Berkeley Is First US City To Commit To Phasing Out Animal Products
City Council votes to cut its spending on animal products by 50 percent in an effort to combat the meat and dairy industry’s huge carbon footprint, and help support the city’s climate goals.
Berkeley has voted in favor of several new plans to combat climate change and improve public health by swapping out animal products with plant-based foods.
The first-of-its-kind resolution will shift half of the city’s current spending on animal-based foods to plant-based sources by 2024, reports The Daily Californian.
As a result, the city will now serve more sustainable and healthy plant-based food at public events, and in city buildings including senior centers and jails.
The measure also requires a city council review next year into how Berkeley can move its spending entirely towards 100 percent plant-based food sources.
“Streamlining the City of Berkeley’s transition to plant-forward and plant-based meals advances the City’s Strategic Plan Priority of being a global leader in addressing climate change, advancing environmental justice, and protecting the environment and supports the Climate Action Plan goal that a majority of food consumed in Berkeley be produced locally,” the resolution states.
Authored by Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín and Council member Sophie Hahn, the resolution passed at the July 27 council meeting. Arreguín described the measure as a crucial step in continuing the city’s climate efforts and “long tradition promoting the humane treatment of animals”, reports The Daily Californian.
Meat and the Environment
Berkeley’s efforts to replace meat with more sustainable plant-based protein follow the growing trend of consumers and institutions cutting back on animal products for environmental, health, and animal welfare concerns.
Farming animals for food plays a huge role in land and water degradation, deforestation, and biodiversity loss, and is responsible for more greenhouse gases than the world’s transportation systems combined.
The devastating effect that animal agriculture is having on our planet is leading wildlife experts and climate change campaigners - from Greta Thunberg to David Attenborough - to urge us all to reconsider our habits and diets to help prevent climate catastrophe.
A global shift towards a vegan diet is necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change, according to the United Nations, and research from the University of Oxford shows that going vegan is the “single biggest way” to reduce your impact on the planet.
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