Attitudes are changing in ways you haven't even thought of. It's time to catch up.

1. 2019 – the year of the vegan?
2019 is being tipped ‘year of the vegan’ (Guardian
newspaper, Forbes magazine the Economist magazine
and others). Certainly 2018 saw an exponential
increase in the profile of vegan concerns, of celebrity
vegans, ‘flexitarian’ diets and militant veganism and
there is no reason to think that this interest and profile
won’t continue to grow.
And what does that have to do with us? Well, nothing
at first glance, although adherents of the vegan lifestyle
may claim that they anticipate longer lifespans.
However, the specifics of the vegan diet are not the
issue; it is more the philosophy behind it which will,
over time, affect every single one of us. This movement
is about a fundamental sea-change in attitudes towards
our planet, our place on it and our long-term future.
Veganism is still, to most people, a step too far - even
for committed vegetarians. To reject all animal
products is not just restrictive and inconvenient but
requires a complete re-think about almost every aspect
of your life. Once people begin to do that – even if they
don’t stick to it one hundred percent – they notice all
kinds of other issues and realise that it takes a rare and
very dedicated effort to live a life which has no
discernible impact on the environment. Furthermore,
it is almost impossible to define what sort of activities
are harmful to or exploitative of animals – there is much
debate on the ethics of consuming avocados, almonds
and butternut squash which are pollinated by bees
introduced for the purpose – so where to start and
where to stop are unanswerable questions.
The growth in the world’s population, largely achieved
by improved sanitation and diet, creates a demand for
more food. To provide more food, we need to farm
more intensively and ‘unnaturally’, which will affect
wild animal populations. Understanding that clearance
of forests to grow palm oil is having a substantial impact
gets us only so far; we need food manufacturers to find
alternatives to palm oil in the first place.
And so we come back to the funeral industry. The ways
we mark most natural and unavoidable stage in our
lives have become a problem for people trying to
reduce their impact on the world and if it’s a problem
for them, it’s a problem for the funeral industry. Now is
the time to lead the way and offer genuine, practical
options which will suit everyone - even people who
worry about the ethics of avocados.
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