It is no secret that our Earth seems to be on the brink of devastation, and that we need as many hands on deck as possible to help bring her back. Something I have noticed recently, as this issue is being talked about more and more, is that there is a pressure to do everything perfectly. We must all be 100 per cent vegan and 100 per cent plastic free and anyone caught doing anything less than this is automatically vilified.
While I think it would be fantastic if everyone could, and would, give 100 per cent all of the time, it simply isn't. Ruling out an individual's efforts simply because they aren't perfect seems to be a fantastic way of discouraging people from joining what is an incredibly important movement.
It is estimated that there are approximately half a million vegans in Australia. According to a study conducted in the United States, if the entirety of their population had one meat free day per week, it would be the environmental equivalent to taking 7.6 million cars off the road.
Using this data and applying it to the Australian population it seems the current vegan population of Australia is saving the equivalent of approximately 81 million cars. This is already a great number, but if the entirety of our country were to do a meat free day this figure would rise to above 572 million.
While I personally think being vegan is a wonderful way to live and to contribute environmentally, I would say there is a significantly higher chance of Australian people transitioning to eating meat one less day a week, than giving it up all together — at least for now. While this may not be the end of the journey, it would at least be a huge step in a positive direction.
Another largely talked about issue at the moment is the use of plastic, specifically single use plastics. There is a big focus on becoming zero waste, a movement which involves individuals consuming as little plastic as possible. While I think this is a wonderful thing to strive for, once again it comes with the pressure of perfectionism. I know many times I have attempted to drastically reduce my waste, only to get frustrated and feel guilty that I couldn't live up to the zero part of it.
I have found so much more success in taking small steps to replace the