As many who know me will be aware, the eco-friendly lifestyle that I was trialling this month was veganism, or as I took to calling it, Vegebruary. Some context for those just joining us: Amy and I have undertaken the challenge to try out a different lifestyle each month which is purported to be good for the planet. Our aim is this: to see whether each of the challenges we try out are indeed as beneficial as people claim, and to find out whether they are accessible enough and sustainable enough for ordinary people to incorporate into their daily lives. First, I’m going to give a bit of background into why we decided on veganism as a challenge, and what the arguments are on either side of the debate with regards to environmental sustainability, and then I’ll discuss the month itself and how easy it is to be a Vegan in 2019.
It would be remiss to talk about veganism without giving mention to the hugely popular fad that is steadily gaining traction year by year, and that is of course Veganuary. More and more people are taking the pledge to go vegan for January, with prominent backers such as Beyoncé and Gordon Ramsay supporting the movement this year, and the popularity as well as publicity that it has gained has undoubtably had some part to play in the rising numbers of people identifying as vegan. It is clear that what was once a niche sub-culture has developed into a mainstream lifestyle that is growing more popular by the minute. According to The Vegan Society, demand for meat-free food increased by a whopping 987% in 2017, and by 2018 an estimated 600,000 people identified as vegan in the UK alone. It seems that every other day a new statistic is announced testifying to this, such as demand for vegan cleaning products soaring by 80% at Tesco, and Greggs enjoying a sales boost of nearly 10% after the release of their highly contentious vegan sausage roll. It is undoubtable that veganism is gaining popularity, and with this popularity comes the inevitable backlash, with hotly defended arguments from either side frequently appearing in our newsfeeds. It is some of these arguments, particularly the claim that going vegan is the best thing for the environment, that I want to explore, and that contributed to our decision to emulate those participating in Veganuary (although admittedly during a much shorter month).
Something that may have influenced a lot of people to reduce their meat consumption was an Oxford University report by Poore and Nemecek that came out in Science journal last year which identified veganism as our best hope for saving the planet. Joseph Poore, who led the research, actually turned vegan midway through the study as a result of his findings. He states that cutting meat and dairy is the most effective change we can make, as the impact is “far bigger than cutting down on your flights or buying an electric car”. This report is just the latest in many claims made by scientists and environmental organisations that the meat industry is having detrimental effects on the planet. Delving into the science, the main claim made is this: farming cows at the rate we currently are is producing highly damaging levels of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Further fact-checking reveals that whilst meat and dairy provide us with only 18% of our calories, they use up 83% of farmland and produce 60% of agriculture’s greenhouse gasses. In fact, three meat companies - JBS, Cargill, and Tyson – are estimated to have produced more greenhouse gasses than the entirety of France in 2016. At a time where we have been told that we have 12 years before climate change starts to have a devastating effect on the planet, we really need to be taking these figures seriously and thinking about what they mean for the future.
However, it would be unfair to just consider one side of the argument. Unsurprisingly, many people take issue with the claim that cattle farming, which is an age-old British institution that has shaped the countryside as we see it today, is actually damaging for the environment. One very valid claim that is made is that the staples of a vegan diet which replace meat and dairy are often things which have to be imported such as lentils, soy, almonds, and quinoa to name a few. This obviously comes with a whole host of issues, but purely coming from an environmental standpoint, the airmiles that come with transportation means that these foods have a massive carbon footprint by the time they reach our tables. The problem is that we simply do not grow enough of these foods to accommodate people in the UK. We currently only assign 16% of our land to protein crops, and so it is difficult for those following a vegan diet to find locally sourced products. Luckily, this is a solvable issue. Our climate is well suited to growing these crops, we just don’t do it yet, but progress is being made. In August of last year, the UK’s first commercial crop of lentils was harvested by a company called Hodmedod, and more are sure to follow. There are of course other arguments that point to the benefits of cattle farming, such as its positive impact on soil restoration, but the truth is that global warming has become our most pressing issue and if we don’t address our serious greenhouse gas problem immediately, soil nutrition will be the least of our worries. If going vegan can help to prevent climate change, then it at least deserves our consideration.
In terms of how easy it is to be vegan at the moment, the answer is very. My month of veganism revealed that everywhere you go now in the UK will provide vegan options, from supermarkets, to restaurants, to the tiniest corner shop, if you know what to look for and who to ask then you will have no problems finding things to suit you. Every restaurant has something vegan, even if it isn’t on the menu, and what shocked me was that everything was actually nice. I was expecting a few salad leaves, with maybe some vegetables to make it more exciting, but instead was offered sweet potato curries, beetroot risottos, and bean burgers that looked just as nice, if not better than everyone else’s meals. Every coffee shop now has at least four milk alternatives, and I found that they actually have much longer shelf lives than regular milk so are great for at home too. As for snacks, pringles and Oreos were my go to, but there are now vegan alternatives for everything you can imagine. The only real difficulty was identifying whether something was actually vegan, as where all vegetarian food now tends to be very clearly branded, checking that something was vegan tended to mean standing in a supermarket aisle squinting at the ingredients list for a few seconds every time. Especially thanks to Veganuary, there is also a lot less stigma around veganism, and most people who asked me about it tended to be actively curious rather than openly antagonistic. I even had a moment of solidarity with the person next to me who was also buying the vegan sausage roll from Greggs, but it is impossible to know whether they were actually vegan or just doing it to spite Piers Morgan. It is now easier than ever to be vegan, and the more that people opt for vegan choices, the more that companies have to accommodate this, so I think it is only going to become more accessible.
Despite saying all of this, I am not going to advocate that the whole country turns vegan. Some people may not be able to, some people may not want to, and that’s okay. There are obviously strong opinions on either side, but absolutism is not the solution here, what is more feasible, and more practical, is that we all become more aware of the impact of what we are eating. Rather than making a radical change, just deciding to switch from beef to chicken, or deciding to have almond milk on your daily coffee stop can really make a big difference. It is all about managing our consumption and being accountable for the part that we have to play as consumers.
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