Matthew Michael Ball (born 1968)
is an American
animal activist. He is co-founder and President of One Step for Animals.
Previously, he was Director of Engagement and Outreach at
Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary is an American animal protection organization, founded in 1986 as an advocate for farmed animals. It was America's first shelter for farmed animals. It promotes laws and policies that support animal welfare, animal protection, a ...
, and before that, Senior Advisor for VegFund. In 1993, Ball co-founded
Vegan Outreach.
Ball served as the group's Executive Director for 21 years. Ball is credited with helping shift the animal rights' movement to a more
utilitarian
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...
focus, particularly with a focus on chickens. He is the co-author of ''The Animal Activist's Handbook'' (2009), author of ''The Accidental Activist'' (2014), and author of ''Losing My Religions'' (2022). He was inducted into the
Animal Rights Hall of Fame in 2005.
Biography
Ball was born in
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnat ...
.
[ His parents are Cornelius Francis Ball and Judith Anderson Ball, both of Toledo. Before founding Vegan Outreach, Matt Ball obtained an M.S. in Forest Ecology at the University of Illinois, and an M.S. in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, during which time he was a Department of Energy Global Change Fellow. He also held a research fellowship in the Department of Biology at the University of Pittsburgh.][
Ball married Dr. Anne Green, a fellow advocate and co-founder of Vegan Outreach, on February 20, 1993 in ]Urbana, Illinois
Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...
. Their child Elwen Katya Green was born on July 16, 1994, in Pennsylvania and was raised as a vegan. They live in Tucson, Arizona
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
, image_map =
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.
Ball says: " must focus on getting people to consider their first step toward compassion, rather than arguing for our current philosophy or diet. Most non-vegetarians tune out when told to go vegan but may consider starting to make changes like adopting Meatless Monday
Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people to not eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet.
Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns Inc. in association with the ...
s or eating fewer chickens."[
*]
Publications
*.
*, Foreword by Peter Singer
Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular ...
, Introduction by Paul Shapiro.
*
*
*
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* Foreword by Ingrid Newkirk.
*
* Foreword by Michael Klaper
Michael A. Klaper (July 19, 1947) is an American physician, vegan health educator, conference and event speaker, and an author of articles and books of vegan medical advice. Graduating from medical school in 1972, Klaper became a vegan ten yea ...
, M.D.
See also
*Animal protectionism
Animal protectionism is a position within animal rights theory that favors incremental change in pursuit of non-human animal interests. It is contrasted with abolitionism, the position that human beings have no moral right to use animals, and ought ...
*List of animal rights advocates
Advocates of animal rights support the philosophy of animal rights. They believe that many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as in avoiding suffe ...
*List of vegans
Veganism involves following a vegan diet, which is a diet that includes no animal products of any kind. It can extend to ethical veganism which avoids or boycotts all products and activities whose production or undertaking is perceived to ...
*Veganism
Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet (nutrition), diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is kn ...
References
External links
A Meaningful Life, A Better World
(Matt Ball's blog)
ARZone interview with Matt BallACE Interviews: Matt BallOur Hen House interview with Matt BallClean Meat May Solve Our Factory Farming Problem
(interview)
1968 births
Living people
Animal rights activists
American veganism activists
Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering alumni
People from Toledo, Ohio
University of Illinois alumni
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