Vegetarian Mondays Resolution Passed by the SF board of Supervisors

[Guest guest]

Thanks to SFVS and IDA for lobbying for the passage of the Vegetarian Mondays in

San Francisco. This resolution was passed by the SF Board of Supervisors with

the support of Supervisor Sophie Maxwell who is a long time vegetarian. Kudos

also to our local " veg activists " Dixie Mahy of SFVS and Hope Bohanec of IDA for

their hard work.

 

 

Below is the SF board 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.