In celebration of the World Meat Free Week on June 17-23, Davao City’s youth led a gathering of environmental activists and civil society groups to promote eating “less meat more veggies.”
Harold Banggay, youth leader from #IAmHampaslupa and Mindanaoan Youth Development Center, said, “We are taking on the challenge of cutting down on eating meat as we are now aware of the negative impact it causes to the planet. Industrial meat production is one of the greatest contributors to climate change; it causes deforestation; air, water, and soil pollution.”
Banggay, who initiated the event along with other youth groups in Davao, is already at the forefront of fighting further environmental damage but still sees the need to up the ante.
“We have been participating in various campaigns to help protect the environment: we joined mass actions to save the oceans, break free from plastic, rehabilitate and protect waterways, and organize events to empower youth for environmental advocacy. But I can see that many of us still have not looked into what we are eating and how it contributes to damaging our planet. We need to challenge ourselves to ditch our fast-food culture, eat less meat and more locally and ecologically grown fruits, vegetables, and root crops,” he emphasized.
According to a Greenpeace report, our food system is currently responsible for a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Reducing meat and dairy consumption and production by 50 percent by 2050 could reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions by 64 percent.
Filipinos are heavy meat eaters. A 2017 Social Weather Stations survey showed that the largest portion of the population (46 percent) eats meat a few times a week.
Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Virginia Benosa-Llorin expressed support and admiration to these young leaders.
“We are happy that more and more young people are taking on the challenge of changing their eating habit. Shifting mindset and changing behavior on eating, especially if there is no strong support, is hard to do, we are glad that these young people are taking this on,” said Llorin.