Why vegans of Brighton will save the world

Vegans are everywhere in Brighton. If you don’t know one, you’re probably part of the minority.

Laugh at vegans all you want, cow farts are actually worse for the planet than car fumes.

Cuties

Living in the only UK city with a Green MP, we are not unfamiliar to their policies of how to help to keep the world ‘green’. Similar to pretty much every global-warming and ‘green’ charities, they claim to stand for building “a stable and sustainable society that protects our planet from climate change” through “reducing our reliance on fossil fuels” and “investing in renewable energy.”

Even if we were to cut out the use of all fossil fuels, we would still exceed our CO2 limit by 2030 due to the excessive amount of animal agriculture.

Recently, some climate change researchers have uncovered a theory which exposes the fundamental facts concerning the horrific effects animal agriculture is causing to the environment. Effects that almost all climate change charities, the government and our beloved Green Party, have refused to speak about.

Livestock and their by-products account for at least 32 million tonnes of CO2 a year – 51% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gas emissions than the combined exhaust from all transportation. Methane (which cow farts are made of) is 25-100 times more destructive than CO2.

Is it worth it?

With factory farming on the rise and a McDonald’s on every corner, these stats are set to only get worse. Animal agriculture emissions are set to increase by whopping 80% by 2050.

But it’s not too late to change.

The secret’s out, now let’s do something about it. And the only way we can, is by taking a leaf or two out of a vegan (cook)book.

Although meat has always been considered a necessary part of our lifestyle, we now know that there are many delicious foods we can use as a substitute and still maintain a healthy (if not healthier) diet. Livestock covers over 45% of the world’s land. If we didn’t use as much of this land for the maintenance of animals, other foods that take up a lot less land and resources could be grown.

Just one of Brighton’s many vegan restaurants

Being a resident in one of the most vegan and veggie friendly cities, dropping meat not a bad place to start if you want to save the planet. Brighton is full of vegan shops, cafes and restaurants serving a wide range of delicious veggie food, why not try some of them out?

Iydea, Food for Friends and WaiKikaMooKau are all ones to recommend.

Max Troy, a real-life vegan

Max Troy, a third-year Sussex student, said: “I have been vegan ever since I learnt about the animal industry. Now I eat so much cleaner, with more vegetables, fruit, whole grains and protein than I ever ate before.”

Vegans should not only get our full attention but also our sincere admiration. Not only are they saving themselves from unhealthy habits, but they are also helping to save our planet more than people can imagine.

And to those of you who can’t just go cold turkey , even cutting down on your meat fixes and trying to avoid that Maccy D’s every so often would be so beneficial. We have a huge range of delicious vegan restaurants at our door and thousands of vegan recipes at our fingertips.