Veganuary

By Hattie Webb

To most people this gloomy month after Christmas is called January, or even ‘dry January’, but for more that 168,000 brits (2018 figure) it is ‘Veganuary’, a term used to describe the pledge to go vegan for the whole of January. Of course this could just be one of those fads that people do after Christmas to ‘detox’ or to seem on trend with their vegan matcha lattes and avo on toast. However, could veganuary also be part of a sustainable approach to consumption that could actually help reduce the affects of climate change? The biggest analysis on the carbon footprint of livestock to date carried out at Oxford University, assessed 40,000 farms in 199 countries covering 40 food products that represent 90% of what is eaten. The results concluded that 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 even more beneficial than cutting down on flights or buying an electric car. This is because of the huge amount of greenhouse gases that the meat and dairy industries produce. For example, the study found that beef results in up to 105kg of greenhouse gases per 100g of meat, whereas tofu produces less than 3.5kg. These statistics definitely show how the reduction in meat and dairy consumption could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, something that urgently needs to be done as scientists warn that we have 12 years to stop a climate change catastrophe. So does this mean that everyone would need to go vegan? Firstly, it is not very realistic to think that everyone would go vegan or even vegetarian anytime soon. However, Joseph Poore who led the University of Oxford research states that if the most harmful half of meat and dairy production was replaced by plant-based food, this still delivers about two-thirds of the benefits of getting rid of all meat and dairy production. In other words, if you want to do your bit for the environment, don’t worry you do not have to vegan or vegetarian if you don’t want to. Just think about what you buy/eat and what impact it has compared to other alternatives, that a lot of the time are a lot cheaper. To see the carbon footprint of different foods check out this easy to use calculator https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46459714?fbclid=IwAR1Yn7XSRY6HS6Iav19zJBtJTBZ_lO3WyevBf2oh1RMEfRQpQPqFcfAlyvI. So in the meantime stay aware and check out our website for more tips on how to stay environmentally friendly on campus, from plastic to food!