You Can Veganise Anything, Even Steak and Chips!
You might have seen coverage of the recent report published by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It was pretty scary. It said that limiting global warming to 1.5°C is necessary to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. And, importantly, that we cannot meet 1.5°C without large-scale changes by individuals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
https://www.facebook.com/Veganuary/videos/319586218829801/
And scientists say that one of the top ways that we as consumers can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions is – you guessed it – by reducing our consumption of meat and dairy.
In fact animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the entire transport sector! Lots of us are choosing more environmentally friendly cars, leaving our cars at home, or avoiding short-haul flights – we can make just as much difference, three times a day, by choosing plant-based meal options.
Today, we took that message to the UK Government.
You see Claire Perry, the UK minister for climate change, was asked what she’d be doing to cut down her meat consumption, and whether she’d be encouraging people in the UK to eat less meat. And – in what Friends of the Earth called a dereliction of duty – she scoffed at the idea, reportedly saying:
“Who would I be to sit there advising people in the country coming home after a hard day of work to not have steak and chips?… Please…”
We’ll let you in on a secret. At Veganuary, we absolutely love steak and chips. In fact we eat it all the time. It’s yummy! It’s just that our steak is made out of seitan, and is much better for the environment than the cow-flavoured original. You can even get vegan steak at Brewdog these days, and Vivera’s vegan steaks are selling like hotcakes in UK supermarkets.
So today, two of Veganuary’s best campaigners went to see Claire Perry at Westminster, the home of the UK government. We took her a vegan cookbook. And we invited her for dinner. Veganuary ambassador and renowned plant-pusher Derek Sarno will do the cooking – and boy, he does some amazing things with seitan and mushrooms.
We want to sit down with Claire Perry, and show that her views are out of step with public opinion. We want her to listen to what we have to say, and learn about the amazing changes that people taking part in Veganuary are telling us about. And we want to open her eyes to the astonishing retail revolution that’s taking place, with more and more plant-based options available every day.
At Veganuary, we’re part of the solution. We’ve helped over a quarter of a million people to try veganism. We want to help Claire Perry develop her thinking about how she can be part of the solution, too – helping change consumer behaviours to protect our planet, improve our health and, in so doing, spare the lives of millions of animals.
Read our letter to the minister here. It’s a cracker.
Three easy things you can do to tackle climate change:
Pledge to eat less meat and dairy
Share our video on Facebook
Tweet Claire Perry about why she should be promoting meat and dairy reduction
Already vegan? Why not ask your friends to sign up to our free 31-day pledge to try vegan? We’ll be here to help them on their way.
