The Vegetarian Society recently relaunched its “Power the Planet” campaign, which now encourages environmentally conscious people to simply change their eating habits by replacing animal products with plant-based alternatives.
The campaign offers practical and manageable advice for those who want to make good environmental choices but don’t know where to start, and a free ebook – One Little Switch – to help inspire people on their vegan journey.
The association recognises that many people in the early stages of their vegetarian journey, whether for animal rights, environmental or health reasons, simply don’t know where to start.
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Familiarity with certain ingredients and the habit of cooking with animal-based ingredients is key hurdles Transition to vegetarianism. The One Little Switch eBook contains tips and blog posts and recipes to help you answer questions and build confidence.
People are transitioning to a vegan lifestyle for a variety of reasons – environmental concerns are high on this list. Over time, the need to change our spending habits has grown.
Systemic change is needed and is being pursued, including through Vegetarian Association. However, we must recognize our role as individuals and the power our spending habits can exert if enough of us make positive changes.
One study Research from the University of Oxford found that if everyone followed a plant-based diet, food-related climate emissions would drop by 70%.
The study’s lead author concluded that “avoiding meat and dairy is the biggest way to reduce your impact on the planet”.
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World Wildlife Fund (WWF) also provided data on the environmental impact of diet, further demonstrating that vegan diets are the least impactful of a range of environmental measures.
Imperial College 2019 study Discovering your diet is where you can make the most of your difference, followed by travel and heating. However, it is unrealistic to expect people to drastically cut back on travel or heating.
It is unrealistic to expect everyone to live fully sustainably – there is no perfect or all-encompassing lifestyle to achieve this. However, what we choose to put in our shopping basket is one of the few ways in which we can make a real impact.
There have been many environmental-focused movements that encourage us to make small changes to our behavior. Reuse shopping bags, wash in cold water, switch to energy efficient light bulbs or recycle.
All of these little switches are important and have become widely accepted as ways for individuals to reduce our impact on the planet.
Recycle
One 2017 Research Eating a plant-based diet was found to be three times more environmentally friendly than washing clothes in cold water, four times more environmentally friendly than drying or recycling clothes, and eight times more environmentally friendly than switching to energy-efficient light bulbs.
Many non-vegetarians are fully aware of this and do not need to convince vegans on environmental, health or ethical arguments that they will make this personal change if given the right guidance and helpful resources.
Estimate approximately 2% of the UK population is vegetarian. However, many of the 98% of non-vegetarians already sympathize with vegan values.
Changes in personal habits are believed to have played a role in tackling the climate crisis. By providing encouragement, support and resources, the One Little Switch campaign will guide many of these people towards a more sustainable future.
this author
Alexander Huntley is a research assistant at the Vegetarian Society. He is a graduate of SOAS University, London with an MA in Politics of Conflict, Rights and Justice. He is a passionate human and animal rights advocate.
