Going vegan for climate change?

Going vegan for the sake of your country’s well-being as well as political and economical achievements? That sounds both patriotic and empowering enough, right? The UK’s Cabinet minister Kwasi Kwarteng encourages to join the world rescuers team — ‘go vegan to help UK hit greenhouse gas targets’, he says.

Last week Kwasi Kwarteng raised this environmental question on the day US President Joe Biden encouraged him to take more significant actions dealing with greenhouse emissions in the UK in the virtual summit of world leaders. One of his main suggested solutions was to influence British society to go vegan because that is one of the main progress drivers of slashing emissions by 78% percent in the UK.

Keeping in mind that the UK proposed to cut 78% of carbon emissions by 2035, the clock is ticking and powerful actions must be made. Environmentalists claim that this is only the minimum the society must achieve to avoid alarming consequences in terms of climate change. What is even more alarming that the next COP26 climate summit is due to take place in November in Glasgow where world governments will need to agree on the plans of carbon emissions reduction in the world.

‘It’s vital for all of us to show that this is not all about some expensive, politically correct, green act of bunny hugging’ adds UK’s prime minister Boris Johnson.

What has veganism to do with climate change?

So, how can a group of people giving up meat and dairy products be capable of saving this planet? Sounds completely unrelated at first, but just consider this fact before jumping into assumptions — cattle and other animals account for 60% of mammal species on this planet produce millions of tonnes of carbon every year which results in significant climate changes.

We are not here to teach or preach, but simply explain the relevant correlations vegan diet has with climate change and our well-being in general:

1. Meat production produces more carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gas emissions than transportation — it generates more than 14% of global emissions.
2. Animal waste produces such greenhouse gas as nitrous oxide which influences a 300 times higher warming effect than CO2.
3. Agriculture is one of the main reasons that reduces the quality of soil that influences worldwide deforestation. Trees help to reduce climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide from the air.
4. 93% of water supply in the world is used for agriculture activities, with meat and dairy production taking the biggest piece of the pie — one quarter of water is used for meat and dairy production alone.
5. Expansion of agricultural land results in the reduction of home for wild animals that are close to extinction — monkeys, elephants, bears, alligators, lions, wolves and so on.
6. 36% of the calories from plants are fed to animals, while only 12% of those feed humans. Veganism does not focus on feeding animals with pants to slaughter them, but feeding humans with plant-based food to nourish them.
7. In general, growing plants requires using fewer resources than keeping and killing animals. A vegan diet may reduce land use by 75% and reduce carbon footprint in the word.
8. If we all adopted a vegan lifestyle, greenhouse gas emissions may be reduced by two thirds and avoid climate damages of $1.5 trillion.

Taking a peek again at the threatening numbers, veganism and reduction of meat and animal products consumption has a lot to do with reduction of climate change issues around the world.

Do I need to go vegan if I want to save the planet?

We’re not saying that if you want to contribute to positive changes in the world and reduce the impact of climate change, you must go vegan. Of course, as Cabinet minister Kwasi Kwarteng implicated, a vegan diet is the most impactful thing you could do as a responsible citizen, but there are number of initiatives you can take if you don’t feel like giving up meat:

1. Cycle or walk to your place of work instead of driving a car every single day. You may reduce not only the devastating weight compressing your planet, but your own body mass too.
2. Join Meat-free Mondays initiatives. An initiative that promotes giving up meat once a week. Even a small step contributes towards huge changes. You may actually enjoy it, and decide to go vegetarian or vegan one day!
3. Contribute to climate actions by purchasing discounted products which expiration date is soon. That way you will reduce food waste in your country that plays a huge role in climate change.

You don’t have to go vegan to make an actual change. Even a single small action can result in huge positive changes around the world! Don’t you want to be a part of it?

Be a part of a positive change with the JollyGut app

If you feel like giving a vegan diet a go, don’t stress out that it’s too complicated or time consuming. With tools such as the JollyGut app or Browser extension, going vegan is easy and hassle-free.

To find out which products are vegan across grocery stores in the UK, simply set the JollyGut ‘vegan’ filter on the app and search for food across Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, or Asda stores.

Then scan the products with the JollyGut app:

The app instantly shows whether the product is vegan or not! It also provides other nutritional information that should be taken into account before purchasing the product:

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With JollyGut you don’t need to analyse complex ingredient lists and get frustrated wondering whether the chosen product is right for you — just check the product with the app or Browser extension and it will warn you whether the product meets your dietary preferences or not!