Good morning – and welcome back to The Green Light. I’ll be here in your inbox every weekday with stories about the scientific breakthroughs, policy changes, and activist wins in the fight against climate change and nature loss.

Here’s today’s news.

🐄 How New Year’s resolutions spur long-term change

Trying to eat less meat this year? The UK-based campaign Veganuary, which encourages people to go vegan for the first month of the year, reports lasting results on people’s diets and in turn, their environmental impact. Six months later, the vast majority of people who took part in the challenge had still reduced their meat consumption by at least half. Participants even reported feeling disgust at the idea of eating meat, suggesting that once behaviours start to shift, attitudes do too, facilitating longer-term changes.

🫐 The foods that fight the climate crisis

And if you want your diet to be even more climate-friendly, here’s a look at some foods that leave the planet better off. From kelp to blueberries to celery, these foods lock carbon in the soil or sea as they grow. However, since a large proportion of foods’ carbon footprint comes from its supply chains – including transport and packaging – this also needs to be kept in check if they’re to be truly sustainable. 

🎖️ The race to remove the Netherlands’ tiles

Since 2021, people living in the Netherlands have taken part in an unusual competition, racing to see who can remove the most tiling slabs from green spaces. In this ‘tile whipping’ contest, competing municipalities revert people’s lawns and gardens to their natural, wild state, restoring biodiversity and capturing carbon while helping to avoid floods. This year, over 5.5m paving slabs were removed, setting a new record.