|
|
Belgian City of Ghent
the First in the World
to Go Veggie Once a Week |
|
In May of this year, the City
of Ghent in Belgium announced that every Thursday will be a
vegetarian day for its people. City employees and politicians
will be eliminating meat and restaurants are encouraged to provide
at least one plant based option during the vegetarian day. In
September, schools in the city will start offering a veggie
lunch on Thursdays. Ghent is the first city in the world to
officially promote a weekly vegetarian day. |
Meat production is responsible for
18 percent of greenhouse gases, according to the United Nations’
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Therefore, cutting one day
of meat consumption may reduce one day’s greenhouse gas emissions
for the city of Ghent by as much as 18 percent. By encouraging public
officials, school children and citizens to voluntarily be vegetarian
one day a week, the city also hopes to better community health and
to bring benefit to our animal co-inhabitants.
Ghent has prepared 90,000 free veggie
street maps to help people find the city’s vegetarian eateries.
Complimentary vegetarian cooking brochures have also been printed
for proprietors of all 1,500 restaurants in the city. In addition,
there will be classes, for both professionals and individuals, on
how to make delicious plant based meals.
We applaud Ghent for its pioneering
initiative to protect the environment, improve public health, and
enhance animal welfare. We hope more and more cities will follow in
their loving and compassionate footsteps in a unified effort to save
our beautiful planet.
|
