Society is obsessed with labels. Over the last few decades, this has stretched to putting a name on exactly what you eat. Flexitarianism, vegetarianism, plant-based, demitarianism...
Don't worry, I hadn't heard of 'demitarianism' either! Apparently this is a term to label reducing your meat and diary consumption for environmental reasons. Whatever the name, the point I want to make is...
It's not all or nothing!
People often worry that if they choose a dietary label, they have to stick 100% to it. And since this seems too difficult (rightfully so!), they'd rather not try at all. But this is a key problem in our fight against climate change. As individuals we don't appreciate the significance of each small change we make. And this isn't wholly our fault. The human brain isn't actually able to compute how quickly impact can scale up.
Let me demonstrate what I mean. Imagine a normal piece of paper. And now imagine, that I folded it in half, say... 42 times. How thick do you think it would be? Perhaps the height of you? Or the width of your house?
The thickness of the paper is now the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Mind-blowing right? Our inability to visualise this is the same for the collective effort of humans. Imagine each fold of paper is you sharing a sustainable habit with two friends, and these friends share it with another two. Before you know it, a huge amount of people will have been impacted by your one small act.
So when it comes to sustainable food choices, don't think that unless you're a die-hard vegan there's no point. Don't worry too much about labelling yourself - each small act counts.
For me personally, I eat a vegan diet most of the time. But when I do have some dairy - like the delicious grain bowl from Offley Works in the picture, it doesn't erase the impact of every other dietary choice before. To make lasting change - try not to stress and obsess over it. Focus on building sustainable foods into your diet in a fun and varied way - you'll find yourself sticking to this kind of eating in no time!
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