SF Supervisors Urging Meat Free Mondays

Credit: CBS

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday on a resolution urging restaurants, grocery stores and schools to observe no meat on Mondays. See the article here.
Here's the Resolution:
Resolution declaring Mondays as "Vegetarian Day" to urge all restaurants, grocery stores, and schools to offer a variety of plant based options to improve the health of San Francisco residents.

WHEREAS, The Plant based diet is truly a Green Diet that reduces the serious ecological problems involved in livestock production; and

WHEREAS, The 2009 report from World Bank environmental advisers, Goodland and Anhang, called "Livestock and Climate Change", reveals that farmed animals and their byproducts are responsible for at least 32.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Goodland and Anhang concluded
that replacing animal products with soy-based and other alternatives would be the best strategy for reversing climate change; and

WHEREAS, The findings from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report prompted Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to recommend that individuals reduce their personal carbon impact by decreasing their meat consumption; and

WHEREAS, Plant-based diets are good preventive medicine and could help reduce medical costs to individuals and the health care system; and

WHEREAS, In July 2009, Ghent, Belgium recognized the relationship between diet and climate change by establishing a VegDay each week of the year; and

WHEREAS, In April 2009, the City of Takoma Park, Maryland, adopted a Mayoral Proclamation designating April 24-30 "Takoma Park Veg Week," to encourage citizens to choose vegetarian foods as a way to protect the planet, their health, and animals; and

WHEREAS, In February 2009, as part of the Green Cincinnati Plan, the City's Food Task Force recommended that residents replace some of the meat in their diet with fresh fruits and vegetables; and

WHEREAS, The American Dietetic Association recognizes that reduced meat consumption decreases the risk of various health problems, stating, "Scientific data suggests positive relationships between a vegetarian diet and reduced risk for several chronic degenerative diseases and conditions, including obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and some types of cancer"; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors designates Mondays as "Veg Day" to encourage restaurants, grocery stores, and schools to offer a greater variety of plant based options to improve the health of San Francisco residents and visitors, and to increase the awareness of the impact a GREEN DIET would be on our planet.

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