Plate Up for the Planet

Last year we launched Plate Up for the Planet – our campaign to highlight the impact of animal agriculture on the environment and to help environmentally-minded people to make the connection and go vegan.

We had a fantastic summer taking the campaign to events and festivals around the country and signing up over 10,000 people to our 7-day vegan challenge. We ran a calculator on our website which kept track of how many people had signed up, and our collective impact on the environment. Once we passed the magic 10,000 number, that meant that together we had saved enough energy to fly to the moon and back!

As you can imagine, we were over the moon with our success (did you see what we did there?) We have a message that resonated with environmentally-minded non-vegans, and we want to share it far and wide. So what next for the campaign?

As well as signing up as many new people to the challenge as possible, we want our campaign to encourage a larger shift within the environmental movement. Unfortunately, policy makers and environmental organisations often ignore or minimise the impact animal agriculture has on the planet. Instead, we generally hear messaging about, for example, opting for greener transport or reassessing our energy use in the home. If our diets are discussed at all, we are often only asked to cut down on meat rather than make a stand and going vegan. This needs to change.

The summer’s events We took Plate up for the Planet to the prestigious Cheltenham Science Festival to raise awareness about the positive benefits of veganism, and to engage with a group of people who are sciencesavvy and environmentally minded. We engaged with thousands of people over the week-long event and signed up hundreds to the challenge.

At the festival we also hosted a much sought after vegan tasting event, hosted by vegan chef Day Radley and presenter Stefan Gates. Tickets sold out weeks before the event – and the crowd on the night were not disappointed. We served vegan alternatives such as caviar, ice cream and meat replacements, which were donated by some of our fantastic Trademark holders. We also used the opportunity to chat to our audience about how much of a difference they could make to the environment if they went vegan, encouraging everyone to sign up to the challenge.

We all know people who are on board with the environmental message, but who don’t know about veganism yet. This is where we can come in!

Climate Cubes

Getting our nutrients from animal products is highly inefficient, as animals require huge amounts of water, land and food over the course of their lives. Did you know that for every 100 calories fed to farmed animals we only get back about a fifth in return?

This is something of which many people are still unaware … introducing our new game, Climate Cubes! Featuring informative facts about the benefits of a vegan diet, the game is free for everyone to play and involves jumping from box to box, avoiding the meat and dairy ‘baddies’ in order to try and win the game.

If you can manage to get to Level 3, you will have the chance to be entered into a competition to win a Froothie blender, worth £500! Why not play along, and share it on social media with your friends.

The challenge

Do you have a friend, relative or colleague who does their bit for the environment? Maybe they always cycle to work, or carry a supply of bags for life to avoid using plastic ones? We all know people who are on board with the environmental message, and are dedicated to making positive changes – but who don’t know about veganism yet. This is where we can come in!

Please encourage everyone you know to sign up to the 7 Day Vegan Challenge. We have updated and improved last year’s challenge, adding even more delicious recipes, plus tips and environmental facts to keep everyone motivated. Carbon emissions for all meals are calculated, so you can see what a difference you’re making over the course of the week.

We’ve taken on board your comments and have designed a meal template for the week for everyone to try out – sign up online and you can even move the recipes around on the page to come up with your own unique 7 day plan.