How a wave of campaigns will create plant-based schools and councils across the UK
Last year, Enfield Council became the first local authority in the UK to pledge to serve only vegan and vegetarian foods at council events in a bid to address the climate emergency. Inspired and motivated by the September 2020 rebellion, Animal Rebellion asked itself a question: what if the success of Enfield could be replicated elsewhere? And so the seeds of the plant-based schools campaign were sown.
In late 2020, a ripple of energy made its way through Animal Rebellion. Back in July, Enfield Council had become the first council in the UK to pledge to serve only vegan and vegetarian foods at council events in a bid to address the climate emergency. Now, as the end of the year approached, we were just months away from their promised start date of December. This announcement had come hot on the heels of Leeds City Council’s decision to serve one non-meat day and one vegetarian day each week as well as providing more vegan meals across the board.
Animal Rebellion had just made it through the September rebellion where ordinary people rose up to demand a transition to a just, sustainable plant-based food system. Inspired and motivated by so many people taking action for animals and the planet, some people started to ask: what if we took the success of Enfield and replicated it across the country? In that question, the seeds of the plant-based schools campaign were sown.
The Plant-based Schools campaign is a political campaign that aims to influence local councils to make changes that benefit people, the planet and animals. The campaign is run by Animal Rebellion local groups, parents, educators, young people and many others who are passionate about the planet, animals and human health. Formed at the end of 2020 with just a handful of people in Hackney the campaign has now made its way across the country with 40+ groups actively campaigning their councils with two simple demands:
The council should have two fully vegetarian days across its schools (this is the maximum under current national legislation);
Only serve plant-based meals at council events.
Using a council’s own decision to declare a climate emergency as well as research on school meals which shows that a plant-based school meal has 75% lower greenhouse gas emissions, people running the campaign have already achieved phenomenal success. Campaigners have organised meetings with councillors and even MPs, presenting well-received deputations and delivering talks in schools. Recently, after only 4 months, the Hackney group celebrated their first win with the council agreeing to one vegetarian day per week across 100+ schools and approx. 30,000 students starting September, for a total of approx. 1 million meals per year changed. This is our biggest commitment yet, however, we’ve also made great progress in other councils such as Swansea, Calderdale and Lewisham.
While progress has been promising, it is hampered by current government food guidelines that require schools to serve meat 3 days a week and dairy every day, requirements which are not in line with current research on nutrition or the impacts of animal agriculture on the climate crisis. However, campaigners made a decision that they weren’t going to let this hold them back! On Saturday 3rd April a peaceful protest was held outside the Department for Education to demand that the government ‘Feed our Future’ and ‘End Mandatory Meat.’ The demonstration featured a caricature of Boris Johnson feeding parents and students delicious plant-based food to show what the world could be like if the government chose children, animals, the planet and our future over their own resistance to change.
This campaign is only just beginning. Watch this space and attend an intro talk if you’re interested in running it in your area. The next talk will be on the 29th of April (link here) or stay up to date by signing up the Animal Rebellion newsletter. To address climate change we must address the food we eat. It's time to rethink our food system.
This campaign is supported by Plant-Based Health Professionals and ProVeg UK.
Animal Rebellion is a mass movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience to bring about a transition to a just and sustainable plant-based food system, to halt mass extinction, alleviate the worst effects of climate breakdown and ensure justice for animals.
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