Washington, D.C., USA
Making Progress*
Making Progress means that the city, local government, or public institution has increased vegetarian options or increased the use of organic meat but has yet to implement dedicated, mandatory vegetarian meals at least one meal per week.
In Washington, D.C., the District of Columbia city council passed legislation that will require DC Public Schools to proactively offer a vegetarian meal option for lunch and breakfast every day and to provide a vegan meal option for students whose parents request it. The new city-wide law will also formally adopt the Good Food Purchasing Program, which rewards schools for reducing meat and dairy on the menu. District of Columbia Public Schools is the first school district on the East Coast in the USA to adopt the Good Food Purchasing Program and hopes to build on the success of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
What’s next?
Washington, D.C. is now firmly in our Making Progress category making plant-rich food on offer to all for the long-term health of all their students. But for the health of the planet, D.C. could go one step further by adopting one meal per week where there is no beef, chicken or pork on offer at all. There are still lots of delicious vegetarian meals to choose from. Keep up the great work!
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.