Vegan community events to celebrate Earth Day
53 years, 193 countries, 1 billion people, 1 planet
Earth Day began in the United States in 1970 as a campaign to consolidate and amplify individual anti-pollution and environmental conservation initiatives across the country following a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. In 1990, Earth Day went global, inviting people around the world to promote their environmental conservation efforts and spread their message to the largest possible audience. Today, Earth Day is marked by more than a billion people every year as "a day of action to change human behavior and create global, national and local policy changes". For the vegan community, Earth Day is an opportunity to promote the environmental benefits of a vegan diet and lifestyle.
Our food choices make a difference
Food production produces over 30% of all carbon emissions, with animal-based foods contributing nearly two-thirds of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and 78% of methane emissions worldwide. It takes more than 11 times as much fossil fuel to make one calorie from animal protein as it does to make one calorie from plant protein. Visit the Earth Day website for more food system facts.
A plant-based diet uses far less of our increasingly scarce water and land resources and introduces far fewer pollutants into our already stressed ecosystems. Especially in industrialized economies, which consume most of the resources and produce most of the waste, shifting away from animal-based foods and toward a plant-based food system is one of the most impactful changes we can make to protect the environment--and it's something that each one of us has the ability to do several times a day.
A day for vegan engagement
As the largest secular observance in the world, Earth Day is an opportunity for the vegan community to connect and find common ground with everyone who cares about the environment. The China Vegan Society mobilizes vegan communities, brands, and organizations across China to get busy on Earth Day and share the vegan message and lifestyle via community events and certified vegan products. Wherever you are, here are some ways you can engage your community while promoting an eco-friendly vegan lifestyle on Earth Day.
10 eco-friendly vegan activities to engage your community on Earth Day
Whether an activity is vegan-food-themed or not, you can make it vegan by providing vegan snacks for all participants.
Zero waste vegan potluck or picnic
Lights-out documentary screening
Zero-waste vegan pop-up market
Nature hike and garbage cleanup
Scavenger hunt: compete to find all the items on a list of ecology- and sustainability-related plants, animals, foods, equipment, public infrastructure, etc
Sustainable seminar: find expert guest speakers to share the latest environmental impact and sustainability insights about a given field
Sustainable skills workshop: zero-waste vegan cooking, composting, gardening, upcycling, sustainable business practices, leave-no-trace wilderness skills, and more
Digital detox retreat: a whole day of healthy unplugged activities without digital devices
Sustainable field trip: an educational visit to an organic farm, an ecovillage, a circular economy business, a green energy plant, an alternative protein business, etc
Work party: organize a group to complete a sustainable project together, such as building a community garden, making energy-saving upgrades to a home or office, planting native trees and plants, or removing invasive plants from a local ecosystem
