Having grown up in a fundamentalist Christianworld, I know this language, I know thismindset. As we talked, one question lingered inmymind, so I asked each of us to answer it: what have we learned about ourselves during the pandemic that we will use tomake the upcoming year and years better? The new friend stated confidently the lesson she had learned in a succinct phrase: вЂњLet go and let God take control.вЂќ I sensed that this has become a reassuringmantra for her. We laughed a lot вЂ“ all open, frank, and honest вЂ“ even noting how ridiculous we had sometimes been in certain situations. We spent much of the hour catching up on the details of our lives вЂ“ some good, some not so good. All of us have admitted to having Zoom fatigue, so we didnвЂ™t need to see each other on screen to enjoy the company.

This year, we added a new friend and, because of the surge in Covid, we replaced our lunch with a conference call. ItвЂ™s the only time that we actually make a plan to see each other. My year of living sustainably ANNA SHEPARD MY WEEK Alvin Hall A friend and I always have our вЂannual lunchвЂ™ over the Christmas-NewYear period. If nothing else, going veganmademe realise how easy it is to be vegetarian. While IвЂ™mhappy to reduce our dairy intake, IвЂ™mnot ready to give it up. The kids love oat milk, but I prefer the real deal inmy tea. My family is just as happy with seitan slices or LindaMcCartneyвЂ™s sausages. I realise that I turn to staples like fish fingers out of habit. We discover we prefer the plant-basedMovingMountains hot dogs to classic meat ones. Wemake a delicious Jamie Oliver veggie chilli that we load onto nachos and donвЂ™t evenmiss the soured cream. My 10-year-old says he can smell it fromhis bedroom. When we try a pasta dish with a vegan version, this is not forgotten. We still have eggs to use up and a big chunk of parmesan in the fridge. The first discovery is that itвЂ™s not easy to transition overnight. IвЂ™ve always wanted to give veganisma go, so with the promise of vegan ice cream, we embark on a week of vegan familymeals. вЂњMost of the emissions from cheese are related to the farmand the cows, which producemethane, but it also takes a lot of milk to produce a little cheese,вЂќ says Professor LorraineWhitmarsh, director of the UKвЂ™s Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations. Figures reveal that cheese creates more CO2 per kilo than pork or chicken. But after redmeat, dairy is the next biggest carbon culprit. Without that dollop of soured creamon soups, or grated Cheddar on pulses, IвЂ™mnot sure theyвЂ™d eat these things. Take away the parmesan, however, and itвЂ™s a di erent story. 5 13 J ANUARY 202 2 NEWS&VI EWS WEEK 2: DOING WITHOUT DAIRY When you love pasta as much as my children do, eating veggiemeals is no big deal.

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