Going Vegan: A Good Resolution For This Year

In a month marked by the return to normality of the Christmas holidays and the dreaded “January slope”, Jane Land and Matthew Glover decided a couple of years ago that the beginning of the year was perfect to give a lifestyle a chance. more compassionate, kind and suitable for everyone.

January seems the perfect time to consider a change in habits and veganism requires that we review all the outdated habits that we may have to implement new routines.

An initiative to help take the step towards veganism

Thus was born Veganuary. They launched the first campaign in January 2014. Jane was betting that 100 people would subscribe to the web. Matthew said it might be as many as 1,000. Both were wrong: the first campaign closed with 3,300 people interested in taking steps towards veganism as a way of life.

Now, even Queen guitarist Brian May or actress Natalie Portman, support the campaign and have adhered to it in this month of January 2020.

What do people get? Free daily newsletters with a lot of information: recipes, nutritional advice, places to shop, news, discounts on the sites that temporarily host Veganuary … everything you may need to make the move to a 100% plant-based diet, much kinder to the other animals, with the planet and, if done well, with our body.

Great reasons to go vegan

The main reason is always the other animals. Unnecessary suffering to get food that is otherwise readily available in nature and of plant origin is morally reprehensible.

But, as Joaquin Phoenix – chosen as person of the year by PETA – also recalled in his speech at the Golden Globes earlier this week, eating animals is no longer a matter of taste because it affects us all. We are talking, of course, about the climate emergency.

In a study carried out by Dr. Joseph Poore of the University of Oxford, it was found that livestock is also directly responsible for deforestation in the forest. Industry uses 83% of the land available for crops, but only provides 18% of the calories we consume.

Poore wanted to verify, by investigating more than 40,000 farms in 115 countries, the relationship between climate change and livestock after knowing the 2018 results of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In this report, scientists warned us, we have little more than a decade to reverse the effects of climate change.

All this reinforces what the UN itself has already advanced in its 2006 report “The Long Shadow of Cattle.” A change in diet is urgent, if we want to have an option to save the planet.

Animal husbandry has more of an impact on climate change than fuel emissions from the entire transport sector combined, is a leading cause of deforestation and biodiversity loss, and causes the suffering of millions of animals kept on farms. .

Additionally, the water footprint of any animal product is much larger than the water footprint of any plant-based product with the same nutritional value according to UNESCO’s Waterfood Print Network.

Beyond meat consumption

So it is not surprising that the couple from York, vegans for a long time, have also seen the opportunity to work mass awareness campaigns and target people who want to change their lifestyle. Now that the direct link between the livestock industry and the destruction of the planet is already clear, even environmental organizations, which traditionally had not pointed out this problem, such as Greenpeace are campaigning for us to drastically reduce our consumption of meat and animal products.

Veganism encompasses much more than the consumption of animals. It also makes an impact on the use of an animal for fun, experimentation and any other way that damages the interests of that animal. In addition, the meat industry is not the only one that pollutes, but also aquaculture or the farms of animals used to make skins.

Companies that join this initiative

According to the latest data from the LATERN consultancy, The Green Revolution 2019, in Spain there are about 90,000 vegans (0.2% of the total population) and, adding those who follow more flexible diets with products of animal origin and vegetarians, we approach almost 10% of the population. In countries like the United Kingdom, the figure shoots up, where in London alone there are more than 100 vegan restaurants. In Madrid, according to the Madrid Vegano portal, in 2019 there were 35.

All large companies are joining this wave of veganism that arrives unstoppable to help the population to consume in a different and more conscious way. Last year, the British company Greggs, famous for its pork sausages wrapped in puff pastry, tried to launch – taking advantage of the January wave with Veganuary – its first vegan sausage. Such was the success that they quickly ran out of stock and had to permanently incorporate it into their menu throughout the year.

This year, even the giant Hellmann has created various types of egg-free mayonnaise to launch in the UK this January and Emirates airline will serve 20,000 vegan menus to its passengers. Pizza Hut, meanwhile, has included its vegan pizza made from jackfruit, or jackfruit , in 253 restaurants in the United Kingdom .

The million dollar campaign

The drivers of Veganuary are also driving this January another campaign has been much talk internationally this year: the campaign of one million dollars.

Million Dollar Vegan in February 2019 launched a challenge to one of the world’s most influential leaders: Pope Francis. Encouraging the pontiff to go vegan during Lent, Million Dollar Vegan also distributed a small online kit with various resources for people who would like to become vegan. The trick? If Pope Francis went vegan during Lent, the organization would donate a million dollars to the non-profit organization that the Supreme Pontiff wanted. Pope Francis did not respond, but the NGO donated $100,000 to the Chilis on Wheels association, dedicated to working with people at risk of social exclusion affected by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

In December, the couple and their team returned to the fray, this time with a focus from the health point of view. Under the motto “Make America Healthy Again”, they will donate a dollar to two animal sanctuaries for each person registered in the challenge. They have already surpassed 100,000 subscriptions in various countries and people can still sign up here.

Two campaigns dedicated to making the world a friendlier, vegan and healthier place during the month of January. Adherence to a plant-based diet and to the change of life that they propose now only depends on each one.