Old habits die hard when tackling climate issues
I feel it’s now time to challenge my diet and in particular my meat consumption.
AS A glass half full positive person, I would like to think that we can all do something to make a difference to the climate emergency we are facing.
At times during the two weeks of the COP26 climate conference the scale of the problem was quite overwhelming.
Governments were negotiating long into the night to get some agreements on a range of things including reducing the use of coal, deforestation, nature, agriculture and food.
In previous columns and blogs I have talked about various lifestyle changes I have adopted to reduce my carbon footprint.
I feel it’s now time to challenge my diet and in particular my meat consumption.
Whilst I am growing quite a few vegetables which we either eat or pass on to neighbours and friends, I am still eating meat daily.
I can’t imagine this is good for my health but the impact on the environment compared with home grown vegetables must be significant.
So recently at home we started introducing vegetarian meals once or twice a week and we were already drinking oatly milk and using olive spread on bread and toast.
But the next step for me is to sign up to Veganuary (ie being a vegan for the whole month of January) and cutting out all meat, dairy, eggs and fish.
This will be the toughest challenge I will have undertaken, and I have done a few physical challenges over the years, including cycling Land’s End to John O’Groats.
I want to do Veganuary for environmental reasons but also want to take time out from eating meat to learn about what the chickens, pigs, lambs, cows etc go through to end up on my plate.
I know it’s an obvious statement, but animals are killed for our pleasure, and I literally spend no time at all considering the welfare and conditions of the animals and the slaughtering process.
How many of us would readily eat meat if we had to slaughter the animals and prepare the meat?
I certainly wouldn’t! Maybe if my life depended on it but as long as we don’t have to see the slaughtering, I imagine most of us have no problem eating meat.
In the run up to January and during Veganuary Community Foundation for Calderdale will be running a marketing and fundraising campaign to educate about adopting a vegan diet and sharing information about vegan recipes, where you can eat out locally and enjoy vegan cuisine and how you can help to raise vital funds to add to the Climate Emergency Fund at the Community Foundation for Calderdale.
Giving Veganuary a go maybe too big a step for you but why not make a start and have meat-free
Mondays?
By cutting out meat once a week is a good start and you will be doing your bit to halt climate change.
Some food for thought...