On 16 November, about 2,000 people marched through the streets of Taipei calling on the government to introduce vegetarian diets into school meals. The participants, organized by the Sustainable Healthy Diet Research Institute, aimed to raise awareness of the environmental benefits of plant-based diets, particularly their ability to reduce methane emissions and support Taiwan’s sustainability goals, the Taipei Times reports. To increase awareness about. Marchers carried signs with slogans and wore animal-themed costumes promoting respect for life and encouraging others to adopt a vegan lifestyle.
Chang Yu-chuan, director general of the institute, explained that the goal was to make people more aware of the importance of a vegetarian diet, while also acknowledging the challenges in adopting it widely. “It’s encouraging that some people in politics are holding public hearings on such issues, but there is still a long way to go,” Chang said.
Taiwan People’s Party legislator Huang Kuo-chang, who attended the event, expressed his support for the issue, emphasizing the important role of a vegetarian diet in global sustainability efforts. He promised to push for related measures in the Legislative Yuan. Former New Power Party lawmaker Chen Jiayu-hua pointed to research from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization that links animal husbandry to significant carbon emissions, and argued that vegan or plant-based Boosting diet is an effective way to reduce those emissions. Times.
The event also discussed Taiwan’s future carbon reduction targets, with Ho Tsung-hsun of the Taiwan Citizen Participation Association predicting that the government will revise its 2030 targets to exceed 30 percent carbon reduction by 2032. Experts including Chunghua Global Vegan Association advisor Chiu Chung-jen stressed that vegan diets have a lower carbon footprint than meat-based diets and would meet the government’s net-zero objectives, the Taipei Times reported. Important to achieve.
Meat-free days in schools were also called for by Meat Free Monday’s Chang Chia-pei of Taiwan, while Pan Ting-tse of Taiwan emphasized kindness to animals, saying, “Animals are our neighbors and friends , and we should not kill our friends and eat our neighbors.”
