The Summer Vegan Pledge Returns for 2021!
Last year, we had to postpone the Summer Vegan Pledge, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. However, we feel it has never been more important to encourage people to go vegan.
The past year has given everybody a chance to reflect. With the Coronavirus pandemic that is still ongoing, many people have begun to think about their food choices, given how the pandemic was likely started at a wet market.
Coupled with further information about the fact that 3 in 4 of the world’s new or emerging pandemics comes from animals, it has been reported that 1 in 5 of British adults have cut down on their meat-consumption and a huge increase in sales of vegan meat and dairy alternatives.
It is clear that this momentum is sparked by a need to reduce the risk of more pandemics, similar to what we are seeing now. Factory farms are breeding grounds for such pandemics. Filthy sheds filled with animals in poor health who are pumped full of antibiotics, thus making certain medicines ineffective when it comes to treating human diseases… it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
[Read our Is Factory Farming Making You Sick?’ report]
Not to mention, we still face a climate crisis, where global warming, reduced biodiversity, deforestation and fresh water use are all still huge issues that impact everybody. And, of course, we know that animal farming is one of the biggest contributors to this. The production of meat and dairy is responsible for around 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention vast swathes of deforestation, water use and land use.
Whereas a plant-based diet is perhaps the most sustainable and environmentally friendly; the carbon footprint of a vegan diet being as much as 60% smaller than a meat-based one. The production of plant-based foods also requires much less land, less water and produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions.
[See our ‘Why Vegan?’ section for more information]
And throughout this, billions of sentient beings are confined, mutilated and abused to produce meat, dairy and egg products. The majority of these animals will have spent their short existence on a factory farm, where they are confined to packed sheds or cages, where many of their natural instincts are denied, and where disease and mortality are commonplace. The suffering these animals go through doesn’t stop there. Regardless of whether the animals are raised on intensive farms or ‘free-range’, or ‘pasture-raised’ systems, they all suffer a brutal and terrifying death at the slaughterhouse.
So with all of this in mind, Animal Aid will be running our Summer Vegan Pledge this June. Those who sign up will receive all of the information that they need to go and stay vegan. This includes, recipes, nutritional information, shopping tips, access to exclusive social media channels and one-to-one support should they need it.