VEG DAY RESOLUTION
SAN FRANCISCO, has become the first US City to declare a “VEG DAY.” Henceforth Monday will be a veg day across the City.
It was a good milestone for vegetarian activist Dixie Mahy, President of the San Francisco Vegetarian Society, to see her efforts come to fruition in a BOARD RESOLUTION on Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a Resolution declaring Mondays as “Vegetarian Day” to urge all San Francisco restaurants, grocery stores, and schools to offer a variety of plant based options to improve the health of San Francisco residents.
Ghent in Belgium was the first city in the Western world to declare one day in a week as a Veg Day.
Mahy hopes that other cities will be encouraged to use the Resolution as a template to get their cities to adopt a similar Resolution.
Dixie Mahy and Hope Bohanec, Campaigns Director from In Defense of Animals, worked on the Resolution with Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, a vegetarian of 35 years. They are now working on strategy to inform the various restaurants, grocery stores, and schools on how to implement VEG DAY.
The San Francisco Vegetarian Society will be offering recipes, menu suggestions, and even
some special classes on vegan cooking. At this time SFVS has a Discount Program that includes various MIXED Restaurants that offer a variety of vegan options. With this Resolution, Mahy now hopes to expand the Program with a special list recognizing various participants with as an extra advertising incentive.
Those interested in helping with the project should contact Dixie Mahy
<dixiemahy@gmail.com>
Following is the full text of the RESOLUTION passed by the The San Francisco Board of Supervisors:
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.
Report Courtesy Mr Nitin Mehta MBE Young Indian Vegetarian Society UK