I’m starting something new, and I want to tell you about it while it’s still taking shape. My dear friend Barbara Hulley is my advisor, the first person on my advisory board. We’re calling it the Animal Earth Alliance, or AEA for short. Its own website is coming soon. Until then, this page is its home.

What the Alliance is

The Animal Earth Alliance is a friendly network of animal rights groups, environmental groups, sanctuaries, vegan organizations, faith groups and individuals who care about animals and the earth. We don’t want to start one more group competing for attention and donations. We want to help the groups already doing good work, by sharing ideas, connecting people, and thinking together about what could make the biggest difference.

Caring for animals and caring for the earth belong together. Factory farms harm animals, and they also pollute our water, air and soil. When animal and earth groups stand side by side, both causes grow stronger.

Why we think it’s needed

Before starting, we looked hard for an organization already doing this, because we don’t want to duplicate anyone’s work. Here is what we found:

• Animal and environmental groups do join forces, but usually for one cause at a time, like a single bill or a treaty. When that campaign ends, the partnership does too.
• The movement’s think tanks are run by paid staff. Most of us can read their research, but we don’t help shape it.
• Vegan friendship and dating apps exist, but they’re mostly businesses built for young people in big cities.
• We found almost nothing for rural places like the Ozarks, for older vegans, or for people of faith who see caring for animals and the earth as sacred work.

The pieces exist, but in separate places. What seems to be missing is a welcoming circle that holds them together. You can read the full research, with the groups we found, here: We Did Our Homework.

If you know of a group already doing this, please tell us! We would much rather join hands with them than start something new. Leave a comment below, or mention it in the questionnaire.

What we hope the Alliance can offer

• A neutral home base. Not tied to one campaign or one brand, so any animal, vegan or earth-care group can join and keep its own voice.
• An open think tank. Online gatherings where every group and every caring person can offer ideas, talk them over, and help choose shared priorities. We hope to use Open Space, a simple way of meeting where the people who come set the agenda.
• Ideas for lawmakers. A way for groups to send their best ideas to government together, with one stronger voice.
• A shared directory. One place to find animal and earth groups, sanctuaries and helpers.
• Connection and community. Help for vegans and animal lovers to find each other for friendship, support and shared living, including land for sanctuaries and community.
• Small local circles. Little groups that meet near where people live, all linked to one big conversation.

How this connects to Living Springs Log House

Barbara is selling Living Springs Log House, here in the Arkansas Ozarks. It’s our dream that this land becomes a farm animal sanctuary, a vegan community, or a gathering place for people who care about animals and the earth. That’s why the Alliance is starting here, on this blog. The Alliance is open to everyone, whether or not you have any interest in the land. We’ll only send you news about the property if you ask for it.

Please tell us what you need

Before we plan anything, we want to hear from you. What is your group’s biggest need right now? How could the Alliance help? Would you join an online think tank gathering? And how do you like our name? It takes about five minutes, and you can skip any question.

If you’d like to talk with us, Barbara is calling groups this fall, and she’d love to hear from you. You can also leave a comment below.

Thank you for everything you do for animals and the earth.

Patricia Mikkelson and Barbara Hulley