Wondering Whether It's Worth Continuing a Vegan Journey Beyond January?

With the state the world is in, it might easy to think that your choices won't make a difference. Here's why that's not the case.

It’s the 1st February, and your month-long attempt at living vegan has come to an end. Now comes the decision - should you continue?

The world feels upside down right now. In the UK, it looks like we’re heading towards a ‘democratic’ choice of either a far left or a far right party for our next leadership, with racist and anti-migrant talk becoming part of the normal discourse in the media and beyond. In the US, federal officers are shooting civilians dead in the street for protesting against similar sentiments. In Palestine, the genocide continues under the rather confusing name of ‘ceasefire’, whilst Trump plans a ‘board of peace’ made up of fascists and warmongers. In Sudan, the RSF continues another genocide, ongoing since April 2023. In Congo, people continue to die in their hundreds at a time, mining for minerals to be used in western technologies. When there is this much pain and turmoil in the world, it might seem difficult to imagine how and why veganism can make any difference.

Photo by Chuko Cribb on Unsplash

For those who lived vegan for January, many focus on the way that their month of plant-based eating made them feel. You might have noticed that you feel lighter, less tired and more energetic. Perhaps you lost a few pounds of weight that needed to come off, or your blood pressure has dropped by a couple of points. And this is all brilliant, however the effects of living a vegan life are far wider than our individual health, and the benefits can be abundant for all.

Veganism is a movement which fights for the liberation of animals, and for many, this is where the journey begins. The statistics show that just one month of being vegan saves around 30 lives. That’s an incredible number, right? When 85 billion animals are killed every year for human consumption, we really ought to be thinking about our personal part in that, and the new choices we make in the new year can be a great place to start. However, your choice to go vegan in January also would have saved 600lb of carbon dioxide, 900 square feet of forest, 1200lb of grain, and 33 gallons of water. Astounding right? By choosing veganism, you can avoid the pain and torture involved in the animal agriculture industry, and as these figures demonstrate, it’s clear that your choice to live vegan can have far-reaching and massive effects on this planet we call home. But what does this have to do with the rise of the far right, and the western colonialism that’s wreaking pain and destruction for our brothers and sisters around the globe?

Well, keeping non-human animals and their secretions out of our diet can transition us to a kinder way of living. We can move ourselves to a life of non-violence. The planetary effects of a plant-rich life knock on to our neighbours on the planet, human and non, enabling us to counter some of the violence and oppression that we are witnessing on a daily basis. Veganism is rooted in respect, love and liberation, after all, and we can honour these principles with the foods we choose to put on our plates. Foods can allow us to live with peaceful intentions. And once your day starts and continues with an intention of peace and love, it ripples to those around you in ever increasing circles, and further still, to the wider world. Veganism isn’t the end-point; it’s just the start.

Veganism is rooted in respect, love and liberation, after all, and we can honour these principles with the foods we choose to put on our plates.

So how does living vegan benefit the global human population more widely? In more practical terms, we know that many people are also caught up in the meat industry, with marginalised people being more likely to end up working in meat-processing plants, also subjected to the violence that occurs in there. And the devastating environmental impact of these locations has the most detrimental effects on indigenous communities. But, we also have to recognise that the system of factory farming which has enslaved billions of animals into a life of captivity, pain and violence, is a product of imperialist-capitalism. The same political system that oppresses people, profits from war, destroys habitats, enforces gender binaries and heteronormativity, removes women’s bodily autonomy, and makes those living under its conditions sick, whilst profiting off the healthcare we end up relying on. It’s the same system that has created the hellscape we are currently living in. Veganism not only rejects violence towards non-human animals, but allows us to reject oppression more widely.

By rejecting the way of living and eating that is enforced upon us as ‘the norm’, we can begin remembering our humanity. The part of ourselves that loves and respects the other beings on this planet, human and non. We can reject violence towards non-human animals as something that is necessary for us to eat and live well. We can reject what we’re being told is ‘healthy’ but actually leads to chronic disease, disproportionately affecting the most deprived in society. We can reject a food system that leads to planetary destruction and zoonotic diseases that result in pandemics. We can reject a food system that relies on the enslavement of animals, reminiscent to what human beings have historically done to one another. We can reject oppression and violence.

The choices we make have impact, and what we eat is a political choice. So choose to reject violence. Choose respect and love, and let it ripple out into the the world. Choose veganism.