Most schools, offices or cities will practice a “veggie day” or “Meatless Monday” once a month or once a year. But the BBC reports that one city in Belgium has taken it to the next level by announcing an official “veggie day” to be practiced once a week…
Travel Side Note: The photo above is of the Ghent Belgium Festival, the Ghent Festival, it springs to life every July…so if you are in town or that side of the world, you might want to grab your veggie map and take a few days off…
The announcement: “Starting this week there will be a regular weekly meatless day, in which civil servants and elected councillors will opt for vegetarian meals.”
Ghent, Belgium Loves Vegetarians. Clearly Ghent is a veggie-lovers paradise. Not only do they publicly embrace the diet of vegetarianism, but they are practicing it as well. Promoting it. The city says that it is starting weekly “veggie days” because:
“Ghent means to recognise the impact of livestock on the environment. The UN says livestock is responsible for nearly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.”
and
“It is hoped the move will cut Ghent’s environmental footprint and help tackle obesity. Around 90,000 so-called “veggie street maps” are now being printed to help people find the city’s vegetarian eateries. “
It is quite fascinating that the connection between vegetarianism and environmentalism is increasingly well-known and that an entire city can mobilize to create change. I just started an internship at Meatless Monday, a nonprofit public health initiative with Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, which works towards reducing our carbon footprint by going meatless. Meatless Monday also encourages cutting back meat consumption one day a week, to cut back saturated fat intake to reduce risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer. The Meatless Monday youtube video outlines some of the facts and figures behind the history and science behind the campaign. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpnKeYmR1NM
That is very cool that they do it once a week. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Kristen
Mike,
That is quite a hefty question, but I’ll give it a shot “comment box” style…
A “vegetarian diet” day, aka “veggie day” in Ghent Belgium, is not only meant to voice the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, but also the green healthy planet benefits of a vegetarian culture. As mentioned in the post, the farming industry (livestock) is incredibly harsh on our environment. “Eighteen per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions that we produce come from the production of livestock – that’s 4 per cent more than from transport.
Read: http://tinyurl.com/ypfdk7
Healthy for You. A vegetarian diet helps the planet and helps you. By abstaining from meat, a person’s intake of healthy foods like fruit, veggies and whole natural grains and proteins will likely increase greatly in their diet. Eat less of the ‘bad stuff’ and you’ll have more room for the ‘good stuff’. Animal products and meat are much higher in saturated fat that most alternatives. And a diet high in saturated fat can lead to cardiovascular problems as well as other health conditions. Many meat/dairy products also contain hormones and steroids that have been given to the animals. While organic, free-range grass-fed meat is a better alternative than traditional methods, the pure cruelty of farming animals for food is the main reason why most vegans and vegetarians abstain from meat.
I hope that helped.
Kathy
How healthy is a vegetarian diet?