Students at over twenty universities across the UK are demanding 100% plant-based on-campus catering by the 2023-24 academic year, to ensure a sustainable future. Animal Agriculture contributes 18-23% of all greenhouse gas emissions and is the leading cause of deforestation1, says the UN2. Groups of students at over twenty UK universities are calling for a transition to 100% plant-based on-campus catering in a campaign against University complicity in the climate crisis. This campaign is supported by the climate and animal justice movement Animal Rebellion, who have previously taken direct action demanding a transition to a just and sustainable plant-based food system, most notably against McDonald’s by shutting down all four of their UK distribution centers in 2021. Vaania Kapoor Achuthan,[…]
Introducing Plant-Based Universities
Universities, the sources of a great deal of the Global North’s scientific study and revolutionary thought, are once more bearing witness to demands for system change. The system in question this time? The unjust, unsustainable food system characterised by the meat, fishing, and dairy industries. This is the system that drives Amazon deforestation1, contributes a staggering amount of greenhouse gas emissions2, leaves 805 million of the world’s most vulnerable people hungry3, whilst simultaneously slaughtering trillions of animals needlessly each year4. The oldest university in the English-speaking world, Oxford, has published several papers exploring and explaining the environmental benefits of transitioning to plant-based foods5. Besides this, dozens of British universities have declared a climate emergency, evidently these institutions are recognising the[…]