Changes

TVB: The question ''per se'' is not really fully answered. The answer I give is that animal-lovers have some great advantages in the struggle to save the world before it is too late. There are many mechanisms that make it difficult in our current democracies to save the world, but without the passion and energy that animal-lovers and nature-lovers bring to the table, we clearly will not save the world. It is still not clear that animal-lovers can save the world, as it is not clear that any of us can save the world, as things currently stand. It all depends how many of us there are fighting the good fight, and how organized we manage to get. I believe mainstreaming a new ethic is an essential ingredient, but how do you get billions of people to internalize a new ethic, or allow the people who already hold such ethics to win out? The eternal question is always: ''"How?''"

TVB: Arne Næss, the Norwegian philosopher and father of Deep Ecology, told me years ago: ''"don’t write a book!'' " He felt there were better things to do—and he had many books to his name. I am an activist at heart, but it is hard to get critical mass for an action, or the necessary attention; and the right kind of attention. We all need to find enough good collaborators, with complementary skill sets, and it all has to be very well organized. I write in part because I want to motivate and embolden those who think and feel the way that I do.

TVB: The Bookbag reviewer seemed to think I was playing down the role of vegan activists. On the contrary, I hope I am playing up the importance and the role of activists. That said, I also hope we will manage to be smart about it. We really have to get organized if we are to have some hope of saving the world and the ''"things'' " we love. We have to have systems whereby not only idealists will behave properly.

TVB: It depends what opportunities open up. It was hard to see what best I could do earlier, and it seemed that among the options available to me at the time, the best was to write a book. There are many things I would like to do, including a stint with Sea Shepherd, but the deciding question will always be ''what can I do that is most effective?'' The Afterword of my book calls for getting experts together from various fields to produce an edited book where we analyze the question ''"Can we save the world?'' " Perhaps this will still be the best option open to me. Though I long for something better and something more direct.