Vegan government: Berkeley City Council votes for meatless meetings

Berkeley City Council member Kate Harrison was one of three council members who introduced a resolution calling for meatless council meetings. Berkeley City Council member Kate Harrison was one of three council members who introduced a resolution calling for meatless council meetings. Photo: Luke Thomas/City Of Berkeley Photo: Luke Thomas/City Of Berkeley Image 1 of / 28 Caption Close Vegan government: Berkeley City Council votes for meatless meetings 1 / 28 Back to Gallery

All of the Ron Swanson types in the city of Berkeley's government (if there are any) are likely going to be disappointed with a resolution recently passed by the Berkeley City Council to exclusively serve vegan food at its facilities on Mondays.

Swanson, the fictional city employee portrayed by Nick Offerman on the NBC show "Parks and Recreation, was a notorious meat lover. And if there are any hardcore meatatarians, like Swanson, they have a new reason to hate coming into the office on Mondays (or another day of the week).

The Green Mondays resolution that passed in real life resolved that "wherein all City-owned and City-managed facilities and programs will provide only plant-based foods on Mondays (or another day of the week)." Although the day of the week where Berkeley is going vegan isn't settled, the City Council's resolution states that they will offer only vegan food at all of their meetings.

The resolution was introduced by City Council members Kate Harrison, Cheryl Davila and Sophie Hahn to start to address a resolution passed in June declaring a climate emergency and setting a goal for the city to be fossil-fuel free by 2030.

"Scientific analyses have shown that one of the most effective ways for a person to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions is to reduce or eliminate their consumption of meat and dairy," the resolution said. "By systematically reducing meat and dairy consumption, the citizens of Berkeley can accomplish two objectives; substantially reducing our collective greenhouse gas emissions and serving as a model for other municipalities across the country and around the world."

According to a report from the U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization, animal agriculture creates 14.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions that originates from human activity.

"That's more than all the planes, trains, and cars in the world combined," Amy Halpern-Laff, co-founder of the Berkeley Coalition for Animals (BCA), said in a press release about the council's decision. She and the BCA were in support of the resolution.

There's also an educational aspect of the Green Mondays resolution. The city will have educational programs at libraries, community centers and private homes about Green Mondays, and will incentivize local restaurants to include vegan items on their menus by providing "Green

Monday approved" certificates for them to display.

Implementation of the program is now the responsibility of City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley.