Go ‘veggie’ and help the environment

Ghent, Belgium’s second largest municipality has announced a weekly ‘veggie day’ where residents of Ghent will banish meat from their diets for one day every week in an effort to reduce the city’s carbon emissions.

Even Council officials will be served vegetarian meals one day every week and are encouraging the rest of the town and its visitors to do the same. Plans to introduce the weekly veggie day into the city’s schools are currently being discussed.

Producing meat has a far greater environmental impact than growing the equivalent amount of vegetarian foodstuffs, both in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. The town has stated that this is just one of the many ways they plan to reduce carbon emissions, and it is thought that this is the first town in Europe to take such a step!

If our love of meat may be increasing our carbon emissions then maybe its time Birmingham took a step to get veggie!

 If you are more carnivorous than you would like to admit then take it one step at a time and go to the next Birmingham Vegetarian and Vegan Society and learn more about why becoming a vegetarian could be good for you and your environment. Meetings cost two pounds to attend and are every week at The Church Centre, Carrs Lane opposite Moor Street Station. Anyone can attend and the next meeting takes place on Tuesday 26^th May.

 Another way to have a few more healthy and environmentally friendly days is to try some of Birmingham’s great vegetarian restaurants:

 The Warehouse Café, Digbeth and Manic Organic Café, Kings Heath both are both vegetarian restaurants with creative healthy and organic dishes. If you love curry Jyoti on the Startford Road is a great vegetarian curry house!

 “It is really nice to see such an authentic operation happening in the middle of nowhere in Birmingham. You should check it out for a wicked curry.” (Jamie Oliver)