Big news coming out of the Big Apple! New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams announced that all 1,700 NYC public schools will serve meatless meals every Monday!
De Blasio mentioned in public coments that an initiative that began with only fifteen schools in Brooklyn has now expanded to every public school in New York City in only a few years. Both de Blasio and Adams cited the need to combat climate change and secure student health the main reasons for expanding the initiative. Now, more than 1.1 million students will have a vegetarian meal every week. And what’s more, the school district is saving money by serving vegetarian and vegan meals. Everybody wins here.
Adams, who plans on running for NYC mayor in 2021 when de Blasio steps down, says, “I would like to see healthy, plant-based meals offered every single day in every school. I envision kids learning about food, nutrition, and environmental impacts of the food system.”
Let’s hope his vision becomes a reality.
Greenpeace’s global challenge:
Our supporters are challenging cities to race to the top on meat reduction to protect our climate, forests, and water. We aim to have at least 50 cities commit to serving two vegetarian meals (no meat or dairy options) in all public canteens weekly by the end of 2019. We expect to have at least 100 global cities make this or a greater commitment toward less and better meat and more plant-rich meals by 2020.