Ok, yes, it’s almost done but it has definitely been a happy one! In fact, it’s been a record breaking one with 500,000 sign ups! Also, here at VOS we have welcomed 50 new members! Welcome everyone and this blog is for you! I have been so happy to see the increase in number of vegan adverts on TV, during prime time viewing too!
The supermarkets have jumped on board Veganuary, Oatly has brought out a brilliant advert titled ‘Help Dad’, the website builder Go Daddy is using a vegan pie shop as their example etc etc. It just feels so hopeful!
Unfortunately, we are still unable to hold Outreach events in person but we must, somehow, take advantage of the current wave of change. Here at VOS we are considering different options such as admailing but there are things you can do too.
- Share truths on social media, next time you have a Zoom meeting with your friends or family suggest holding an eco quiz and come up with questions whose answers open their eyes.
- Sign up to email lists of vegan activism groups such as PETA and charities such as Animal Aid, VIVA!, One Kind, HSI and sign the petitions they send you. It only takes 2 minutes. They will send you actions that you can take like emails to your MP, already written; you just have to add your name. They make it so easy for you that there is no reason not to.
- Above all, share with your friends, family and colleagues how fantastic you feel being vegan! When I first became vegan, 5 years ago, I became very angry at the world and, the more truths I uncovered, the angrier and more despairing I became.
But then I realised that being like that turns people away. Just like they don’t want to look at pictures of animals suffering, they don’t want to be made to feel guilty and they don’t want to be lectured. Like a good vegan friend said: ‘the world doesn’t need another angry hippy!’ Much better to lead by example and show them how much happier and healthier they could be. Let them know that you are there to help if they want to change but don’t force yourself on them. I have come to the conclusion, slowly I admit, that people have to want to change, we can’t force them.
Yes, we can lobby for change higher up and we should, but at grassroots level, people want to feel encouraged not bullied. Take a couple of my friends for example: one, who I see often, is incredibly supportive of my lifestyle and completely gets it. She has gone vegetarian as a result. She is almost vegan and is so happy about it. Another friend, who lives down in England, has always commented on any Outreach event posts I have put on FB, always saying how proud of me she is. And guess what; she is doing Veganuary! Now it’s my turn to let her know how proud I am of her!
You will find that, if and when anyone you know decides to try veganism, they will fall over themselves to tell you about it! Ironic really, the saying goes something like this: ‘how do you know someone is a vegan? Because they’ll tell you.’
Well, in my experience, the saying should go: ‘ when someone goes vegan, who’s the first person they will tell? Their vegan friend!’ So I urge you to stay positive, encourage any change your friends or family make, no matter how small, take part in armchair activism; it really does work, and show the world how much happier life is when you boycott the suffering and exploitation of others.
If you know anyone that is looking for encouragement and support in adopting a vegan lifetsyle, beyond Veganuary, we can help. They can send an email to teri(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)veganoutreachscotland.co.uk and I will be very happy to help.
