IT’S VEGANUARY – WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
There is no better month to help save the planet than now! ⠀⠀
If you’ve never tried out eating plant-based, there is no better time. The options are abundant and all your favorite meals can be made vegan nowadays! Most non-vegans even prefer some of the vegan options like Just Mayo or the Impossible Burger. Seriously if you haven’t tried this plant-based Mayonnaise or this delicious burger, you are missing out!⠀
With The 200 Year Project’s easy Vegan Starter Kit you can get started in no time. Try it out for a month and see how you like it. If you’re looking for additional guides or resources check out the Veganuary Challenge, the 21 Day Challenge by the Physicians Committee or the PETA Starter Help, where you can even get a mentor to help you through the process! But just remember, there are 3 Reasons you are doing it – for the planet, the animals and for your health.
IF EVERYONE ATE LIKE US CITIZENS⠀⠀⠀
The unfortunate reality is we as a species cannot afford to continue eating whatever is just put in front of us without understanding the possible ramifications. The way we currently live in western culture is simply not sustainable for this world. If the rest of the world ate like the United States and Europe, we would need 4 Earths! Little tidbit – we only have one!
According to a secret report by Nestle, “the current US diet provides about 3600 calories per day with substantial meat consumption. If the whole world were to move to this standard, global fresh water resources would be exhausted at a population level of 6 billion, which the world reached in the year 2000.”
So in short we would have run out of freshwater 18 years ago! Producing a pound of meat requires extreme amounts of water since crops that are fed to each animal have to be watered and the animals require thousands of gallons of water to grow.
If you’ve got grandchildren or are planning to have any, are you considering the world they will receive from us?
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VEGANISM – A MISUNDERSTOOD LIFESTYLE
Unfortunately the word “Veganism” has received a bad reputation. Sometimes people turn away when they hear it and never truly take the time to understand why so many people who once ate meat their entire lives, all of a sudden decided to give it all up. Veganism is a lifestyle first and foremost, not just another diet. It influences your way of living in every waking moment as you start truly seeing what the world is and how our actions can affect it. The hardest part about being vegan is not eating differently, it’s this:
People that you cherish and love will do everything in their power to defend their lifestyle and habits so that they don’t have to consider changing their ways or try to improve. They won’t applaud you for taking this difficult but necessary step, that they are not willing to honestly consider. Instead of being loved and praised for helping out the world, animals and your own health, you might get backlash and have to defend your choices. Think about it another way – if you volunteered in an animal shelter people would be so proud of you, but now that your actions are saving hundreds of animal’s lives they’re questioning your behavior and complaining of feeling judged!
But don’t despair, there is enough support out there! You can join the tons of vegan Facebook groups or Meet Ups that occur in almost every city. It is now easier than ever to connect with like minded individuals and to find the support you may not be getting from your family and friends. But if you lead by example and show them how this lifestyle is not only healthy, but you’re also impacting the world tremendously in a positive way, eventually they will sit with you through a screening of a great documentary that might just open their eyes. Find all the many documentaries on Veganism in our Vegan Hub.
Oh yea and if you happen to be in Las Vegas during Veganuary, guess what? They started a vegan friendly month! Things are changing for the better and with your help to inspire others around you, living a cruelty-free sustainable lifestyle will be the future.
NOT JUST ABOUT ANIMALS
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Many people equate Vegetarian and Veganism directly to animal welfare, and while that is a big part of the lifestyle, it is much more than that. Eating plant-based reduces the need for grains to go to animals and instead it can be fed to humans that are in need of food. Lands will also be spared, because less is needed to feed people than to feed animals that end up on people’s plates. By promoting non-violent behavior, you are also choosing not to participate in the harming of any sentient beings. Becoming vegan is really just aligning more with pacifism, so that you are even more likely to choose peace over war any day.
And of course there is the environment! Who can live on this planet without trees to create fresh air, without bees to pollinate vegetables and fruit, without clean water and with rising temperatures? If we don’t consider our actions now, it will get traumatically worse. Deforestation, sea levels rising, water shortages, mass extinctions, and overfishing will create an unlivable planet and what we currently enjoy will be a distant memory for our grandchildren, if they can survive the extreme conditions.
SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
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