Students at Bristol University are calling for their campus to be meat-free. Students at the university have voted to put their support behind having sustainable plant-based catering on campus in an attempt to ease the climate crisis.
The Plant-Based Universities campaign has received backing from hundreds of scientists and high-profile public figures including Chris Packham, Dale Vince, Etienne Stott, George Monbiot, and Dr Hannah Ritchie. Dozens of academics from both Bristol signed an open letter released in late 2023 in support of 100% plant-based university catering.
Bristol joins 13 others across Europe, including Imperial College London, in passing such votes or statements of support.
Agnes Sales, a 2nd-year Philosophy and Theology student at the University of Bristol said: “After last year’s motion failed, it’s amazing to see the shift in support from our student community towards our campaign. It’s clear that students are willing to vote for no-nonsense climate solutions and set an example for the rest of the country to follow.
“We’ve seen a winter of storms and flooding that was made much more likely by climate breakdown. I don’t want to graduate into a world where that is commonplace for the rest of my life; that’s why transitioning to a plant-based food system is so important.
“With institutions like Oxford and Harvard releasing data-backed research on the benefits of the move – it’s about time Bristol took action too.”
According to a 2019 Harvard study, animal farming is the single largest user of land in the UK. The same study stated that better use of this land could make the UK carbon-negative. A 2018 University of Oxford study also stated that 76% of global farmland would be freed up for other uses if a plant-based food system was adopted worldwide.
Plant-Based Universities are an international network of students who are campaigning for their universities and student unions to adopt 100% plant-based catering. The group believes that universities should follow the scientific research that they produce on the environmental impacts of animal farming and fishing.
The campaign is active in over 50 institutions, with the group encouraging interested students to sign up to run local campaigns. The campaign is supported by Animal Rising.