Turnip the spotlight onto veggies with #SwitchUpYourLunch
To encourage everyone in Oxfordshire to consider the environmental impacts of food choices, Good Food Oxford, Oxfordshire Greentech and other partner organisations asked people, companies, schools, universities and community groups in the region (and beyond) to pledge to eat a vegetarian lunch on the 8 June 2020.
This is the second year of #SwitchUpYourLunch after an estimated 15,000 people across Oxford got involved in 2019. This year, and despite the limitations of lockdown, Good Food Oxford made it even bigger online by inviting people to share their veggie creations on social media and organising a series of online cooking demos on their Facebook page with chefs and bakers from across Oxfordshire. So far, pledges from organisations and individual combined had an estimated reach of over 20,000 people.
This campaign was a great way for organisations to keep remote workers or furloughed teams engaged during the current Covid-19 crisis and show their commitment to climate action at the same time. The Good Food Oxford team have put together a social media pack for organisations to help share the pledge and have many useful resources for anyone interested in switch up to a veggie lunch with recipe ideas, cooking demos, and tips for getting children to eat more veg. If you are interested in running a similar campaign in your local area, sign up to Veg Cities (or log in if you are already signed up to the campaign) and download the resources created by Good Food Oxford saved on your Veg Cities dashboard.
Currently, the average European lifestyle requires the resources of three planets and food in Oxford makes up 43% of the total ecological impact in the region (source: Moore 2018, Oxford Ecological Footprinting Study).
The typical European diet tends to include unsustainable levels of meat consumption and according to World Meat-Free Week, a company of 500 people choosing veggie for just one meal saves:
- The global warming potential equivalent of driving a car 5,059 kilometres
- The equivalent of 12 years of water use for 1 person
- The daily recommended calories of 18 me
Sustain are encouraging more areas to launch Veg Cities campaigns and get local businesses and organisations making veg pledges. Veg Cities is a feature campaign of Sustainable Food Places and is run in partnership with Peas Please.
Published Tuesday 2 June 2020
Veg Cities: We need your help to get your city or local area growing, cooking, selling and saving more vegetables.
