Fig and Pen

An acquaintance was visiting her 78-year-old grandmother a few years ago. They were, as usual, discussing food. ‘I’d be vegan if I could still eat cottage cheese,’ said the older woman. ‘I eat it almost every day and I love it. I just don’t think I could do without it.’

‘So be vegan except for cottage cheese,’ the young woman answered.

Hearing about this exchange changed my brain. The more I thought about it, the happier I was to let go of my tendency to lean into perfectionism. Not being able to do everything doesn’t mean you should do nothing. It is always fine to do your best, and ‘best’ will be different for each of us.

I was vegan for roughly four years. It was easy at first, but about three years in, I began having serious problems with my teeth, likely due to a calcium deficiency. I didn’t want to go back to being an omnivore, so I added eggs and a bit of dairy back into my diet. My teeth stopped crumbling, and over time I noticed I was feeling quite a bit better (despite not realising I’d felt bad in the first place). My diet is still mostly plant-based, but not perfectly so.

As I write this, the USA and Isreal are bombing Iran. Iran is bombing other targets in retaliation. Russia and Ukraine are bombing each other. Gaza lies in ruin from Isreal’s bombs. I’m not sure it’s possible to calculate exactly how much environmental damage is being done by all of this, but I know the carbon footprint of war is enormous. And I know that we, as individuals, are powerless to stop it.

Wildfires are raging in Greece, Spain, Portugal, and France – all made worse by climate change. Yet despite all of the damage, world leaders are set against doing anything about it. My own government here in the UK plans to open new oil fields in the North Sea. The EU is watering down their net-zero targets, and there are energy-guzzling date centres springing up everywhere. And again, individuals can’t do much about it.

Billionaires are causing immeasurable damage: flying in private planes, hoovering up resources, interfering in politics, and generally making the world worse. They’re enabled by governments, and there is little the average person can do.

But just because we can’t do everything doesn’t mean we should do nothing.

I haven’t been on an airplane since 2019. Before that, it was 2014, and before that it was 2008. I have flown exactly four times in the last 25 years. I don’t enjoy travel and can do without it, but I know that isn’t the case for everyone. My hope is that my lack of travel helps offset the CO2 of a mandatory corporate business trip or a flight to see a loved one.

My family and I live in a rural area where public transport isn’t great. We’ve been driving an electric vehicle since 2015, and are fortunate to have an at-home charger so we don’t have to rely on the extremely poor charging infrastructure here in the UK. An EV may not be possible or affordable for everyone. I like to think our EV helps counter the emissions of someone who, again, doesn’t have a choice.

I have never used GenAI. I wear mostly second-hand clothes I buy off Ebay. I don’t have an Amazon Prime account. I try to buy as much local produce as possible, and I have cut my trips to ‘big box’ supermarkets to once or twice a month. And I cook 90% of our meals from scratch. They never include meat, but they sometimes include cheese or yogurt. Please don’t try to make me feel bad about it. I know my actions aren’t perfect, but I am doing the best I can.