Hot on the tails of my last vegetarian post, I learn the City of Ghent has a weekly “Veggie Day”:
The Flemish city of Ghent has designated every Thursday as “Veggiedag” — Veggie Day — calling for meat-free meals to be served in schools and public buildings, and encouraging vegetarianism among citizens by promoting vegetarian eateries and offering advice on how to follow a herbivorous diet.
(h/t Caroline, who got it from here.) If you read the article, the day is (predictably) not gaining full compliance from its meatier citizens. But as a public awareness campaign, this is a great step. Imagine if New York declared a meatless day once a week. Sure, millions of people would ignore it, but even a few thousand conscientious meat-eaters might participate. I’m thinking of the kind of consumer who has considered the ethics of their diet but lacked the drive to forgo meat entirely. I’m thinking the impact would be noticed pretty quickly.
Of course, I think it would have at least as large an effect (likely larger) if people starting avoiding corn-fed livestock and eating beef only when it was grass-fed, but until that becomes even a remote likelihood, veggie days wouldn’t be that bad of quick fix.
I thought it fitting that I followed up todd’s last post with something from rational side of the meatless agenda. Although I don’t eat meat (besides fish or eggs), I try not to proselytize, even though I think there are good arguments for taking on certain dietary restrictions. Since I’m now reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, those arguments are a bit nearer the surface than is usual, and so I was well-primed for reading this appeal to meat eaters everywhere:
What if a group of people collectively signed a contract that said one of them would be vegetarian everyday of the year? More specifically, say a group of 7 people signed a contract saying that each of them would go meatless on an assigned day each week. Thus, within the group each member could eat meat 6 days a week, but there would be one vegetarian at all times.
This strikes me as a good way to capture a certain kind of consumer. I’ve known friends over the years who, while accepting lots of the merits of vegetarian eating, are unwilling to embrace an outright ban on meat in their diet. (Of course, one of the big holdouts caved last year.) And I would hope that the arguments for such a mild restraint have grown even more compelling in recent years:
The effect may seem marginal, but I have seen tons of sources which say that just a bit less meat consumption could have immense environmental benefits. Here is one: According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads.
Seems pretty obvious to me, but then after reading Michael Pollan it’s pretty baffling that, with all the petroleum it takes to produce corn and all the corn it takes to feed cows, anyone still eats beef.