Flexitarianism: Eat for the Planet

The Senior Eco Group launched their flexitarian diet initiative during British Science Week, complete with human size fruit costumes, and we’ve now hit the final few days as the end of term approaches. On Friday 1^st April the Eco Group will conduct a survey to see who has taken part and what the impact has been of becoming vegan, vegetarian or making changes such as fish instead of meat, or chicken instead of beef. Successful participants will receive a sticker celebrating their role in reducing the impact of meat consumption on the planet.

Leader of the Eco Group, Oliver Staines, commented, “This links back to the COP26 actions when we went and spoke to people about making a difference. Diet choice was pretty much the biggest single action that you as a teenager can personally do. You can make this decision for yourself on a regular basis and of course the more people who do it, the bigger the impact.”

The initiative follows a series of ideas by the Eco Group to raise awareness of the importance of sustainable eating which have included Planet Matters and Meat Free Mondays. In recognition that the school community hold a variety of attitudes towards meat consumption the group have trialled this new approach, encouraging students to think of their food on a kind of eco continuum. The concept is that you can eat what you like but trying to make choices that prioritise sustainable foods such as plants or have less of a harmful impact on the planet, like choosing to give up red meat. If you are a committed meat eater already then maybe eating a bit less or changing to fish might be a start. If you already only eat chicken perhaps considering a vegetarian meal a few times a week could be an option. The joy of the flexitarian diet is that is offers an approach for everyone to make a difference.