It’s Belgium, it’s Thursday, it’s veggie diet day

Ghent, Belgium which is approximately 50km west of Brussels, has declared this Thursday to be “Veggie Day” in an effort to highlight both the health and environmental costs of consuming meat on a regular basis.

The movement will hopefully influence residents to consider eating vegetarian meals once a week as opposed to meat based meals.

United Nations data claims stock breeding generates 18% of the world’s CO2 emissions.

The city claims that stock breeding contributes to a high level of global CO2 gas emissions, and thus refraining from depending on meat in daily diets will minimize the ecological footprint of each citizen who participates.

Ghent officials also hope it will help citizens realize there are alternatives to meat, leading to better diets that do not result in cancer, diabetes, and obesity.

The city is the first in Europe to advocate a meat-free day by handing out brochures and setting up cooking demonstrations.

It aims to make every Thursday a meat-free diet day.