Golden Age Politics: Australia’s Ms. Kathy Divine, Part 1 of 2

Ms. Divine is the author of six books, including “Plant-Powered Men,” “Plant-Powered Women,” and “Vegans are Cool.” She is the founder of the magazine, “Australian Vegans Journal,” as well as the founder of the Plant-Powered Women Leadership Conference Series. “My latest project is a book called Golden Age Politics.” Ms. Divine explains what inspired her to write the book and what she hopes to achieve through it. “I wrote the book ‘Golden Age Politics’ to give people hope that we can create the world that we’ve always dreamed of. Leaders in government, they are the ones making the laws, so it’s crucial that we have ethical people in politics. So, part of the aim of the book is to inspire ethical people, ethical vegans to go into politics and be the leaders that we’ve always needed, and the leaders, particularly right now, that we urgently need. The book is for voters and it’s also for aspiring political candidates, and people already in parliament, to inspire their work. And to help people vote consciously and carefully at the next election. What I’m hoping to achieve with ‘Golden Age Politics’ is just to start conversations, get people more engaged in politics, more excited about leadership potentials. The first key message in the book is just a simple one. To vote consciously and carefully at the next election, whatever that is, whenever that may be in your country. So that just means thinking about the candidates, thinking about what they're offering, and just really caring about your vote. And to vote also where, in some countries, where it's voluntary to vote, do go and vote because your voice is important. And your beliefs and your values are important. So please do vote. Because the more people that vote, the more people that get involved, the more potential there is for politics to be inclusive for everybody and also a positive experience. Another message is that I think ethical vegans are so well qualified to be politicians. So, I would encourage vegans all around the planet, not just into political positions, because that doesn’t suit everybody, and that’s not everybody’s mission and destiny. But to encourage you to be leaders in your own community. So, vegans can be leaders in their family, they can be leaders in their workplace, in their community groups, even in your sporting groups. On whatever level, you can contribute. Bring those ethical vegan vibes into your place of work or into your family, and be the leaders that we urgently need right now. Because being vegan is the foundation from which everything else flourishes. So, if we are all vegan, we all have ethics backing up our lifestyles, then we can all be leaders, and we can turn around all the big issues like climate change and pandemics and everything else that we faced this year and we will face ongoingly. If we are all vegan as a foundation, that is the best criteria for leadership.”