New Year’s resolutions can be tricky. Every January we make promises to ourselves. To start going to the gym. Drinking more water. Spend more time away from social media. But, before it’s even February, the gyms are empty, our water bottles neglected, and our screens reclaim the default.

Most of these resolutions come down to self-improvement, and self-improvement is difficult to sustain. When the focus of our goals is to improve ourselves, it’s easy to burn out.

But when that goal is about helping something larger—about changing the world in a tangible way—it’s often easier to stick with. After a while, motivation stops coming from willpower and starts spawning out of meaning.

If you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution that actually lasts, that actually matters, there’s one that stands apart:

Going vegan.

A resolution bigger than yourself

What we eat affects far more than ourselves. In the U.S., there are over 10 billion birds and mammals bred into existence and slaughtered every year. When these billions are farmed for their meat, milk, eggs, skin, or fur, they’re subjected to torture. They spend their entire lives in tiny cages, rendered immobile, in grisly, unsanitary conditions.

This goes without mentioning that meat and dairy production is one of the primary drivers of climate change. According to a study in Nature, it is the leading cause of deforestation and biodiversity loss, two negative outcomes that severely exacerbate the effects of climate change.

According to that study, if meat production continued “as is” until 2050, we’d be predicted to lose habitat for more than 17,000 different species—an ecological death knell there would be no coming back from.

Additionally, animal farming is the leading cause of water pollution in the U.S., further agitating our already-imperiled environment. It’s also responsible for nearly 20% of greenhouse gas emissions, the leading cause of global warming.

But, still, this is supposed to be about me

But if you are still looking for a resolution that’ll benefit your health, good news: you’re still on the right track. In today’s online era, we’re constantly bombarded with fad diets and it’s become difficult to discern credible health advice from conspiracy. So-called ‘Meattfluencers’ have helped popularize the carnivore diet recently, which encourages it’s followers to almost exclusively eat meat, with exceptions for dairy products and fruits. It’s borne out of a rejection from processed and health foods.

But a carnivore diet is, of course, utter nonsense. Plants aren’t bad for you. In fact, a vegan diet is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and even death, according to a 2024 study published by Public Library of Science.

Meanwhile, both unprocessed and processed red meat consumption are associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease, according to a 2020 study in the British Medical Journal.

Unlike most resolutions, this one doesn’t rely on motivation—you just need to eat. In doing so, you can meaningfully reduce animal suffering and environmental destruction, all while being kind to yourself.

So, if you’re looking for a resolution that is rooted in purpose and will actually last, go vegan.