In one year, the production of meat and dairy products generates as many carbon emissions as the entire transportation sector, according to the University of California Los Angeles.
Los Gatos residents Lisa Wade and Karen Rubio are spearheading Plant-Based Advocates, a local public information campaign to promote a vegan lifestyle and combat consumer-caused climate change.
The group will host monthly events at the Los Gatos Public Library and is working on a community cookbook of vegan recipes.
“People ask us all the time for recipes, and we find a lot of people really want to give a plant-based diet a try, but they just don’t know where to start,” Wade said of the latter effort. “So we thought creating a cookbook with our favorite recipes would be a really useful thing for people.”
The group was recently designated as a nonprofit organization and lobbied the Los Gatos Town Council to include plant-based education efforts in its 2040 General Plan earlier this year to teach residents about the health and environmental benefits of a plant-based diet.
“As humans, we fall into our habits, and habit change can be difficult. But if you approach it in a very gradual way, and you start investigating other foods, it can actually open a whole new world to you,” Wade said. “I know when I started, at first I didn’t know what to eat, and it seemed like it would be restrictive. But I found it to be the opposite.“
The group’s first event will be a Zoom cooking demo on Jan. 10 at 5 p.m. led by Isabelle Cnudde, a French cook behind La Cuisine de Clorofil in Mountain View. The event coincides with Veganuary, a 31-day challenge to eat vegan for the month of January.
On Feb. 6 at 4 p.m., Lauren Ornelas, president of the vegan food justice nonprofit Food Empowerment Project, will host a discussion on the lack of access to healthy foods in Black and Brown communities. She will also discuss workers’ rights and teach participants how to find chocolate that is free from child labor practices.
Amy Halpern Laff of Factory Farm Awareness Coalition will lead a discussion on the impacts of animal agriculture on climate change, natural resources and biodiversity on March 20 at 5 p.m.
Wild animals account for just 4% of mammals on Earth, according to Aljazeera, with humans accounting for 36% and livestock making up 60%.
Wade said her childhood growing up in South Africa inspired her to eat a plant-based diet.
“I really learned to love wildlife and nature by growing up in that environment,” Wade said. “We’re pushing wild animals off their land in order to raise animals that we eat. This is why we have this crisis of so many animals being endangered.”
The spring calendar ends with a talk on April 30 at 1 p.m. by Linda Lanzl, founder of SAFE Worldwide, a Monte Sereno-based nonprofit focused on saving animals facing extinction. The group’s summer and fall calendars will be announced next year.
Wade said she hopes to expand Plant-Based Advocates across the Bay Area. The group has more than 800 followers, including members join who live outside Los Gatos.
