Vegan Practically

Happy World Vegan Day to one and all!

Since November 1, 1994, this day has been set aside for vegans to celebrate. I got an email from Veganuary this morning that offered five things we can celebrate today:

• Eating plants spares animal lives. One million people switching to a vegan diet for one month would spare 3.4 million animals¹.
• Eating plants protects our environment. One million people switching to a vegan diet for one month would save as much greenhouse gas emissions as driving around the world 15,000 times.²
• Eating plants can improve your health. Vegan diets have been shown to reduce your chances of developing type 2 diabetes³, reduce your blood pressure⁴ and lower your cholesterol⁵.
• Eating plants can improve the world’s health. Conditions on factory farms are the perfect breeding ground for new strains of diseases to develop.
• [for the footnotes follow the link to the email]

If you’re not vegan but have been thinking about it (or not), here are five things you can consider doing today in honour of WVD:

• Ask a vegan friend why they’re vegan and how they made the transition, and then listen with an open mind and heart to their reasons
• Make your next meal vegan. I’ve blogged about some websites that have great recipes.
• Find one thing you may be able to commit to longer term that might be responsive to some of the reasons people have for being vegan, such as deciding to replace cow’s milk with one of the many plant-based options.
• Consider a commitment to Meatless Mondays from now to the end of the month.
• Inform yourself about the conditions for animals (including human animals) on factory farms, from which 99% of the animal products on our supermarket shelves and in restaurants are sourced, and spend five minutes consciously reflecting on whether that’s okay with you.

As The Vegan Society website says, the whole month of November is World Vegan Month. Did you know you can “activate” Veganuary any day of the year? You don’t have to wait until January 1st. If you want to take a one-month pledge, you can sign up for Veganuary today or take the Vegan Society’s 30-day pledge, guided by their app.

If you’re already vegan and want to do more than celebrate, you can make today special in any number of ways:

• support a local vegan restaurant today by ordering take-out or dining in
• make a charitable donation to an organization that supports animals or explicitly promotes veganism
• invite a non-vegan friend over for an amazing home-cooked vegan meal
• try a new vegan recipe that you’ve been meaning to try
• give yourself a pat on the back (since no one else is going to do it for you :))

Have a great World Vegan Day and I hope to see at least some curious minds jumping on board for the month.