Nearly 2,000 people took part in a march in Taipei yesterday promoting vegan eating habits. They urged the government to introduce vegan diets into schools to help reduce methane output and to meet government goals to achieve net zero and a sustainable lifestyle.
Participants held signs with slogans and wore animal-themed costumes to help promote awareness of the issue and to encourage respect for life.
“We want more people to be more aware of a vegan diet,” said Chang You-chuan (張祐銓), director-general of the Sustainable Healthy Diets Research Institute, the organizer of yesterday’s parade.
Photo: CNA
It is encouraging that some in politics have been holding public hearings on such issues, Chang said, adding that there is still a long way to go to promote vegan diets.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), who attended the event, said that he agreed that vegan diets were essential to achieving global sustainability and pledged to promote related issues in the Legislative Yuan.
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, animal husbandry produces significant carbon emissions, so promoting vegan diets, or at least plant-based diets, would go a long way towards reducing carbon emissions, former New Power Party Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said.
The government is expected to revise its 2030 carbon reduction goals from 24 percent plus or minus 1 percent to a higher level, Taiwan Citizen Participation Association founder Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said, adding that the exact figure would be made known in January next year.
Ho predicted that the government’s intended nationally determined contribution for 2032 would definitely exceed 30 percent.
Vegan diets have a lower carbon footprint than meat-based diets and are the most straightforward way to realize the government’s net zero goals, Chunghua Global Vegan Association consultant Chiu Chung-jen (邱仲仁) said.
The government should be more active in promoting vegan diets, especially in encouraging schools to implement a no-meat day, said Chang Chia-pei (張家珮), head of Meat Free Monday Taiwan.
No animal is willing to voluntarily die for the human race, Kindness to Animals CEO Pan Ting-tse (潘定澤) said.
Animals are our neighbors and friends, and we should not kill our friends and eat our neighbors, Pan added.
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