Nurturing Environmentalists as Allies

Build connections.

Goal: Integrate the crucial role of dietary change in resolving the environmental crises into the broader environmental movement.

Intention: Leverage the potential of broad environmental movements to help bring about dietary change through the creation of allies in local, regional, national, and international environmental and climate-related groups.

Rationale: Environmentalists care about the ongoing habitability of our Earth, but they are often ignorant about the full extent of animal agriculture’s contribution to environmental destruction, including the climate crisis. When they become aware of these facts, especially of the fact that there is no solution to the climate crisis that does not include a global shift towards plant-based and plant-centered diets, they will be motivated to help with advocacy, education, and systems change related to diet change.

Process for Gaining Allies:

1. Join an environmental group. Good choices would include groups that are aware that diet has some impact, but are not yet focusing their work on diet. Possibilities include local chapters of national or international organizations such as 350 and Sierra Club, independent groups in your community, or activist networks with a national or international scope that do most of their organizing virtually. Or join an environmentally-focused Meetup or Facebook group.

2. Become a contributing member of the group. For example, join the leadership team, volunteer to help at an event, or offer pro bono professional support in your area of expertise.

3. Begin bringing information about diet-related environmental issues to the attention of the group. For example, share links to recent studies and reports that demonstrate the environmental harm of animal agriculture and the potential of plant-based and plant-strong diets to help mitigate environmental problems.

4. When you have gained credibility within the group and respect from the group’s members, take your advocacy to the next level. For example, offer to collaborate with the group on an event focused on the impact of dietary choices on climate. Ask the group members to help with advocacy, education, and systems change work related to diet and environment. Work for integration of the topic in the group’s advocacy and educational work with elected officials, the general public, and other targets of their work.

Photo by OCG Saving The Ocean on Unsplash

Tips for Interaction:

• Engage respectfully. For example, be gentle if pushing a strictly plant-based agenda and acknowledge the helpful impact of plant-strong as well as plant-based diets.

• Avoid getting into arguments. Rather than attempting to convince members of the group that their perspective is wrong, especially when you have not yet firmly established your credibility within the group, share your perspective in the form of an unarguable truth. For example, use “I-statements” such as “I am so passionate about this because of the recent studies that show that dietary change is a crucial part of any effective solution to the climate crisis.”

• Be positive and supportive. Offer regular appreciation to the members and the leaders for the good work they are doing in the world. Make supportive comments.

• Use quality data. Bring information from reputable sources such as peer-reviewed journals. It’s also fine to share information from the popular press, if it’s a reputable publication such as The Guardian, The New York Times, or The Washington Post. Sources to avoid include those likely to be assumed to be biased, such as Plant Based News or VegNews, though you can use those sources to find out about new studies, then cite the studies themselves. Use fairly current data, for example studies or reports published in the last five years, if possible.

Alternatives to Joining a Group: There are alternative ways to nurture environmentalists as allies. Here are a couple of possibilities:

• Befriend an influential environmentalist in your community and help that person to understand the crucial role of dietary change in environmental sustainability. Help them to integrate this information into their advocacy and educational efforts, for example by bringing them information from emerging science.

• Identify an environmental advisory or policy-making group, for instance in your workplace or local government. Advocate with this group for inclusion of diet-related policies. Create a list of possible policies or practices for this group to adopt or advocate for. For example, government bodies can adopt food procurement policies that favor plant-based foods, and groups that advise businesses regarding sustainability measures can encourage default-veg policies for company events.

Thanks to PPC Pod leaders for creating this document.