This weekend just passed, Nottingham based vegan catering campaign 'Veggies' was at Elvaston Country Park as part of a two day Woodland Festival event. Their ethical and delicious food, alongside a vibrant display of campaigning literature, ensured that there was a buzz around the stall throughout the weekend, with many members of the public choosing them in favour of other meat options at the festival. There were many appreciative comments about the fantastic veggie burgers, breakfast baps and cakes made by the Veggies team of dedicated volunteers.

A sunny Saturday was followed by a much colder and wetter Sunday, but this didn't stop the team's service with a smile and they kept the hot food and drinks flowing!

Alongside the food trailer, campaigners were busy raising awareness of important environmental and animal rights issues. Firstly, they were highlighting the benefits of a plant based diet for the sake of the animals, human health and the planet. There have been numerous undercover investigations into the UK farming industry and slaughterhouses, which have shown not only horrendous animal rights abuses, but also revealed the dangers to human health that comes from intensive factory farming. Furthermore, according to the United Nations, breeding and killing animals for food is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than is produced by the entire transport sector worldwide. Therefore, choosing a plant based diet is one of the best ethical decisions that a person can make. Campaigners were on hand to give out free vegan recipe booklets and information about making the steps to a more compassionate and ethical diet. Detailed information can be found on the Viva!, Animal Aid and Vegan Society websites, amongst others.

Another important focus of the campaigning on the day was to raise awareness of the imminent badger cull due to take place in parts of southern England. This cull has been given the green light despite massive amounts of public opposition and the fact that the science is not in favour of a cull. It is described as 'a trial' and a precursor to a nationwide cull of badgers in the near future. A far more 'science-based' cull was carried out a few years ago where badgers were trapped, shot and tested for TB in six different regions in England. Lord Krebbs and the Independent Scientific Group ran this trial and issued a report at the end of it. After 10 years’ work they concluded in 2007 that ‘badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain’. It even went farther to state that in some cases the cull could even make bovine TB worse. This was evident with the early suspension of the trial when cases of TB actually increased in the cull zones.

Alas, our beloved badger is being made into a political scapegoat to hide the true problem, which is that increasingly intensive farming methods are leading to outbreaks of disease, amongst animals and humans. Animal agriculture is simply unsustainable and unless people switch to a more plant based diet we will see increased incidences of things like E.coli, Salmonella and superbugs, and of course bovine TB amongst cattle. 

Join Nottingham demonstrators for a peaceful protest on Thursday 27th September at Tesco's on Angel Row (opposite the Central Library) at 1pm, in opposition to Tesco purchasing milk from the cull zone. If you're not able to make this date then you can do your part by getting in touch with any of the supermarkets promoting the cull and telling them that you're boycotting their dairy products. Better still, have a more lasting impact by ditching the dairy altogether and trying a vegan lifestyle!

If you'd like to volunteer some time to Veggies at any of their upcoming events then this would also be much appreciated by them. Get in touch via their website: www.veggies.org.uk