A candlelit vigil at St Michael's in Cornmarket helped bring home the message that climate change affects everyone, and everyone can do something about it.

This evening about 50 people gathered at St Michael's with banners, leaflets and speeches focused on a candlelit vigil to protest about climate change. This protest was just one of almost three thousand similar demonstrations in 136 countries around the world today. Everyone can do something, from reducing the amount we buy, using less electricity, eating less meat and dairy or travelling less.

And whilst we can call on the governments at Copenhagen to commit us all to a future of lower emissions, the only real difference we can make in our lifetimes is through reducing meat and dairy intake and becoming vegan. The logic is simple - greenhouse gases are principally carbon dioxide and methane. Carbon dioxide generated by energy consumption and transport takes about 120 years to cycle out of the atmosphere. Methane, mostly generated by animals bred for human consumption, is nearly thirty times more heat retaining than carbon dioxide but takes only eight years to cycle out of the atmosphere. 20% of the greenhouse gases generated are attributed to meat and dairy consumption.

So whilst we can point fingers at our government and expect someone else to do it for us, we all have the option of taking control and doing our bit by improving our health and that of the planet by going vegan.