Yunami ㈔Consumer Climate Action Central Honam Region Campaign Team
On December 10, 2020, the Government of the Republic of Korea declared the ‘2050 Carbon Neutrality Vision.’
‘Carbon neutrality’ refers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by fossil fuel use and other sources, and offsetting or removing the inevitably emitted greenhouse gases through forests, wetlands, etc., so that the net emissions become ‘0.’
Accordingly, changes are occurring in various fields, with a representative example being the transition to a ‘plastic-free’ society.
The Honam Reporting Headquarters of Asia Economy is running a series of ‘Consumer Climate Action Columns’ to empathize with and participate in the plastic-free movement.
#. Lunchtime at a certain school.
Student 1) “I am very hungry. Today is the one day a month when only vegetarian meals are served, so there was nothing to eat.”
Student 2) “I am very hungry. Except for the one vegetarian day a month, there is nothing to eat but kimchi.”
Student 1 is an ordinary student who enjoys eating meat, and Student 2 prefers or advocates vegetarianism.
The reason he could only eat kimchi at lunchtime is likely because meat-containing meals worsen his illness, or because meat produces far more greenhouse gas emissions than vegetarian food, or due to respect for animal life.
According to the current School Meal Act, “school meals must be composed of foods that can meet the nutritional needs for students’ growth and health and help form proper eating habits.”
The same Act’s enforcement regulations specify that when planning menus, “various types of foods such as grains and starches, vegetables and fruits, fish and meat and legumes, milk and dairy products should be used.”
Also, the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recommend consuming at least 400g of vegetables and fruits daily to prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. However, school meals are generally provided with meat-centered menus.
The author’s organization, Consumer Climate Action, is promoting a plant-based diet movement as part of climate change response actions to create a sustainable society.
‘Consumer Climate Action’ believes that students should be able to respond to the climate crisis by having the option to choose vegetarian meals and enjoy a healthy life through self-determination. Recently, it also conducted a campaign demanding local election candidates to establish policies guaranteeing the right to choose vegetarian meals.
Requests to guarantee the right to choose vegetarian meals in meat-centered school lunches may be dismissed as the eccentric demands of a small number of vegetarian students and parents. However, the reason why guaranteeing vegetarian meal choice for students is important is that reducing meat consumption (vegetarianism) is the most effective individual action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Modern factory farming adversely affects the atmosphere, oceans, and soil, emitting 80% of the carbon from the food industry. Nevertheless, per capita meat consumption in Korea has soared from 11.3 kg in 1980 to 54.6 kg in 2019.
The World Health Organization has stated that 75% of new human infectious diseases in the past 50 years originated from animals. Numerous infectious diseases such as COVID-19, SARS, MERS, Ebola virus, novel flu, mad cow disease, avian influenza, and Burger’s disease (hemolytic uremic syndrome) come from meat consumption.
As the proportion of vegetarian food in diets increases, the share of livestock farming?which emits high carbon during production?decreases accordingly, resulting in carbon reduction effects and contributing to solving the climate crisis.
Since excessive meat-centered eating habits are a major cause of the climate crisis, it is urgent to cultivate a school meal culture where youth practice reducing meat consumption.
Globally, reasons and methods for vegetarianism are diversifying and becoming popular. Since 2019, New York City has included vegetarian menus for Monday breakfast and lunch in all public schools, and California guarantees vegetarian options in school lunches.
Also, since 2019, France has mandated one vegetarian meal per week in kindergartens and elementary to high schools, and the Netherlands provides vegetarian meals as a standard at all events organized by the Ministry of Education.
What about Korea? Although vegetarian options in school meals have increased compared to the past, activation is slow considering the importance of vegetarian meals.
Depending on the region, most schools operate one or two vegetarian days per month, and some regions are only at the pilot stage of operating one vegetarian day per week or offering vegetarian meal choices.
In 2020, led by the Green Party, elementary, middle, and high school students, parents, teachers, and vegetarians filed a constitutional complaint demanding the guarantee of vegetarian meal choice in ‘public meals.’ The following year, the National Human Rights Commission received a petition stating, “Vegetarian meal choice should be guaranteed in school meals to protect the health rights, self-determination rights, and equality rights of vegan students and provide options to other students.”
In response, the Human Rights Commission expressed the opinion that educational authorities should strive to guarantee students the right to choose vegetarian meals.
Vegetarian meals can guarantee the human rights of students practicing vegetarianism, educate on the meaning of vegetarian practice, and promote health. However, it is also true that there is opposition based on concerns that vegetarian diets may not provide sufficient nutrition for growing students, potentially hindering growth.
Therefore, to overcome prejudices and resistance toward vegetarianism among students and parents, it is necessary not only to provide vegetarian meals but also to actively inform educational stakeholders about the connection between climate change response and the introduction of vegetarian meal options.
In summary, the right to choose vegetarian meals is important from the perspective of practical environmental education responding to the climate crisis by reducing carbon emissions, as well as from the human rights perspective of securing students’ health rights and self-determination rights.
Therefore, it should be introduced considering ▲guaranteeing ‘vegetarian meal choice’ in elementary, middle, and high school meals ▲budget and personnel reinforcement to activate vegetarian meals ▲climate crisis response dietary education for students, teachers, and parents ▲development of healthy vegetarian menus and vegetarian-centered dietary education materials.
Through this, students will be able to practice climate action by exercising their right to choose vegetarian meals and enjoy a healthier life through self-determination.
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