The Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN) are asking you to Take the Veg Pledge!
They would love for churches and individuals to Take the Veg Pledge between 5 - 11 June. Taking the Veg Pledge means committing to eat vegetarian for a week as we consider how what we eat affects the world around us.
The challenge is open as possible to everyone to participate, so feel free to adapt it in a way that suits you, from trying a new vegetarian recipe to completing the whole week as a vegetarian.
We’d love churches to consider doing this challenge together, getting families and kids involved, sharing experiences and meals together, and talking about it in church.
If you are able to take the pledge we hope that it can be fun as well as challenging!
Find out more: https://www.yccn.uk
From the YCCN website:
We know this will be a challenge - food is often a part of our identity and represents so much more than just a meal on a plate! It’s actually precisely because of this that we are running this campaign - we think following Jesus connects to the whole of our lives, even to the choices we make about what we eat.
It might surprise you to know that the food system is responsible for about a third of global carbon emissions, with meat production being the largest part of this.
The science is very clear that a major response to the injustices and threats of climate change needs to be a change in the global patterns of food consumption towards a greater share of vegetarian meals. The Climate Change Committee - the UK independent body that makes recommendations to the government on climate policy - has shown that for the UK to meet our climate change targets, the UK needs to reduce consumption of meat and dairy by one fifth by 2030. Reducing meat and dairy is a very significant way for us to mitigate climate change, improve health, and increase food security.
And yet, when asked to rank what we can do to mitigate climate change, people consistently underestimate the impact of ‘eating a more vegetarian diet’ (UK perceptions of climate change, CAST Briefing Paper 08, 2021).
As Christians we want to be people who challenge every injustice. Climate change is one of the great injustices of our time: if reducing our meat and dairy intake is one way we can challenge this injustice - we want to do it!
Will you reflect your commitment to justice by joining us?
