Being vegan is a bit more work for me outside of the house as there are few vegan baked sweet options (I have quite the sweet tooth, though I’ve already drastically reduced my sugar consumption) at restaurants, coffee shops, and bakeries. This is slowly changing.

Glad to read that so many establishments in Ghent are on board with such a proposal. Even in Toronto, a large, diverse, cosmopolitan city with a strong veg*n community, I doubt such a thing could be pulled off. Toronto has a great vegetarian festival every summer, but to encourage, publicly, to have a city-wide meat-free day is hard to imagine.

It’s made it easier to be healthier. It’s made me feel better physically, and it’s taken away that edge of guilt every time I enjoyed a steak. Sure, it’s tasty. But so is Zucchini, eggs, popcorn, and a million other things that don’t pollute the way that a hamburger does. Again, it seems too selfish to say you need it because you like the taste. The taste lasts a few seconds, but the impact lasts a lifetime.

Bad science? Hardly. Contrary to what you may think, most beef cattle do not live an idyllic prairie grass munching life. Those few that do tend to be overgrazed and destroy the natural wildlife in an area. They majority live in high density feed lots and consume feed grain, which has to be grown, harvested and transported to them. All of these steps take up energy and pollute in several ways.

Its true that there are economies built around this industry, but it doesn’t change the fact that they aren’t doing the environment any favors.