Evanna Lynch
Vegan Activist and Actress
Book Recommendations:
Recommended by Evanna Lynch
“The Joyful Vegan is a breath of fresh air in a world that, far too often, thumbs its nose at people who prioritize compassion. Every vegan, semi-vegan, or plant-based individual needs a copy of this thoughtful, thorough, game-changing book!” (from Amazon)
MP3 CD Format Finding plant-based recipes? Easy. Dealing with the social, cultural, and emotional pressures of being vegan? That's the hard part. Motivated by a desire to eat more healthfully or live more ethically, many people choose veganism as a logical and sensible response to their concerns about animals, the environment, and their health. Yet, despite their positive intentions, they're often met with resistance from friends, family members, and society at large. These external factors can make veganism socially difficult--and emotionally exhausting--to sustain. This leads to an unfortunate reality: the majority of vegetarians and vegans revert back to consuming meat, dairy, or eggs--breaching their own values and sabotaging their own goals in the process. Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, known as the ""Joyful Vegan,"" has guided countless individuals through the process of becoming vegan. Now, in The Joyful Vegan, she shares her insights into why some people stay vegan and others don't. Understanding that the food is the easy part of being vegan, Colleen turns her attention to what she believes is the most challenging--dealing with the social, cultural, and emotional aspects: being asked to defend your eating choices, living with the awareness of animal suffering, feeling the pressure (often self-inflicted) to be perfect, and experiencing guilt, remorse, and anger. In these pages, Colleen shares her wisdom for navigating and overcoming these challenges and arms readers with solutions and strategies for staying confident with family and friends, creating healthy relationships, communicating effectively, sharing enthusiasm without evangelizing, finding like-minded community, and experiencing peace of mind as a vegan in a non-vegan world. By implementing the tools provided in this book, you will find that you can live ethically, eat healthfully, engage socially--and remain a joyful vegan.
Recommended by Evanna Lynch
“It's easy to love animals; it's not easy to face the unimaginable horrors farm animals endure, day in, day out, but it's the kind of love animals urgently need, and the vital work Nathan and his team do. This book is a glimpse of the awe-inspiring bravery, passion and compassion that is fueling the anti-violence, pro-kindness fight for animal rights. And it is an utterly heartfelt, honest tribute by a true animal friend and activist to the countless colorful individuals Nathan saved from misery, and the millions more who suffer and die in darkness.” (from Amazon)
A compelling look at animal welfare and factory farming in the United States from Mercy For Animals, the leading international force in preventing cruelty to farmed animals and promoting compassionate food choices and policies. Nathan Runkle would have been a fifth-generation farmer in his small midwestern town. Instead, he founded our nation’s leading nonprofit organization for protecting factory farmed animals. In Mercy For Animals, Nathan brings us into the trenches of his organization’s work; from MFA’s early days in grassroots activism, to dangerous and dramatic experiences doing undercover investigations, to the organization’s current large-scale efforts at making sweeping legislative change to protect factory farmed animals and encourage compassionate food choices. But this isn’t just Nathan’s story. Mercy For Animals examines how our country moved from a network of small, local farms with more than 50 percent of Americans involved in agriculture to a massive coast-to-coast industrial complex controlled by a mere 1 percent of our population—and the consequences of this drastic change on animals as well as our global and local environments. We also learn how MFA strives to protect farmed animals in behind-the-scenes negotiations with companies like Nestlé and other brand names—conglomerates whose policy changes can save countless lives and strengthen our planet. Alongside this unflinching snapshot of our current food system, readers are also offered hope and solutions—big and small—for ending mistreatment of factory farmed animals. From simple diet modifications to a clear explanation of how to contact corporations and legislators efficiently, Mercy For Animals proves that you don’t have to be a hardcore vegan or an animal-rights activist to make a powerful difference in the lives of animals.

