Last year, nearly 170,000 people signed an online pledge with Veganuary to avoid animal products including meat, milk, eggs, and butter for the month on January. 
去年1月,有差不多17万人与Veganuary一起签署了一份请愿,要在一个月内拒绝食用肉类、牛奶、鸡蛋以及黄油等动物制品。

Going vegan for the entire month might sound difficult, but results prove otherwise. 
要一个月只吃素听起来似乎有点难,不过这个事的结果却不是这么回事。

In 2018, the majority of folks who signed up for the challenge not only completed it but continued on, adopting veganism as a lifestyle change.
在2018年,大多数签名参与这场挑战的人不光完成了挑战,而且还继续了下去,把素食主义变成了自己的生活方式。

More than 80% of participants later reported that they’d eaten animal-free the entire month. And more than 60% of participants continue to maintain that diet shift.
参与者中有超过80%的人后来表示自己坚持了整整一个月不吃动物食品,有超过60%的人表示自己之后保持了这种饮食方式。

Part of their success stems from Veganuary’s support network. Veganuary participants receive regular emails to stay motivated. 
这些人的成功一部分是源于Veganuary的支持网络。Veganuary的参与者会定期收到激励他们的邮件。

There’s also a home page full of recipes, shopping guides, and other helpful resources. Since starting in 2014, the U.K.-based nonprofit has seen participation roughly double year-over-year. 
该组织的首页上有非常多的食谱、购物指南以及其他有用的资源。自从2014年创始以来,这家英国的非营利机构的参与者几乎每年都翻倍。

About 35% of those participants come from the Unites States, half are from the U.K., and the rest are scattered among more than 190 participating countries.
参与者中有35%的人都来自美国,有一半来自英国,剩下的分布于190多个参与国。

The other factor bolstering their success is that going vegan today may just be tastier and more convenient than it was a few years ago. 
另一个帮助他们成功的因素是,如今吃素已经比几年前要可口、方便许多了。

Retail sales for a new wave of plant-based products jumped 20% in the U.S. last year, totaling $3.3 billion in annual sales, according to Nielsen research. 
在美国,去年植物产品的零售销量涨了20%。根据尼尔森的调查,去年的年销售额达到了33亿美元。

A majority of Americans are also reportedly cutting back on meat consumption because of health and cost concerns. Toss in the fact that livestock accounts for a massive share of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and you’ve got three pretty compelling selling points.
据报道,大部分美国人出于健康和成本方面的考虑,也减少了肉类的消费量。此外,牲畜是温室气体的一大重要来源,这样一来素食食品就有了3个强有力的卖点。

“Vegan trends are really hitting the mainstream now, and people are actively choosing these products because they think that they’re better for their health, they’re cognizant of the environmental benefits, or they want to help alleviate animal suffering,” says Veganuary’s CEO Simon Winch.
Veganuary的首席执行官Simon Winch说:“素食现在真的成了一种主流,人们开始积极地选择这样的产品,因为他们认为这样更健康,也因为他们开始意识到这样做对环境有好处,又或者是因为他们希望帮助减轻动物们的痛苦。”

In addition to offering the animal-free pledge, the campaign also accepts donations, which it spends on more awareness efforts. 
除了提供素食请愿的服务以外,这个项目也接受捐款,他们会把这些捐款用于推广这种概念。

Some of those come from different faux-meat companies; more than a dozen support the charity in different ways, including helping to raise awareness, with an obvious interest in seeing the trend take off.
这些捐款中的一部分是来自一些人造肉公司;有十多个这样的公司都在以不同的方式支持这样的慈善项目,其中就包括唤醒大众的意识,显然他们很希望看到这种潮流热起来。

Last year, Veganuary operated on a budget of about $750,000. Using some back-of-the-envelope math, Winch calculates (based on traditional eating habits) how much meat isn’t being consumed per convert. 
去年,Veganuary的预算是75万美元。通过一些简单的计算,Winch计算了每改变一个人能降低多少的食肉量。

He estimates that the 2018 pledge takers alone saved about 2.1 million animals from slaughter. For Veganuary, that works out to spending about 35¢ per life saved, although it may be even cheaper: 
他估算2018年的请愿活动总共让210万头动物免于被屠杀。对于Veganuary来说,这意味着拯救一条生命的成本是35英镑,而这还能变得更便宜:

The group estimates that about 10 times more people participate in Veganuary informally than formally each year. 
该组织估算,每年以非正式方式参与Veganuary的人是正式参与者的10倍。

“In terms of effective advocacy and really helping to make this planet a more compassionate place, we’re doing something quite incredible on a shoestring,” he adds.
Winch说:“在引发社会责任心这件事上,以及在让地球变得更加充满爱这件事上,我们的花费不多,但成果却很显著。”

Seth Tibbott, the founder and chairman of Tofurkey, the tofu-based faux turkey brand, says his company made an undisclosed donation to the charity, which he recently joined as a trustee. 
Seth Tibbott是Tofurkey公司的创始人和董事长,这是一家以豆腐为原料的人造火鸡肉品牌。Seth说自己的公司为这家慈善机构提供了一笔数额未公开的捐款,而他本人最近也成为了这个组织的一名董事。

Informal participation aside, at least 250,000 people have taken Veganuary’s pledge in recent years. As Winch puts it, “We want them to go vegan and have an amazing experience, and then stay vegan at the end of it.”
撇开非正式的参与者不谈,这些年已经有25万人参与了Veganuary的请愿。Winch对此表示:“我们希望这些人尝试素食并获得一次非凡的体验,并且在活动结束之后也保持素食的习惯。”


翻译:能猫