What you eat has a huge impact on the planet. If you or someone you know is looking for the perfect New Year’s resolution, look no further than embracing a plant-based lifestyle! Here’s why:
1. Climate Change
2024 was the hottest year on record, surpassing 2023—the previous record holder.
Animal agriculture is responsible for around 44% of human-caused emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas about 80 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.
2. Pandemics
Factory farms create ideal conditions for viruses to spread and mutate, making industrial animal agriculture a likely springboard for another pandemic.
Right now, avian flu is raging throughout the country, having jumped the species barrier from birds to mammals, even showing up in cows’ milk.
3. Big Meat
Today, farming has become so consolidated that nearly every chicken in the United States is owned by a major corporation, like Tyson, Pilgrim’s Pride, or Perdue, and raised by a farmer under contract.
These farmers have little control over their operations. Many take out loans to finance their farms’ construction. Once farmers get close to paying off those loans, they’re often asked to make expensive changes and upgrades.
The debt keeps them trapped in the system, and many feel as though they can’t escape.Â
4. Delicious Plant-Based Products
Eating vegan has never been easier! Just this year, Impossible Foods rolled out a plant-based beef hot dog, New Culture debuted dairy-identical mozzarella cheese, and Prime Roots partnered with a charcuterie company to distribute their animal-free foie gras.
5. The Animals
In the United States, about 40 billion animals are killed for food each year. Numerous studies show that these animals feel fear and pain, and many even mourn the loss of their family and friends.
Animals deserve better, and making a difference is as simple as leaving them off your plate. Let’s make 2025 a kinder, more sustainable world together. Download our FREE How to Eat Veg guide to get started today.
