Dominika Piasecka works for The Vegan Society, follows a plant based lifestyle and is an animal rights activist in her own time. We caught up with her to talk about her personal choices and what she hopes to achieve by being passionate about veganism over social media and in person during her vegan outreach. 

What made you go vegan and when did you make this change in lifestyle?

Some people argue that animals are on this planet for our enjoyment but this can’t be further from the truth. As human beings, we have empathy and we take care of those somehow weaker than us, and we should therefore look after animals rather than exploit them. When we see a small child we don’t think of ways of how to use them; our natural reaction is to care for them, and this is what most people naturally feel like about animals – they just need to put those feelings in action. Unfortunately we are all victims of society in the sense that while we are born with all that love for other beings, society teaches us that it’s okay to harm and use animals because ‘that’s just how things are’ – but of course it isn’t and we are the ones who have to stand up and challenge this cruel ideology.

The Vegan Society is launching its biggest campaign ever later this month. Plate Up for the Planet will focus around a seven-day, planet-saving challenge that encourages participants to consume a low greenhouse gas emissions meal plan. We’ll be able to tell them what greenhouse gas savings they will be making, compared to an omnivorous diet. We will then forecast the impact of a longer-term switch and use these figures to encourage further commitment to a vegan diet. We’ll also be running World Vegan Month in November like we do every year and there will be other exciting projects in the meantime, including the launch of our vegan nutrition app.