Go Vegan (for today!)

Your sustainable living challenge today is:

Go vegan for today!

Today you get to try your new tasty recipes! Woop!

Now, many people are worried about not getting full nutrition from a vegan diet, but ALL diets need to have a good awareness of nutritional intake. Now, the only vitamin that is only found naturally in animal sources is Vitamin B12 - vegans can still get this intake from fortified cereals, fortified unsweetened soya drinks and fortified yeast extract eg. Marmite. So fear not! Your body can still get all of the wonderful vitamins, minerals and proteins from a vegan diet, yeeehhhaaaa! If you want to get some more advice - have a look at this NHS Advice so you can gain a good understanding on how to go vegan with all the good stuff for your body.

Vegan Challenge Environmental Impacts

Meat and dairy products need a lot more land, energy and water than plants. This includes soy, which frequently is pulled out as a big vegan climate change contributor, however more soy is needed to feed animals for consumption than if humans were simply to eat the soy in the first place. The meat and dairy industries are also major causes of deforestation and loss of biodiversity. This Oxford University Study from 2016 forecasted that we could cut food based emissions by 70% if we all switch to a plantbased diet; and that’s a pretty sweet difference seeing as over a third of all human-caused global emissions come from food.

Vegan Challenge Animal Impacts

First of all, disclaimer!  We know that not ALL animals are treated badly for produce. However, the reality is that most do experience conditions that we are unaware of.  Free range eggs (even the ones with with RSPCA assured standards) still have male chicks macerated or gassed, and beaks of the chickens are trimmed. Dairy cows are typically killed after 5 years, despite their natural lifespan being 20, due to being constantly pregnant (through artificial insemination) and continuous lactation; male cows, an unwanted ‘by-product’ of the dairy industry, are killed for veal or later for a more mature meat. So if you go vegan, you’ll be helping out our furry friends too!

Going vegan has a whoppingly great effect on your carbon footprint, treatment of animals and general saving the planetness!

Not had enough vegan info for your liking?

Check out this University Study on the wonderful impacts you’ll be having on the planet and your health.

And if you’re more of a watcher than a reader The Beet has some great recommendations on vegan documentaries and films.

Enjoy today’s sustainable living challenge:

Go Vegan!

Have a fab time and remember that motivation is KEY to sustainable living - find the ways that work for you and don’t be hard on yourself. If you fancy joining a lovely supportive of network with the same aims for sustainable living and understandings that this stuff can be complex, hit up our social talks at the pub or sign up to the newsletter to come see us at our next events!