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Vegan Minded: Becoming a Steward for Animals, People, and the Planet By Christine Cook Mania, MA

PUBLISHER: North Star PNW

Author interviewed by Kim Stallwood

Vegan Minded
Available at Amazon
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CGTK86P5

THE INTERVIEW

Kim: Please describe your life before you became vegan and cared passionately about animals. Did animal rights come to you naturally? Or did it take you by surprise?

Christine: My family always had a number of “pets” at any given time. (That’s what I called nonhuman animals back then, pets. I call them furry friends now.) We had dogs, cats, fish, guinea pigs, parakeets, and horses to name a few. I didn’t grow up thinking of these animals as beings in their own right. They were ours as if we owned them. I loved them and at the same time, we owned them.

In 1985, my family received a newsletter from PETA in the mail. There were articles on factory farming, the fur industry, and animal testing in labs. The photos shocked me. The photo that has stuck with me after all these years was of a rabbit in a cage with a foreign substance oozing from her eyes. We had a bunny rabbit at one time named Thumper, so I likely saw Thumper in this rabbit. The newsletter changed how I considered animals. Immediately I wanted to stand up for them, but I also didn’t want to disrupt my way of life too much. It was a start, but I was young and living in southern Indiana, a conservative area of the US. I became a vegetarian, although I still ate sea animals. I hadn’t learned the word for pescatarian yet. I also started buying cruelty-free household and personal care products, not tested on nonhuman animals. (An area that doesn’t get as much attention and may be easier for some people to switch to these types of products rather than giving up eating animals. It’s just a different doorway that could eventually lead to more actions to protect animals.) A vegan life was much farther down the road for me. Even so, this new knowledge stuck with me, and I finally became a vegan in 2005. Like most vegans, it’s the best decision I have ever made.

Kim: What prompted you to write Vegan Minded?

Christine: About 15 years ago I started writing a vegan how-to book. It was a step-by-step approach that allowed folks to ease in. At the time it felt risky because it wasn’t a popular approach within the vegan movement. I wrote almost the entire manuscript but it just wasn’t working in the way I wanted it to and there were other how-to-be vegan books out there. So, I let it go but I never let the idea of writing a book go. At the beginning of the pandemic, I enrolled in a masters program to study Humane Education. During the first semester, my advisor and I discussed possible capstone projects. I knew I wanted the project to be related to veganism, animal rights, and climate change but I just wasn’t sure what I could commit to. I was also working a full-time job. While talking to her, I asked her if I could write a vegan memoir with an educational slant? She said yes and the idea was born. Little did I know that I chose the one project that would take the most time! I completed it ten months after I graduated.

Kim: What makes Vegan Minded different from other books about this subject?

Christine: Vegan Minded turned out not to be a memoir, so much as a book of personal essays. I dubbed it a memoir-in-essays. It definitely is memoir-ish but there is an educational component, not academic though. Vegan Minded is about living vegan in a world set up to use animals at every turn. It is how I have made sense of living in this world as a vegan. I am a contemplative person, so a book of personal essays makes a lot of sense. I cover many topics—some obviously vegan and others might be surprising—including vegetarianism, the stages of change, yoga, climate change, diets, dating, and activism. I have received positive feedback from vegans and nonvegans. Everyone has said they have learned something which was the goal, especially as a humane educator.

You have various certifications in plant-based nutrition, teach yoga, and have a Master of Arts in Humane Education through the Institute for Humane Education in partnership with Antioch University New England. How are they related to your commitment to animal rights? If so, how?

I found yoga before I became vegan. There are eight limbs in the yoga philosophy that I follow. The precept in the first limb is ahiṃsā, which means nonharming. I believe yoga gave me the confidence to become vegan—a practice of nonharming, if you will. My yoga practice provided an opportunity to quiet my mind every time I practiced, which allowed me to access my intuition and wisdom. This in turn created a space for me to choose how I wanted to live rather than how others wanted me to live. It took me a long time. I’m a late bloomer, I think, and a lifelong learner. All the other courses, certifications, and degrees just added to my knowledge of animal rights, vegan cooking and nutrition, and environmental protection. I have always wanted to be a good vegan role model and being knowledgeable was important to me. I wanted to be able to answer questions about veganism in a way that inspired others or at least planted a seed. I also wanted to be able to cook nutritious and delicious vegan meals for friends and family, so they could experience what a vegan diet tastes like. I thought that if they enjoyed it, they could become more open to eating this way more regularly. Feeding people vegan food is incredibly satisfying. I believe I have influenced others in this way. It’s a small group though. I hope I will inspire many people to consider a vegan lifestyle.

Kim: What do you aspire to accomplish for animals, humans, and the planet in your lifetime?

Something that I think a lot about is many (most?) people don’t want to change their thinking or behavior. They like things the way they are—even when it’s not working for them. I hope that my work will open people’s minds and plant seeds for change. I recently moved to Wisconsin from Washington State. In Wisconsin, they have license plates that promote protecting endangered “resources” such as eagles and badgers. I would like people to understand and embody the idea that nonhuman animals are not resources for us to use, disregard, or throw away. They are individuals in their own right. In Washington State recently, there are several counties and cities giving rights to endangered orcas (Southern Resident killer whales), which is incredible!

Humans are animals and a part of nature. I wish all humans understood that we are nature too. We are all connected and are actions—both positive and negative—impact everything around us.

As I wrote in Vegan Minded:

As my awareness grows, I see there is more work to do—more changes to make, personally and systemically. The journey is convoluted. While it is easy to choose the path of least resistance, that is not where change occurs. Choosing the path of change means facing resistance and moving in that direction anyway—even when difficult—because it’s the path of nonharming, nonexploitation of others—nonexploitation of us. Everything is connected.

To be vegan minded is to see the world through a vegan lens: to live in harmony, to the best of our ability, with the environment around us. To be vegan minded also works with the concept of “progress, not perfection.” We do our best, which can change from day to day. When we make a mistake, we forgive ourselves, move on, and commit to doing better the next time. We also have a generous attitude toward others. Vegan minded is an inclusive term that includes addressing the oppression of others. We widen the original definition of veganism—ending the exploitation of nonhuman animals—and apply it to all beings, including Earth. We take care of the natural world and stand up for humans and nonhumans alike, because we see the connections. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christine Cook Mania is a writer, yoga teacher, and humane educator. She has devoted herself to a vegan lifestyle and studying its benefits to human health, the environment, and animals since 2005. Born and raised in Indiana, Christine holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Indiana University and a Master of Arts in humane education through the Institute for Humane Education in partnership with Antioch University New England. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two cats, and a dog, all three of which were adopted from shelters. 

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