Young people are shaping tomorrow’s food choices.
Thanks to supporters like you, the VHS is updating the long-running PlantUniversity project to reach a new audience: postsecondary students in the Lower Mainland. We’re meeting students where they are, whether on campus or in the dining hall, to save the lives of farmed animals today and tomorrow.
PlantUniversity shares simple, affordable ways to help students add more plant-based meals into their routines. The difference this makes for animals is massive; more than 80 billion land animals are killed for food worldwide each year. The high demand for animal products exacerbates the inhumane conditions animals endure on industrial farms, in crowded transport trucks, and in slaughterhouses.
land animals were killed for food worldwide in 2023 (Faunalytics)
Choosing plant-based more often is one of the most effective ways to reduce suffering while also supporting our planet and personal health.
Beginning this fall, the VHS’s PlantUniversity team is working with student leaders at Metro Vancouver’s largest campuses to host in-person events, partner with local brands for tasty samples, and collaborate with professors to include animal-friendly food choices in coursework. Outreach activities and materials will highlight the impacts of our individual food choices on animals, the planet, and our health.
So far, the program has reached more than 100 professors at Lower Mainland schools. The program’s inaugural event over Climate Week in September directly reached hundreds of students with informational materials, peer support, and delicious plant-based baked goods, and with thousands more estimated to have seen prominent signage sharing the climate impacts of animal-based foods compared to plant-based.
Meanwhile, the program is making resources available to all postsecondary students across Canada through engaging social media posts, simple recipes, and guides to help students nationwide become leaders in their own campus communities.
The VHS is working alongside partners Reimagine Agriculture and Canadian Universities Initiative to develop these online resources, which will be available to all students in perpetuity. These partner organizations are also working with campus food providers to make plant-based foods more available and accessible through initiatives like default veg programs, in which plant-based meals are the default order and students may request animal products as an add-on.
Many students are making independent food decisions for the first time. With your help, we can give them the tools to choose compassion the next time they’re in the dining hall.
Do you know a faculty member, staff person, or student who might like to get involved? Please call Matt, the PlantUniversity Coordinator, at 778-251-3354. You can also reach him by email at matthew@vancouverhumanesociety.bc.ca. Thank you for helping the next generation choose kinder plates.