The Veganuary campaign - that encourages people to go vegan for January - has started and is set to be the biggest yet as more and more people see the benefits of going vegan.

Going vegan is the biggest individual step anyone can take to reduce their environmental impact on the planet and help combat climate change. Loss of wild areas to agriculture – the majority for livestock or their food - is the leading cause of the current mass extinction of wildlife and the meat and dairy industry is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions - more than all cars, planes, trains and ships combined.

The vegan diet is good for your health too as meat and dairy products lead to diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

And for anyone who cares about animals, it is the most compassionate diet for reducing and ending the suffering of animals. More than 200 million land animals are killed for food around the world every day. Including wild caught and farmed fishes, the total is closer to three billion animals being killed every day. And the vast majority of farmed animals are kept in very cruel conditions throughout their lives.

People can go vegan anytime but the Veganuary website - veganuary.com - has loads of advice and help for people going vegan and to start living in a more compassionate way.

Mark Dawes

Waltham Forest Animal Protection