New York City Mayor Eric Adams has targeted city residents’ diets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Unbeknownst to most of us. consuming foods that emit too much carbon into the atmosphere will kill us someday. So Adams will push New Yorkers to eat more fruits, veggies, nuts, and beans.
Apparently, the methane gas released by everyone eating beans doesn’t count as “true” emissions.
Nevertheless, the mayor — a vegetarian — will try to push New Yorkers to give up meat and dairy products and switch to plant-based foods for sustenance
“Food is the third-biggest source of cities’ emissions right after buildings and transportation. But all food is not created equal. The vast majority of food that is contributing to our emission crises lies in meat and dairy products,” Adams said.
City-run hospitals and the school system have already made the switch to more green stuff in the diet. The schools added another “vegan day,” although the first vegan day was so unpopular, hardly anyone ate the slop. It must be a real joy to be sick in New York City as hospitals have been directed to offer more veggies to the sick.
“Food impacts everything. It impacts our physical health, our mental health, our way of life, and today we are saying to New Yorkers, and really to the globe, that it impacts our planet,” Adams said Monday at the city’s Health & Hospitals Culinary Center in Brooklyn.
Adams, who eats a plant-based diet and has focused on food policy since taking office last year, said that while the city has put much of its attention on reducing the carbon footprint that the city’s buildings produce, it hasn’t done enough when it comes to the impact food has on the environment.
The mayor expects that policies he’s already put in place will help further his goal, but Monday’s announcement did not make clear whether more is in store in terms of public policy — a detail critics were quick to pounce on.
In the city’s Health + Hospitals network, plant-based meals are the default option, and Adams said the facilities under its umbrella are now on track to serve 850,000 plant-based meals to patients in 2023.
In updated food standards set last year, the city has also put caps on the amount of meat it serves each week and a minimum requirement for plant-based options.
This isn’t the first time that a New York City mayor has tried to get New Yorkers to eat healthier. In 2012, former mayor Michael Bloomberg unsuccessfully tried to institute a wide-scale ban on large sodas and other sugary drinks. The nationwide outrage that resulted ended up derailing any presidential hopes Bloomberg had.
There will be a “household consumption tracker” to let New York residents see how well they’re doing in reducing their carbon footprint. How the city is going to measure that may be something of a problem.
The new household consumption tracker will be published on the same webpage as the city’s annual inventory of greenhouse gas sources. The addition lays out the greenhouse gas pollution involved in the production and consumption of goods, such as alcoholic beverages or apparel, whether or not those items are made in New York City. It also examines the emissions tied to high-polluting services like air travel and lesser known contributors like health care.
All told, 20% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions come from food consumed by households, according to the mayor. Food ranks as the third biggest contributor of carbon emissions after buildings and transportation. Similar stats are published in the comptroller’s climate dashboard, which was released a year ago this week.
New York City is home to some unbelievably good steak houses. Gallaghers, Keens, and Peter Luger feature exquisite examples of aged beef cooked to perfection. Just make sure you take out a second mortgage on your house before you go.
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