Environmental Resources for Vegan Activists
We need to act for the planet now! Animal agriculture is one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
VegFund has compiled this list of resources to support your vegan advocacy for the environment. Help others make the connection between their food choices and the fate of the planet by incorporating environmental messaging into all of your outreach activities.
Contents
Leaflets and Guides
To distribute to the public at festivals, climate marches, and other events.
Climate Change
from Animal Aid
This four-page fact sheet provides a clear explanation of the phenomenon of climate change and global warming, with diagrams showing how the greenhouse effect works, global greenhouse gas emissions by economic sector, and sources of greenhouse gas emissions from animal farming. Case studies of the effects on wildlife are included. It’s geared towards students and recommends steps to make a difference. Activists and students can download the brochure to print or order up to 20 hard copies for free, although payment of postage is required for orders outside of the UK.
EcoFood Guide for a Climate-Friendly Future
from A Well-Fed World
This 22-page guide encourages and empowers caring people to embrace plant-based foods by presenting important facts about how food choices affect the environment, as well as recipes, tips, and resources. You can enter your email address at the top of this page to receive instant access to the PDF version, or scroll down to order a free printed copy (U.S. only).
Fight Climate Change with Diet Change
from Vegan Outreach & Factory Farming Awareness Coalition
What’s really worth our time? Can one person even make a difference? This well-referenced, 14-page brochure explains how changing our diet is one of the most powerful ways that we as individuals can help mitigate climate change, species extinction, and air and water pollution. It covers deforestation and habitat destruction, GMOs and pesticides, drought, manure runoff, and greenhouse gases, and makes the case that moving towards plant-based eating is essential to solving these urgent planetary problems. The brochure offers practical assistance such as meal ideas, a list of chain restaurants with plant-based options, and nutrition tips.
The PDF version can be found here: https://veganoutreach.org/wp-content/uploads/FC.pdf.
Go Vegan to Protect the Planet
from Animal Aid
This brightly-colored bifold leaflet uses engaging graphics and short text to explain how going vegan can protect the planet and animal habitats, reduce your carbon footprint, and save water. Advocates can download the PDF to print or order up to 20 hard copies for free, although payment for postage is required for overseas orders outside of the UK.
How to Save the Planet and Environmental leaflets
from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
These 2-sided leaflets make the clear case that we need to go vegan to save the planet! Order How to Save the Planet or the Environmental leaflet online, or email ActionTeam@peta.org to request free copies of PETA’s leaflets, posters, and other outreach materials. Let them know which items and how many you need, your mailing address (U.S. or Canada only), and how you plan to use them.
Vegan for the Environment: Saving Our Planet with Plant-Based Diets
from The Vegan Society
This 4-page leaflet explains how plant-based diets can save the planet by protecting habitats and endangered species, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and enabling more efficient use of limited resources. The leaflet is tailored to European audiences. UK advocates can order print copies at no cost.
Posters
To show your message at a glance.
COOL BEAN Posters for Plant-Positive Messaging
from Healthy Kids Happy Planet!
With a mission of educating and empowering youth to create a healthier, greener, and kinder world for all, this children’s eco-health organization is changing the world one little bean at a time. Their colorful “COOL BEAN” posters and banners can be displayed in cafeterias and classrooms to help children and others make the connection between eating plants and saving the planet. You can order (or sponsor) a set of 10 posters for a suggested donation of $30: https://healthykidshappyplanet.org/education-posters/ To order banners or for more information email barbara@leanandgreenkids.org.
Diet and Environment Education Outreach Materials
from Eat for the Earth
These informative, bilingual (English/Spanish) posters created by Eat for the Earth were displayed at their County Government Center in Santa Cruz, California, for a month during the Covid-19 pandemic. VegFund was pleased to cover the cost of the materials through a Special Project grant award. Email beth@wholenessworks.com to request the digital files if you would like to print your own signs for outreach in your community.
Environmental Posters
from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Display these posters at your outreach booth or table. Email ActionTeam@peta.org to request free copies of PETA’s leaflets, posters, and other outreach materials. Let them know which items and how many you need, your mailing address (U.S. or Canada only), and how you plan to use them.
Films and Videos
To learn more and inspire others.
VegFund Community Event Film-Screening Grants can help cover the cost of licensing these films and other event-related expenses, such as venue rental, vegan food samples, and marketing. Apply here.
Cowspiracy: The Sustainabil
ity Secret (2014)
Directors Kip Andersen, Keegan Kuhn
Cowspiracy follows filmmaker Kip Andersen as he investigates the meat industry and asks why the world’s leading environmental organizations are too afraid to talk about it. As Andersen approaches leaders in the environmental movement, he increasingly uncovers what appears to be a refusal to discuss the issue of animal agriculture. To obtain a screening license, visit cowspiracy.com/screening-license. Run time: 1 hour 31 minutes.
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020)
Directors Alastair Fothergill, Jonathan Hughes
During his lifetime, Sir David Attenborough has seen first-hand the monumental scale of environmental change caused by human actions. Now, for the first time, he reflects on the devastating changes he’s witnessed and reveals how together we can address the biggest challenges facing life on our planet. This is an excellent film for a nature-oriented audience. Available free on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80216393. Run time: 1 hour 23 minutes.
I Am Greta (2020)
Director Nathan Grossman
In August of 2018, Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old student in Sweden started a school strike for the climate. Her question for adults: If you don’t care about her future on earth, why should she care about her future in school? Within months, her strike evolved into a global movement. Available on Hulu. Run time: 1 hour 37 minutes.
Meat’s Not Green
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
This short video offers a straightforward explanation of the #1 cause of global warming — factory farming — which is also responsible for land degradation, climate change, pollution, water shortages, and habitat destruction. “All we have to do is tell everyone we know that meat’s not green!” Run time: 2 minutes.
Seaspiracy (2021)
Director Ali Tabrizi
From the co-creator who brought you the groundbreaking documentary Cowspiracy comes Seaspiracy, illuminating alarming truths about the widespread environmental destruction to our oceans caused by human behavior. From plastics and fishing gear polluting the waters and the irreparable damage of bottom trawling and bycatch, to illegal fishing and devastating hunting practices, humanity is wreaking havoc on marine life — and, by extension, the entire planet. Available on Netflix. Run time: 1 hour 29 minutes.
Online Conferences
Watch and learn from experts.
Plant-Based Climate Summit
from Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)
Learn from leading scientists, climate change experts, and plant-powered advocates how a vegan diet can save the planet. Watch and share this recording of the April 1, 2021, online symposium hosted by Neal Barnard, MD. The first presentation, by geography professor Leslie Durham, PhD, should be especially effective with academic types and other science-oriented individuals. Community organizer Naeema Muhammad’s discussion of the impact of hog farms on North Carolina communities is compelling. Friends of the Earth shares a fascinating analysis of the environmental and health profile of California school meals, and Michael Greger, MD. discusses how pandemics originate from confined animal operations and the risk that a future pandemic will be even more devastating. On a lighter note, plant-based cooking demos and tips are included. Run time: 2 hours 37 minutes.
Vegan Climate Summit
from Project Animal Freedom
View the live presentations recorded on April 22, 2021. Presentation topics include COVID-19: A Dire Warning for the Future of Life on Earth (Ray Ippolito), Green-Washing our Food: The Truth Behind Sustainable Labels (Hope Bohanec), The Connection Between Planetary Exploitation and Animal Exploitation (Lee Hall), The Surprising Truth Behind the Leading Cause of Climate Change (Sailesh Rao, PhD), The Future of the Midwestern Animal Rights Movement (Kyle Luzynski), and How to Build an Unstoppable Vegan-Environmentalist Movement (a panel discussion). Run time: 2 hours 53 minutes.
Online Infographics and Calculators
Facts by the numbers.
Climate Change Food Calculator: What’s Your Diet’s Carbon Footprint?
from BBC News
How do your food choices impact the environment at a glance? To find out the climate impact of what you eat and drink, choose from one of the 34 items in this fun and informative online calculator and select how often you consume it. For example, by entering dairy milk once per day, you learn that “Over an entire year, your consumption of dairy milk is contributing 229 kg to your annual greenhouse gas emissions. That’s the equivalent of driving a regular petrol car 585 miles (941 km), the same as heating the average UK home for 36 days. Your consumption of dairy milk also uses 45,733 liters of water, equal to 703 showers lasting eight minutes; 652m² of land, equal to the space of 2 tennis courts.” The tool then displays a graph comparing the kilograms of greenhouse gases per serving of various plant milks with dairy milk (and likewise for other food items entered).
Cowspiracy Infographic
from Cowspiracy
This infographic complements the Cowspiracy film by presenting key facts about animal agriculture as it relates to global greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, water use, species extinction, waste, fisheries, and land use. A metric version is available, and references are provided.
Facebook Groups
For community.
Eat for the Earth Worldwide Facebook group and Eat for the Earth Santa Cruz Facebook group
Connect and learn from others who share your concerns for the earth and recognize that plant-based eating is an important part of the solution. Eat for the Earth launched an “Eat for the Earth Communities” initiative in 2021 to help activists connect, share ideas, and support each other in their grassroots activism to decrease food-related, consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions. Read more here: https://www.eatfortheearth.org/.
Articles
To inform and provide you with talking points for your advocacy.
17 Environmental Benefits of Veganism (as Proven by Science)
from Future Kind
Seventeen ways in which veganism helps the environment, backed up by scientific and environmental studies that will open your mind to what veganism can achieve towards healing our planet. Did you know that one person going vegan can save over 200,000 gallons of water a year? Or that adopting a vegan diet can cut agricultural greenhouse gases in half? Find talking points that you can share with others in your vegan outreach activities.
A Vegan Diet: Eating for the Environment
from Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)
This article reviews and links to several recent, important reports and studies: The Lancet’s 2019 report, which concluded that a dietary shift toward plant foods and away from animal products is vital for promoting the health of our planet, a 2010 report from the U.N. Environmental Program International Resource Panel, a 2014 bulletin from the World Health Organization, and a 2020 analysis of the dietary guidelines of 85 countries published in the British Medical Journal.
Catering to the Climate: How Earth-Friendly Menus at Events Can Help Save the Planet
from Center for Biological Diversity
Did you know that for a 500-person event, serving a low-impact, plant-based menu instead of a conventional (omnivorous) menu can save 5 acres of habitat from animal agriculture, avoid the emissions of 22,000 miles driven by car or about 50 people flying round-trip from New York City to Chicago, prevent 17 tons of manure pollution, and conserve nearly 100,000 gallons of water? This report analyzes the environmental impact of common catering menu choices as well as plant-based alternatives, with impressive conclusions. It also addresses some of the barriers event organizers face in shifting menus and recommends solutions.
Cluck, No! Why Choosing Chicken Over Beef Won’t Save Us
from Friends of the Earth
Given the drastic emissions reductions required from our food system in order to meet the Paris Agreement target, switching from beef to chicken is a half-measure we can’t afford. While U.S. beef consumption has declined since the 1960s, annual chicken consumption has increased from 28 pounds per person in 1960 to 96 pounds in 2019! Friends of the Earth presents 8 reasons why consuming chicken in place of beef is the wrong solution. Increasing industrial chicken production generates more dead zones in our oceans, depletes increasingly scarce water supplies, accelerates climate change, and results in more animals killed following a cruel existence.
Interactive: What is the Climate Impact of Eating Meat and Dairy?
from CarbonBrief
This article explores how greenhouse gas emissions from meat, dairy, and plant foods compare and if changes to the production and transportation of meat could help to reduce its climate impact. Several revealing graphs depict the carbon footprints of common foods (including beef versus Beyond and Impossible Foods burgers), the effects of various diet types on carbon emissions, and how meat, dairy, and vegan food consumption vary in different regions of the world.
Why Going Vegan Is One of the Best Things You Can Do for the Environment
from Forks Over Knives
This article provides useful infographics on contributions of various food types to greenhouse gas emissions and their land use and water requirements. “Living a plant-based lifestyle is a win for environmental sustainability. To make an even bigger impact, choose whole, unprocessed foods that are sourced locally when local conditions permit. Shop for seasonal produce in biodegradable, compostable packaging — or better yet, no packaging at all. And aim to reduce food waste by shopping strategically and using what you have.”
Learn more and read about what other activists are doing for the planet in our blog post: