Sometimes, when you watch the news and see all the problems in the world, it can feel a lot like your decisions don't matter.

Is it worth recycling if so many other people won't? Should you bother to turn that light off if it won't make much of a difference in the long run? Why vote when none of the candidates represent what you believe in?

In the modern world, we are part of a huge, interconnected society, where the actions of most individuals rarely appear to have much of an influence over the whole. When there's so much to worry about and so little you can do to change things, sometimes you can't help but wonder if you should even care?

That being said, while it is true that many of these problems are systemic, and require larger, systemic solutions, individual actions still matter. Today we want to talk about why, in spite of all the problems out there, your actions, and your choices can still help to make the world a better place.

Here are four reasons why your choice to go vegan matters.

Attitudes Change

How often have you heard the phrase "there's no such thing as normal"?

The world changes over time, and cultural attitudes change with it. A hundred years ago, the word vegan didn't even exist, and vegetarianism was seen as a fringe movement at best.

Now things are different. With more people than ever volunteering to give up, or at least cut down, their meat and dairy consumption, a vegan diet is now seen by many as a perfectly ordinary way to live your life.

Companies Take Note

It's a sad fact that, oftentimes, profit margins are a much faster path to change than hearts and minds.

In this case, however, the one feeds into the other. The more people who believe in a cruelty-free lifestyle, the more companies will change the products they have on offer.

In the last few years alone, many companies have begun to offer new vegan products. As this happens, it becomes easier than ever to go vegan, and more people are willing to give it a try.

Better Laws are Passed

Political change is slow. Really slow.

Nonetheless, it does matter, and although animal rights will probably never be a hot button like the economy or foreign policy, voters do care about it all the same.

At the end of the day, politicians do have to appeal to voters and, slowly but surely, they can help make changes to the meat and dairy industries to improve the ways that animals are cared for.

Just look at the UK's recent animal health and welfare bill, or the EU's plan to ban battery chicken farming by 2027.

Changes like this might take time, but they're hard won victories and they improve the lives of thousands of livestock animals in immeasurable ways.

Fewer Animals Die

If nothing else, your choice to go vegan will lower the demand for meat, and basic economics teaches us that as demand goes down, so does supply.

Even if the world stayed just the same, every time you choose falafel over roast chicken, you are preventing one more unnecessary death, and that has to count for something, right?

Making the right choices can be difficult, and it's easy to feel a lot of guilt that you're somehow not doing enough, whilst also knowing that you can't do enough.

If you find yourself feeling like this, then just remember that it's not your responsibility to change the world single-handed. It's our responsibility and we'll do it together, one small step at a time.