The combined efforts made by organisations interested in animal welfare and compassion, those wanting to protect our environment and to a smaller extent the Jain organisations are slowly but surely getting recognition and their efforts are beginning to bear fruits.
The first noticeable effect is that the case for vegetarianism has now endorsed quite successfully and we see both food supermarkets and restaurants promoting vegetarian options. Vegetarianism is accepted either through compassion for the animals or for protecting the environment but in either case we see acceptance of vegetarianism and veganism by a large number of people. In recognition of this conversion, we see most event organisers also include vegetarian meals in their menu options.
Ghent Council in Belgium was one of the first public authority to introduce one meatless day a week in its own restaurants and cafeterias. Since then several American authorities have introduced a meat free day during the week.
Now the Norwegian Army has also introduced a meatfree day during the week for its soldiers as reported in The Independent on 21st November 2013-11-22 The article reads:
‘Meatless Mondays’ have been introduced to reduce the amount of foods eaten that can contribute to global warming
The Norwegian military has announced plans to introduce ‘meatless Mondays’ into army diets, in a bid to battle a more unusual enemy – climate change.
Troops will be placed on a strict vegetarian diet once a week to reduce the amount of ecologically unfriendly foods they eat, whose production can contribute heavily to global warming.
Military spokesperson Eystein Kvarving told AFP the move was “a step to protect our climate”. He said: “The idea is to serve food that’s respectful of the environment.”
Kvarving said the initiative was not designed around saving money, but was instead about “being more concerned for our climate, more ecologically friendly and also healthier.”
The new dietary regime has been trialled at some of Norway’s larger bases and military bosses now plan to roll it out across all units. They hope to reduce their meat consumption by 150 tonnes per year.
Their scheme has been praised by The Future in Our Hands (FOH), a Norwegian organisation that aims to reduce the consumption of natural resources by society. FOH claim an average Norwegian will eat more than 1,200 animals in their lifetime.
”The defence ministry deserves a lot of praise because it’s taking climate and environmental issues seriously”, the group’s director, Arild Hermstad told AFP.
This step will certainly inspire various civic authorities worldwide to adopt a similar stance..
Hunting of animals for pleasure has also been opposed by animal lovers and environmentalists. Action taken by the Government of Botswana will certainly encourage those who oppose hunting but will make many other Governments consider a similar legislation.
Following report appeared in Causes Newsletter on 17th November 2013
Botswana has officially banned hunting wild game for sport beginning January 2014. A first great success of our petition!
Great news! The government of Botswana has officially banned hunting wild game for sport beginning January 2014! Hunting zones will be converted into photographic areas and safaris will continue sustainably. Isn’t a wonderful news?
Full report at: