Veg out this week - National Vegetarian week 23rd-29th May

This is National Vegetarian Week - Why not try something veggie to lower your carbon footprint full details at http://www.nationalvegetarianweek.org/

Victoria's Green Matters - 3rd June

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

Last week was National Vegetarian Week and this makes us think again about the food that we eat, how it is produced and how far it has travelled to get to our plates. A vegetarian does not eat any meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacea, or slaughter by-products. This sounds quite strict and necessitates reading food labels on ready-made produce but it is a habit easily acquired.

There have been many studies over the years that have shown that those living on vegetarian diets are much healthier in several different ways than those who eat meat based diets. People that follow a vegetarian diet may do so for different reasons; perhaps because they feel that it is ethically wrong to kill other creatures to eat when it is unnecessary. Some people follow the diet because they believe that the whole world could be fed more easily if meat were not eaten, some follow a vegetarian regime just because it is healthier and some because they don’t like the taste or texture of meat.

Many people, including some of the medical profession, believe that it is not possible to be healthy without eating meat or fish and it is fair to say that any diet that is unbalanced is unhealthy. Maybe it is more difficult to get the balance right with a vegetarian diet but all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals are there in a good menu. Some people believe that they need to eat fish to be healthy but forget about all the pollutants, particularly mercury, that are found in fish.

It is almost impossible to imagine a world where no-one eats meat simply because big business rules the roost where food is concerned and although people are becoming much more likely to question the origins of food, the large food corporations are unlikely to loosen their hold over the market.

24th -30th May National Vegetarian Week.: Go Veggie and save the planet?

National Vegetarian Week is the annual awareness-raising campaign promoting inspirational vegetarian food and the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle. This year it is between the 24th - 30th May.

According to the Vegetarian Society Eating veggie food means you will reduce your personal impact on the planet.

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions – livestock farming produces greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change. For example:

• Nitrous oxide from manure
• Methane from burping cows. A single cow can produce 500 litres of methane in a day.
• Carbon dioxide through changes to the land such as forests being cleared for grazing or for growing grain to feed animals.

Save water – it takes thousands more litres of water to produce a kilo of beef than to grow the same quantity of grains, vegetables or pulses.

Save land

• A third of the world’s land which is suitable for growing crops is used to produce feed for farm animals.
• Livestock production is responsible for 70% of Amazon deforestation.
• In the UK a meat-eating diet requires more than twice as much land as a veggie one.

Stats

• Worldwide, farmed animals produce more greenhouse gas emissions (18%) than the world’s entire transport system (13.5%).
• A 2006 study, examining the impact of a typical week’s eating, showed that plant-based diets are better for the environment than those based on meat. A vegan, organic diet had the smallest environmental impact, but the single most damaging foodstuff was beef and all non-vegetarian diets required significantly greater amounts of environmental resources, such as land and water. (from Vegetarian Society Fact sheet on Climate Change)

More Details are at http://www.nationalvegetarianweek.org