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We note in our mission statement that “no matter what your niche is, Our Hen House aims to give you what you need to be part of a new world for animals.” Because change making requires a multiplicity of methods to reach the hearts and minds of a multiplicity of people, we need activists of all stripes – artists, academics, lawyers, students, business moguls, media darlings, everyone – to do what they do best in mainstreaming the movement to end animal exploitation.
Since our founding in 2010, Our Hen House has featured countless ways to change the world for animals. We’re pleased to make these ideas available to you now as a list: 100+ Ways to Change the World for Animals!
Today, we share the first two sections of this ever-growing list: activism related to cooking and baking, and ideas for grassroots outreach. Stay tuned for an upcoming post revealing the rest of our “100 Ways” list, and the link to the page on our website!
Cook & Bake
- Bring vegan dishes to potlucks and community gatherings.
- Cook hearty, delicious vegan meals for your non-vegan friends.
- Take non-vegan friends and family out to amazing vegan restaurants.
- Bring delicious vegan dishes to your family’s Thanksgiving meal.
- Become a vegan personal chef or start a vegan meal-delivery service.
- Create a vegan recipe for your school’s lunch program.
- Host a vegan potluck for your non-vegan friends and ask them each to bring a dish.
- If you’re a blogger, join the Vegan Month of Food!
- Make a project out of veganizing the food in mainstream American popular culture and publicize the hell out of it.
- Pursue effective culinary activism.
- Share with your friends vegan versions of traditionally non-vegan items (cheese, ice cream, jerky, etc.).
- Shoot vegan cooking videos and create a YouTube channel to promote them.
- Teach vegan cooking classes at your local grocery store.
- Veganize recipes on non-vegan blogs/websites, then comment on the site to tell how you did it.
- Work with your non-vegan family members to veganize traditional family dishes for the holidays.
Do Grassroots Outreach
- Bring pro-vegan leaflets and Vegetarian Starter Guides with you wherever you go and give them to people you talk to – many advocacy organizations are happy to provide you with literature at low or no cost.
- Advocate for veganism and animals in your religious community.
- Ask local restaurants and school cafeterias to put a veggie burger on the menu.
- Request that your local library carry animal rights books and vegan cookbooks.
- Ask your local elected officials to participate in U.S. VegWeek.
- Ask your local hairstylist, salon, barber, etc. to use products that weren’t tested on animals.
- Ask your local shoe store to carry non-leather shoes.
- If you’re going out with a group of friends to a non-vegan restaurant, call ahead and make sure that the chef can prepare you a vegan meal.
- Then congratulate non-vegan restaurants on offering vegan options.
- Contact your local cable company about running an animal rights video on cable public access television.
- Ask local businesses to display Vegetarian Starter Guides.
- Go leafleting! Check out these helpful tips to get started.
- Edit Wikipedia pages related to animal rights and veganism.
- Encourage those who just went vegan to practice healthy nutrition habits, like eating enough and taking vitamin B12. This will ensure that your friends feel good during their transition and don’t fall off the wagon.
- Engage in fur activism.
- Engage in office-place activism.
- Engage in social media activism.
- Educate yourself by taking relevant (free!) courses on Coursera.
- For your birthday and/or other holidays, ask your friends and family to make a donation to your favorite animal-related organization, to volunteer with you at a sanctuary, to watch an advocacy movie with you, etc.
- Gift new parents any of Ruby Roth’s gorgeous children’s books.
- Give your friends holiday gifts that showcase the wonders of veganism (books, documentaries, a Vegan Cuts Snack Box, a gift card to a vegan restaurant, etc.).
- Go into stores that sell clothing, shoes, handbags, etc., and ask if they have any vegan products. Be prepared to explain what that means. This lets business-people know that there is a demand for vegan items.
- Hand out pro-vegan leaflets along with vegan candy on Halloween as part of “Reverse Trick-or-Treating.”
- Have a Humane Halloween with the help of activist & writer Marla Rose.
- Hang pro-vegan posters on the inside doors of public restroom stalls.
- If Netflix doesn’t yet offer your favorite animal rights film/documentary, ask them to do so.
- If someone compliments an article of clothing that is made of vegan leather/fur/silk/etc., use it as a jumping-off point to explain the cruelty behind the non-vegan versions of such items.
- If they don’t already, ask your local coffee shop to start offering non-dairy milk and creamer.
- If you’re an athlete, wear vegan message-wear to competitions.
- Include an animal rights quote or link to a video in your e-mail auto-signature.
- Keep good responses to common vegan-related questions handy so that you’re prepared when friends or strangers ask them of you – the book Mind if I Order the Cheeseburger? is a great resource for this!
- Lend animal rights books to your friends, and place them in your condo, retirement home, town, school, church, or temple library.
- Point your non-vegan friends and family toward VegVids.com.
- Post a vegan-related badge (like the ones offered by OHH!) on your blog or website.
- Post ads for free Vegetarian Starter Guides on Craigslist.
- Post vegan message stickers on the belongings that you display in public (laptop, water bottle, etc.).
- Share pro-vegan videos, memes, quotes, and undercover investigations on social media.
- Speak with your local school/university about offering alternatives to dissection.
- Spend the summer leafleting with the Vans Warped Tour.
- Take your non-vegan friends and family shopping at vegan stores/boutiques (if you have any in your area) so that they can see the quality and variety available.
- Take your non-vegan friends and family to a Veg Fest.
- Tour the country (perhaps by bike!) handing out leaflets at colleges and universities.
- Use your impressive skills (like climbing mountains, anyone?) to shed light on animal exploitaton.
- Wear vegan message gear like t-shirts, hoodies, wallets, etc.