Is veganuary a good move?
Going Vegan for January has become a thing in many countries, and a big thing. But, we need to be careful not to over extrapolate this trend, ie assuming this is "obviously" good for say plant based meats.
Summary: Going Vegan for January has become a thing in many countries, and a big thing. Obviously being a vegan or vegetarian is already common in many parts of the world, often (but not always) for religious reasons. There are a number of benefits of a vegan diet, but there are also potential pitfalls. And, we need to be careful not to over extrapolate this trend, i.e. assuming this is "obviously" good for say plant based meats.
Why this is important: Huge uptake of vegan diets provides competitive opportunities for food and beverage manufacturers, the hospitality and supplements industries.
The big theme: Our food production is estimated to be responsible for roughly 25% of the world's green house gas emissions. Of this just over half comes from livestock farming, counting their direct emissions, the crops grown to feed them, and the associated land use. So, cutting the amount of meat we consume should, all other things being equal, lead to lower sector emissions. And the easier wins are from beef and lamb. But, its not always that simple, as we have to also think about other issues such as adequate diet, land preservation, rural economies, over processing of food and the hardest one, how do we change human behaviour?
The details
Summary of a story from The Conversation
Veganuary is upon us again, with thousands of people around the world giving up animal products for the month of January. The movement, which encourages people to follow a vegan lifestyle, started in 2014 and has grown rapidly since, with 629,000 people from 228 countries taking part last year.
