I am the author of Striking at the Roots: A Practical Guide to Animal Activism, which is a guide to empowering people to get active for animals around the world. I gave up meat after an encounter with one of India’s many cows in 1992, then went vegan a decade later upon visiting Animal Place, an education center and sanctuary for farmed animals in northern California. In addition to volunteering for Animal Place, I write for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which uses the legal system to advance the interests of animals, and volunteer with SaveABunny, which works with San Francisco Bay Area animal shelters to find loving homes for rabbits. Beginning in 2004, I served as a contributing writer for Satya until the magazine ceased publication in 2007, and am a frequent contributor to VegNews magazine. My writing has also appeared in Vegan Voice, Herbivore, Hinduism Today, Utne.com and newspapers across the United States. 
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August 6, 2009 at 5:35 am
thevetproject
Dear Mark, sorry if I post a comment here, but I just bought your book and what a surprise I discover you have a blog, how lucky I am!!! My dream is to import in Italy (where I live) the American way of acting for what animal advocacy concearns… something like PETA or Last Chance fo Animals. You know… open people’s eyes and raise conciousness. I’m sure your book will be highly helpful.
Simona
August 6, 2009 at 6:45 am
mhawthorne
Thank you for your comment, Simona. I hope you find the book helpful. Thank you for getting active for animals!
August 8, 2009 at 7:42 am
thevetproject
Thank you Mark. I just posted a couple of articles on my blog that I would really appreciate you to read (if you want and if you have time). One is “united we stand, divided we fall” the second is “14 questions a meat-eater shouldn’t ask but a vegan should be able to answer to”. It’s really nothing compared to what other people do but I believe that something small is better than nothing at all… Thank you again if you’ll have time to read my posts.
Simona
http://thevetproject.wordpress.com/
October 21, 2009 at 9:40 pm
salamati6
Quite frankly, I find the idea of Animal Activism disturbing. How on earth can so many people band together to help animals, but not care about HUMAN suffering around the world?
It certainly shows priorities.
October 21, 2009 at 9:59 pm
mhawthorne
I’m pleased to say your position is simply not true. Who says a person can’t care about animals AND humans? I mean, humans are animals, too. Animal activism is not only about compassion toward non-human animals. It’s about concern for human health (eating animal-based foods leads to a host of diseases); it’s about concern for human safety (people who abuse animals are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against humans); it’s about concern for the environment (animal agribusiness is the biggest contributor to global warming, not to mention what it does to the rain forests, our water and air); it’s about concern for human rights (factory farms are notorious for abusing their workers); and much more. The claim that “animal activists don’t care about humans” always seems to be made by meat-eaters as a way to make themselves feel less guilty about contributing to animal abuse.