living life on the veg

As ever, there’s loads going on in the public sphere about climate change and what we can do to have a positive impact.

Recycling and taking the bus is old news by this point. By now, we all know that reducing our meat consumption can make the biggest difference to our carbon footprints, and the world is now paying attention to the rise of environmental influencers in the likes of Greta Thunberg, Earthling Ed and Immy Lucas.

But who would have thought the latest veg warrior to join the climate crusade would be Bake Off’s very own Prue Leith? 

This month, Prue was interviewed by the Sunday Times to talk about her support for Chefs in Schools, a charity initiative that provides school kids with several fresh, free, homemade veggie meals a week.

Ideally, Prue wants this to be rolled out nationwide by the government, to benefit all young people.
The idea came about as a way to encourage healthy, diverse eating and to move away from waste-heavy lunchboxes, and to reduce the environmental impact of meat-heavy diets. It’s also a way to teach young people from the start about the impacts the choices they make may have.

"If the government was brave enough to say this is a free lunch, everyone has to have a healthy, two-course meal, and no-one will be allowed to bring a packed lunch into school, it would work wonders," she said.

Earlier in the year, she also called for schools to ban highly processed, sugar-laden packed lunches  to ‘cut obesity and help save the planet’, she told the Sunday Times.

And sure, you’re probably past the point of having school lunches. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make smarter choices with your packed lunches, corner shop or canteen purchases.

Meat-free options are usually;
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1) cheaper, because meat is pretty pricey
2) healthier, because they’re often loaded with grains and veggies and
3) better for your carbon footprint.
Win-win.
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Want more info on cutting your meat consumption? Read here.

Author

LUCY HARDING is an English Literature grad and an MA Publishing student at UCL. She is passionate about international relations and cultural diversity, having worked closely with her university’s Erasmus society to support European students. She also spent a year abroad studying at California State University: Long Beach