Earth Hour 2018

I found out this morning that this Saturday, 24th March at 8.30pm is ‘Earth Hour’ – a grassroots ‘lights out’ movement that started in Sydney in 2007 which has become a worldwide phenomenon. Earth Hour invites everyone across the world to switch off their lights and all electricity for one hour and think about ways in which we can help protect and sustain this beautiful and remarkable planet we all call home. It takes place every year at the end of March to coincide with the Spring Equinox, when the sunlight to daylight ratio is almost even, with 12 hours of sun and 12 hours of darkness. And because the Northern and Southern hemispheres experience sunsets at almost the same time, turning the lights out at the same time across the globe has a massive visual impact!

Thinking about Earth Hour got me reflecting on all the ways we humans are destroying the planet – from the amount of plastic getting into our oceans, to mass deforestation, to air and water pollution, to mass species extinction and the devastating effects of accelerating climate change. In fact, just this morning, I saw a BBC news report that the world's very last surviving male northern white rhino died today. It’s easy to feel helpless and hopeless in the face of such huge issues that are impacting our planet on a global scale – but as a Christian it isn’t an option to say “So what?” or “It doesn’t affect me” or “Not my responsibility” – it is EVERYONE’S responsibility to care and look after the planet for the sake of future generations. The saying “If not me, who? If not now, when?” always comes to mind when facing things which seem too enormous to be able to change. If we each do what we can it WILL make an enormous difference to the world – we DO have the power to change things and we MUST make that change fast!!

So what can we do? Well the answer may be surprising and it won’t please everyone. I never knew until just over a year ago when I watched a documentary called ‘Cowspiracy’ that leading cause of deforestation and pollution – by far – is actually animal agriculture. And here’s why no-one realises it – because our governments and economies receive a huge amount of money from the meat and dairy industry and they don’t want to lose any of that money by making the facts public. It’s so corrupt and short-sighted and yet sadly it’s true. Here are just a few of the facts:

• Animal agriculture is responsible for 51% of all greenhouse gas emissions – more than the entire transportation industry combined, which accounts for just 13%.

• Animal agriculture causes 91% of all rainforest deforestation (136 million acres) – that’s far more than the palm oil industry (36 million acres).

• The meat and dairy industry use 1/3 of the earth’s fresh water. 3000 litres of water are required to make just one hamburger!

• Animal agriculture is the leading cause of ocean dead zones and water pollution, caused by ‘run off’ farm waste which pollutes rivers and oceans.

Kev and I were so shocked and horrified that all this damage was being caused by something that could so easily be stopped and prevented. We as humans do not need to eat meat or dairy. We want to eat it because it has become the cultural norm. (Interestingly, when God first created Adam and Eve he only gave them the plants and seeds as food – so humans weren't originally designed to eat meat and it was only after the flood that people began eating animals....)

Our response seemed simple and obvious (but not easy): we could stop eating meat and dairy products and become vegan. Now, as two people who ate a lot of meat and dairy, this was a huge decision and not one that we took lightly. In fact, at the beginning I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to give up cheese and chocolate (my two favourite foods) and so I went vegetarian to begin with. We spoke to our children, aged 11 and 9, about the environmental impact of eating meat and gave them the choice about what they wanted to do. They both said straight away that they wanted to go vegetarian and have been veggie ever since – in fact my son now really wants a pet pig! (He’s not having one, we already have a dog, two cats and two hamsters!) Anyway, I digress…

Within a month of becoming vegetarian, after watching a few more documentaries about the dairy industry and the horrendous way in which the animals are treated, I decided to go fully vegan. The first month was difficult, I’m not going to lie. I missed cheese and chocolate a LOT! I tried every kind of alternative milk and they all tasted disgusting. And meal planning seemed difficult and time consuming and I worried about the cost of all the extra veg we were buying. But in actual fact, after that first month, it became a lot easier. I persevered with the milk alternatives and started to get used to the taste of soya milk on my cereal. I discovered lots of easy vegan family meals via google (I honestly don’t know what I’d do without google!) and some great pudding recipes too (cinnamon swirls, banana cake, victoria sponge, even vegan chocolate brownies and chocolate mousse!). I discovered weird and wonderful egg subsitutes – my favourite has to be the water left at the bottom of chickpea tins, or ‘aquafaba’ to give it its fancy vegan name!

And I honestly feel it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. Apart from reducing my carbon footprint, I have more energy and feel so much healthier, I’ve lost over a stone without even trying, I no longer get spots on my face and the eczema on my hands has completely vanished – oh and our food shopping bill is actually £15-£20 cheaper every week!!! Do I miss meat or cheese or chocolate? Honestly, hand on heart, no I don’t. And I don’t even like the smell of bacon anymore. It’s so strange because I’ve lived my whole life up until a year ago eating meat and dairy on a daily basis, and I never in a million years thought I’d become a vegan. But here I am and I love it! And I would urge you, if you get the chance, please watch Cowspiracy if you can (it’s on Netflix I think). It could change your life for the better and might just help to save our planet too.

If you’d like a bit of theology, here are a few verses to reflect on:

“You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of Israel.” (Numbers 35:33-34)

“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1-2)

And do visit www.becreaturekind.org for new ways of thinking about animals and the Christian faith, with a special focus on farmed animal welfare.