November marks one of our favourite events, World Vegan Month! World Vegan Month celebrates veganism and the strides vegans are making towards eliminating cruelty to animals. World Vegan Month was established in 1994 by the Vegan Society to commemorate the progress of the movement. Now is the perfect time to try going vegan, and here are our top reasons why!
Climate Change
Climate change has been a concern for a long time now, but the past year has made us all more aware than ever of the urgency to act. In October, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a report that stated we had just 12 years to limit a climate change catastrophe. In the report, leading climate scientists highlighted the urgency in taking action to avoid global warming reaching beyond 1.5C. The report made it clear that avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet. Animal agriculture is one of the key driving forces behind climate change. Raising animals to be used for consumption uses huge amounts of water, electricity, land and produces an astronomical amount of harmful emissions. The Vegan Society's Grow Green report shows the need to move towards plant protein agriculture, but on an individual level, going vegan is one of the most significant changes you can make to reduce your personal carbon footprint.
Delicious Food
This year has been a year of amazing innovation for vegan food. We have seen high street restaurants launching or expanding vegan menus, multiple supermarkets introducing dedicated vegan ranges and even vegan butchers popping up across the country! Vegan food has never been more visible, accessible or delicious which makes it easier than ever for budding vegans to make the transition. Swapping to a vegan lifestyle also means trying lots of new, delicious foods that you may not have otherwise tried. There's a whole host of different vegan recipes and chefs that you can find online with loads of tasty recipes for you to try out. We highly recommend Satio Food aka Zoe, she creates beautiful, delicious dishes that even your non-vegan friends will enjoy! She also made all of the food in the images you're seeing throughout this article.
You won't be alone
The number of vegans in Great Britain has quadrupled in the last 4 years. With the soaring number of vegans, you will likely find that any struggles you encounter as a new vegan have probably been encountered by plenty of veteran vegans before you. Vegan social media communities are growing rapidly, which means you will always have a community of like-minded people to fall back on for guidance and support. Places like Facebook and Instagram are bursting with vegan influencers, chefs, make-up artists, sports people, fashion bloggers, travel enthusiasts, climate change activists, parents and so much more. The vegan community is a loving and welcoming one that many of us are proud to be a part of. You'll also be joining the ranks of many famous vegan celebrities such as Ariana Grande, Anne Hathaway, Stella McCartney and Arnold Schwarzenegger to name but a few!
For the animals
The most important reason for many people for going vegan is to prevent cruelty and suffering to animals. Animal agriculture views animals as property or stock, rather than individual beings with thoughts and feelings. Veganism aims to break down this view, and instead sees animals as what they are - sentient beings capable of pain and suffering. By choosing to leave animal products off your plate, you will have a real impact on the lives of animals. The Vegan Society have made a calculator that can show you just how many animals lives you could save by going vegan today. If you want to learn more about the truth of animal agriculture, we recommend the documentaries Cowspiracy, What The Health, Eating Animals and Seaspiracy which are available across a number of streaming platforms.
If you want to learn more about World Vegan Month or veganism in general, visit the Vegan Society website here.