Veganuary turns 10 and expands into space

Veganuary, the campaign to try vegan for a month of January, sent a flag bearing its logo to the International Space Station where it orbited Earth 4,400 times as the first vegan campaign ever.This marks Veganuary’s 10th anniversary as the very first pledge took place in January 2014.

The initiative was the idea of Richard Garner, founder and director of The Space Collective, who is celebrating 10 years of being vegan.
He said: “Why launch the first Veganuary flag into space? Well, why not? The future of spaceflight is vegan after all. Curious? You should be! See, when humanity finally settles on a new world, those first brave explorers will be vegan by necessity.

Transporting the materials necessary to grow plants in space is considerably easier than transporting live animals. This is why NASA and other space agencies’ endeavours in prolonged spaceflight are centred around establishing greenhouses in space.

Even as we speak, aboard the International Space Station there is a Vegetable Production System that allows astronauts to grow their own food. This also has the added benefit of enhancing the astronaut’s happiness and well-being as it is a touch of nature from home.

The flag spent 275 days in space, orbiting Earth 4,400 times, travelling 112,000,000 nautical miles, and passing over every country on Earth. In a way, the flag followed the same journey as us, spreading the hope of a kinder, more compassionate world across the globe. Start as you mean to go on, right? To the stars with kindness.”

Since Veganuary launched for the first time 10 years ago millions of people, from almost around the world have taken part. Veganuary now has campaign hubs in Germany, USA, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, India, Spain and the UK.

Veganuary’s Head of Communications, Dr Toni Vernelli, says: “It’s amazing how the presence and acceptance of veganism has grown around the world in the past 10 years and I know Veganuary’s friendly, non-judgemental, just-give-it-a-go-for-a-month-and-see-what-you-think approach has played an instrumental role in this shift.”

She added: “We’re thrilled to be now taking our message into space to spread this positive vegan vision even further. To everyone who took their first step towards a vegan diet with us in January 2014 – Happy 10th Veganniversary! To everyone taking their first step with us today – welcome to a growing movement taking positive action for a better world – and future worlds!”

You can sign up to join Veganuary at veganuary.com and receive a 7-Day Revolutionary Meal Plan, Celebrity eCookbook, the Official Veganuary Starter Kit and 31 daily emails with nutritional info, vegan recipes and tips.