Friday 17-05-2024 - 10:24

 

You might have heard about a vote to make Lancaster a 100% plant-based campus. 

 

 

LUSU VP Union Development, Harrison Stewart, said: “In 2019, the students of Lancaster declared that there is a Climate Emergency. We are in the midst of a Climate and Ecological crisis, and students recognise this. A student group of Lancaster students called Plant-Based Universities Lancaster launched a petition recently that gained a large amount of signatures. 
 
“Under our democratic process, when a petition is signed by so many students, the motion must be discussed at Union Assembly. Union Assembly is our students’ highest form of democratic decision-making. It is made up of the University’s most influential student leaders, consisting of FTOs, LCOs, Academic Representatives, College Presidents, and Sport & Society Presidents.
 
“PBUL brought their motion to UA and after some very intense discussions, predominantly about freedom of choice and accessibility/inclusivity, it was passed through with an overwhelming majority. 
 
“The Students’ Union is now mandated to support the PBUL in its campaign, with the political support of [myself] and operational support of staff to lobby the University to ensure its catering services are 100% plant-based by 2027.
 
“The campaign aims for University Catering only to go 100% plant-based, in a gradual process that will last a number of years. The campaign does not call upon any independent retailers (such as Greggs) to change its services, thus, Lancaster students still have plenty of choice as to what diet they choose to follow and what food they choose to consume. 
 
“The campaign does not call for a ban on meat, and does not force students to change their diet. The campaign understands that eating meat is the default setting currently, and is a societal norm. By enacting institutional change, i.e. changing the way the University approaches its catering service, the campaign believes that this will contribute to systemic change that can alter the course of the Climate and Ecological Crisis and save the future of our planet and its inhabitants (us!).”

Here are some facts about what has happened:
 
1.    What started all this?

A petition was run on the Students’ Union website by Plant-Based Universities Lancaster calling for the University to move to 100% plant-based catering by 2027. The petition received over 150 signatures from Lancaster University students, which means that under our governance rules it went to the Union Assembly for discussion.

2. What is Union Assembly?

Union Assembly is the Students’ Union’s highest democratic body. It is made up of important student leaders from across the Students’ Union, including: College Presidents, Faculty Representatives, the Full-Time Officers, representatives of societies and sports teams, and our Liberation & Campaign Officers. 

3.    What happened at Union Assembly? 

The Plant-Based Universities campaign team were invited to present their successful petition to Union Assembly during the meeting on Monday afternoon. Union Assembly voting members, and other students present, had a robust discussion around the aims of the campaign and potential inclusivity concerns for students with specific dietary requirements. Following discussion, Union Assembly voted 18 to 1 in favour of the petition.

4.    What will this mean?

It means that LUSU will now support the campaign initiated by the Plant-Based Universities petition. We will be working with the University and lobbying them to make this change a reality. As well as voting in favour of the petition, Union Assembly also voted to receive a progress update form the campaign following further consultation with students. 

5.    Was this democratic?

The petition, Union Assembly discussion, and subsequent vote were led by our members, students of Lancaster University. You, our students, in your academic groups, colleges, clubs and societies, elect the members of Union Assembly – they are your democratic representatives.

6.    When will these changes happen?

Nothing will happen immediately. LUSU will work with the University to persuade them to make these changes gradually over a three-year period. 

7.    Will I still be able to buy meat or dairy products on campus?

Yes, the changes, if they happen, would only apply to University-owned catering outlets on campus. That means all the independent retailers and food outlets on campus could carry on selling their usual range of products as normal.

 
Victoria Simpson from Plant-Based Universities Lancaster describes the environmental impact of moving to plant based foods: “In 2006, the United Nations released a report bringing to light another industry that is the leading driver of biodiversity loss, deforestation, and the second most damaging for our climate. That industry, is animal farming. A study in 2020 stated that even with an immediate end to fossil fuels, we would not be able to avoid the worst effects of climate change due to farming emissions. Grazing cattle, are the largest source of methane, a greenhouse gas that heats up the planet 86x more than CO2. If these cows were their own nation, they'd be the third biggest emitter, producing more emissions than the entire transportation sector. It has wiped out one fifth of the Amazon, and is responsible for nearly half of all rainforest destruction: thousands of species have now gone extinct, putting us in what is the Earth's sixth mass extinction. 28% of Earth's land mass is used for grazing, yet produces just 1g of protein per person per day. At the same time, 40% of the crops humans grow are fed to intensively-farmed animals. Whilst we produce enough food to feed the world twice over, for every 37 calories fed to a cow, only 1 calorie of meat is produced, all the whilst 600 million humans starve. 67% of the UK is dedicated to grazing cattle, yet they produce just 15% of our protein. Because of this massive land footprint, half of our native species have gone extinct, and, according to the United Nations, just 10% of our native forests remain.
 
These two industries combine to create what is now the greatest existential threat humanity has ever faced. Yet whilst the transition to renewables doesn't reverse the damage done to our planet, a plant-based transition can
 
A 2018 Oxford study, said a plant-based food system would reduce the amount of land we use by an area the size of Europe, the United States, China and Australia all combined, and at the same time allows us to feed everyone on the planet. From there we could restore habitats. Dwindling populations of orangutans, elephants, and tigers would flourish once more. And through this sequester enough carbon to mitigate 16 years worth of the globes greenhouse gas emissions.
 
All scientific institutions we trust for our opinions on climate change, ubiquitously agree that animal farming is just as damaging. A plant based food system is one that would end our nature crisis, climate crisis, and end world hunger. 3 decades of climate denialism, fossil fuel lobbying and political failures has put us in a state of imminent danger, yet now we have been given a reset button. This would take our futures and our planet, out of the hands of politicians who only care about money. Now we have the power to make this change and save our planet.”