#Food Supply: Meat / Dairy Reduction
Up-front: #NYC to track, monitor, and limit consumption of meat and dairy; reduce food emissions by 25% by 2030.
New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) released the first ever "integrated" Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GGI) to track the city's carbon footprint along with food-contributing emissions. The GGI has been an annual operation since at least 2007 but has not previously tracked food related effects on the climate. The Mayor of NYC claimed that the "vast majority" of food that contributes to "emissions" are meat and dairy products and that a "plant-powered diet is better for your physical and mental health". The DEP also launched the "Eat A Whole Lot More Plants" campaign.
The Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice (MOCEJ) along with the DEP is accused (by oversight groups) of attempting to track the sales and consumption of meat and dairy products. The Mayor said the MOCEJ is "committing to reducing the city’s food-based emissions at agencies by 33 percent by 2030 and challenging our private sector partners to join us by cutting their food emissions by 25 percent in the same time period. The way we eat impacts everything, and now we’re going to do more to impact everything for the better.”
The MOCEJ has already initiated a menu change for city schools and hospitals and is on track to have served 850,000 plant based meals by the end of year. The Plant-Powered Carbon Challenge further influences private, institutional, and nonprofit sector leaders to reduce their food-based emissions by 25% by 2030.
Assessment: NYC, along with other Democrat controlled regions, have begun campaigns to pressure businesses to reduce their sales of meat and dairy. Through regulation, incentives, and awarded contracts; the government is influencing the supply chain to disrupt the availability of non-plant-based foods and have already impacted citizens' access to meats, cheeses, and milk. This increases costs and limits locations where such foods can be purchased. In many cases it forces children and parents to conform to vegan and vegetarian diets as lack of choices of meats and dairy food become available.
》Sources:
https://www.foxnews.com/media/nyc-mayor-adams-coming-food-waging-war-modern-us-diet-boost-climate-agenda-expert | https://nypost.com/2023/04/17/adams-tells-nyc-hospital-patients-to-eat-more-veggies/amp/ | https://plantbasedtreaty.org/eric-adams-plant-based-city/ | https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/263-23/mayor-adams-commits-reducing-city-s-food-based-emissions-33-percent-2030-after-releasing#/0 | https://climate.cityofnewyork.us/initiatives/nyc-greenhouse-gas-inventories/