Have you heard anyone tell you that they are vegan for climate change? 

No? 

Well I am. 
I was a meat-eater up until my early twenties, then I was off meat a fair bit as I kept thinking about the animals as I was trying to eat the meat, which completely put me off having it for a long time. 

When I was trying to fall pregnant I was vegan for a good 6 months and then said ‘f%ck it’ nothing is working ( I tried for over 1.5 years to fall pregnant) When I finally got pregnant I was completely put off all meat and most dairy. After I gave birth to my twin girls I would eat meat now and again but it had to be hidden (ie; a wrap or burger) I haven’t eaten meat for a good two years now and I have been vegan for climate change for around about a year give or take. 

So my diet is 90% vegan; I definitely don’t eat meat and I try and have majority of my meals vegan as well. I always opt for vegan while eating out as at home my vegan meals become pretty boring. 
But as I am vegan for climate change and not vegan for my diet or for the animals, if I were to have no vegan cheese on something or someone cooks me a dinner at their house and there are no vegan options I will just eat a vegetarian meal. 

Okay, so why vegan for climate change

Researchers at the University of Oxford found that cutting meat and dairy products from your diet could reduce an individual's carbon footprint from food by up to 73%

If we were to stop eating the above foods, they found that global farmland use could be reduced by 75%!

This would make a drop in greenhouse gas emissions as well as give back to nature and maybe not cause extinction to animals; as humans have taken away their land.

Lead author Joseph Poore said: “A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use and water use."

“It is far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car,”

“Converting grass into [meat] is like converting coal to energy. It comes with an immense cost in emissions,”


Start with one vegan meal a week, even try meatless Monday. Start small so you don’t put too much pressure on yourself. 

The animals and Earth will love you for it

 

 

 



November 16, 2020 — Samantha Toft-Goulding

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