ProVeg International

Our approach

Reducing animal consumption worldwide is a huge undertaking. To effect personal and social change, three elements are essential: (1) inspiring and motivating people; (2) providing them with the proper tools to support them in their efforts; (3) and creating change on social, economic and political levels to make their dietary changes more accessible, convenient and sustainable.

ProVeg inspires and motivates people by raising awareness of the five PROs (reasons) why we should move towards a more plant-based lifestyle. ProVeg supports people by providing practical information about how they can transition to animal-free alternatives.

ProVeg also works to improve the taste, ease and accessibility of plant-based living by working to influence government policy, public institutions, the food industry, and society as a whole. We appreciate every single step that individuals, organisations and institutions take to move towards a more plant-based lifestyle. To make all this a reality, a powerful movement is essential. That is why ProVeg is working to create a global community of committed supporters and advocates.

Why Proveg?

Many of the world’s most urgent problems share a common cause: our food choices. ProVeg is dedicated to raising awareness of how we can tackle these problems through diet. Our food choices can become a multiproblem solution.

PRO Health

High animal consumption increases the risk of heart disease, strokes, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. It is also responsible for most serious cases of food poisoning, epidemics like swine flu, and driving up levels of antibiotic resistance.

PRO Animals

Animal agriculture subjects billions of animals to immense physical and emotional suffering. These sentient and intelligent beings are denied even their most basic needs, enduring extreme confinement, squalid conditions, poor health, mutilations, and slaughter.

PRO Environment

Animal agriculture is a major cause of some of the world’s most urgent environmental problems. It is one of the leading drivers of climate change, land degradation, pollution, water depletion, rainforest destruction, and species extinction.

PRO Justice

Feeding plants to farmed animals contributes to world hunger and food injustice, driving up the price of basic foods in poor countries. With a growing world population, it is unsustainable to eat so many animal products, which are a highly inefficient way to produce food.

PRO Taste

Most of us are aware that our diet impacts our health, other people, animals, and our planet. But growing up routinely eating animal products, liking the taste and convenience, we rarely consider the consequences and alternatives. Plant-based foods are seen by many as lacking in taste, range and availability. We call this “veg prejudice”.

Our Founders

Dr. Melanie Joy

Founder

Dr. Melanie Joy is a Harvard-educated psychologist, celebrated speaker, organizational consultant, and author of the award-winning book Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows. She has been eating a meatless diet since she was 23. A spoiled hamburger that led to her being hospitalized eventually triggered her to rethink her relationship with animals and food. Today, she consumes a diet free from any animal products. Dr. Joy currently lives in Berlin, Germany.

Tobias Leenaert

Founder

Tobias Leenaert is a longtime speaker, trainer, and strategist. He is also the co-founder of the Belgian organization EVA (Ethical Vegetarian Alternative). Passionate about effectiveness, Tobias writes regularly for his blog, The Vegan Strategist. Tobias realized he was a vegetarian when he was twelve years old, although it took him another ten years to effectively cut out all meat from his diet. Today he lives in Genth, Belgium. He does not consume any animal products, but takes great care not to be dogmatic on the issue.

Sebastian Joy

Founder

Sebastian Joy is among the most important representatives of the vegetarian and vegan movement in Europe. Sebastian is the CEO of VEBU, a leading European pro-vegan organisation, a board member of the European Vegetarian Union (EVU) and he is also a lecturer in nonprofit management at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. He first became a vegetarian when he was 24 years old. Three years later, after reading a book by Australian philosopher Peter Singer, he stopped consuming animal products.