and not criticize the consumer's choice to exploit animals, at significant cost to their own public perception and career, but wholly worthwhile for a crucial cause.

Hopefully it triggers a ripple or domino effect of other people with a wide reach and influence feeling empowered to speak out themselves, or take action to help animals and urge a transition into alternatives and into granting them meaningful legal rights and no longer using them for human purposes.

**Organization:** Animal Project Buddies

**Description:** Motivation:

Sometimes, it feels like a lot of restaurants don't have good vegan options (i.e., thrown-together last-minute, requiring a LOT of substitutions/requests). Menu items like this perpetuate the stigma that vegan / plant-based food doesn't taste good, and substitutions/requests raise the barrier-to-entry for plant-based eating.

Goals:

Build out the prototype a bit more robustly to get this done :)

1. Clean up the recipes and data to be of higher quality (i.e. restaurant-grade)

2. Consider a pipeline to scrape for high-quality recipes (i.e. based on likes, source, etc.)

3. Move the recipes/menus to the backend instead of being self-hosted on Vercel

Suggestions:

1. Be familiar with frontend web development (i.e. know how to use React/TS)

2. Have an appetite to learn!

3. Be excited to help out!

4. Any backend or development (i.e. using AI workflows) is a huge plus!

**Duration:** Long-term (2-12 months)

**Est. time commitment:** 3-8 hours per week

**Timezone:** UTC-7

**Skills Required:** Basic web development

**Application Deadline:** 06/30/2026

**Interested in this request?** Please click the link below to apply to help on Flockwork!

**Click here:** [Link to request](https://flockwork.org/requests/ad4rujh20fmg6nfl56eiowwd?source=reddit)

(I'm not the original poster, I'm sharing it. Feel free to repost this wherever.)

To comply legally and ensure the safety of their large, strong rescue residents - most of whom outlive typical farm cows because most cows don’t live to 25 since most are slaughtered between a few moments old and 5 years old.

Their infrastructure must be built from scratch. Standard equipment is inadequate for animals over 1,000kg. Due to unfinished work and limited donor support, they face a strict deadline to create a specialised handling area. Sadly the rescued cows will be “seized and terminated” if the regs don’t comply within the deadline.

Immediate needs:

• Safety: a customised, steel-reinforced handling system for veterinary care and health checks.

• Repairs: finishing the main shed roof for safety and weatherproofing.

• Welfare: installing automatic drinkers to meet updated regulations.

How to help:

• Donations: every pound directly supports specialised labour and construction.

• Sharing: spread the word to attract donors or tradespeople. Post, reshare, and amplify their cause.

Let’s save these beautiful cows together.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DYXI09GDesl/

https://donorbox.org/keep-heartstone-sanctuary-alive

Hi guys i wanted to tell you that in a few days this month the islamic holiday of "eid al adha" will take place and the sale of animals has already begun is there any way to stop this? cant we protest in some way? cant we help those animals? NO HATE!!