A record 500,000 people have signed up to the Veganuary challenge to eat only plant-based foods for a month. The milestone is double the number who pledged to go vegan for January in 2019.
People give a number of reasons for choosing to cut the amount of animal foods in their diets, from reducing animal suffering, improving health or to lessen the environmental damage caused by food production. Many people in rich countries already eat more meat than is healthy, and scientists say cutting out meat is the single best way individuals can tackle the climate and wildlife crises.
“It really feels to me that plant-based eating is no longer controversial,” said Toni Vernelli from Veganuary. “Pretty much everyone has accepted we need to be reducing animal products in our diets for environmental reasons.”
