Jane Porter, who lives in Finland, has written an inspiring entry in her blog about taking a big step towards a vegetarian diet by ceasing to buy meat. She writes: "Although there are plenty of reasons for people going vegetarian (animal rights etc.), the clincher for me was reading about its environmental impact."

She cites the fact that the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than all of the world's transport vehicles, and that a meat-based diet requires 7 times more land than a plant-based diet. She also mentions the emerging crisis in food scarcity. Cost of grain is soaring, partly due to the increased demand for meat in China, India and other rapidly developing countries. Cows, pigs and chickens are fattened on huge amounts of grain and soy.

Her initial step has been to eliminate meat in the home, but still eat it sometimes when going out, but today she wrote us: "I just signed up for the Veggie Challenge. I'm in need of some better cooking tips! On the plus side, I save money by not eating meat - which allows me to spend more on really good gourmet ingredients."