Today is World Vegan Day 2007 and this year the Vegan Society is asking “Is it green to eat meat?”. The answer that they’ve come up with is a resounding NO. Here’s why. You use much less land and water if you eat crops directly. Animals use most of the protein they eat to live, not ‘grow’ meat. So eating meat adds to water shortages, forest clearing, soil damage, use of oil-based pesticides – and climate change. If you want to know more, you can download a leaflet that goes into detail here (just so you know, it’s a pdf).
“By 2050 the world’s livestock will be consuming as much as 4 billion people do… when many were doubting whether such human numbers could be fed at all.” – Award winning Science Writer:Colin Tudge, Penguin 2004
What do vegans eat?
Not just rabbit food. There’s a lot of choice available to vegans. For some delicious ideas, try some of these great recipe websites:
Vegan YumYum
Vive le Vegan recipes
Celsius Low Carbon Recipes
Post Punk Kitchen
Urban Vegan
And if you’re overweight, a vegan diet is a great way of getting your weight under control while cutting your carbon emissions.
Common myths about vegans and veganism
Online vegan store Bourgeois Boheme has compiled the top 10 myths about people who don’t use animal products.
Here’s what some of my fellow bloggers are saying about World Vegan Day:
Hippy Shopper
Coventry Green Voice
Ecorazzi
Recommended vegan cookbooks:
Vegan Rustic Cooking
Vegan with a Vengeance
A Vegan Taste of the Middle East
Easy Vegan Cooking