Res. No. 379
Title
Resolution to recognize "Meatless Monday" in New York City.
Body
By Council Members Rosenthal, Cabrera, Brannan and Salamanca
Whereas, Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people to enjoy meat-free meals on Mondays to improve their personal and public health, animal welfare, wildlife protection, and environmental and agricultural sustainability; and
Whereas, The Meatless Monday campaign initially began in the United States (U.S.) as a nationwide war rationing effort during World Wars I and II, and was revived as a health campaign in 2003 by The Monday Campaigns in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and
Whereas, According to the national nonprofit organization Compassion Over Killing, over 50% of Americans are familiar with Meatless Monday and nearly 1 in 5 participate in the campaign; and
Whereas, Several cities across the U.S., including Los Angeles, South Miami, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Philadelphia and others have either passed resolutions or written proclamations to promote Meatless Monday; and
Whereas, Monday was chosen because several studies, including "What's the Healthiest Day? Circaseptan (Weekly) Rhythms in Healthy Considerations," American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2014), have demonstrated that people are more likely to try to quit smoking, begin a diet or exercise regimen, schedule a doctors' appointment, or adopt other health behaviors on Monday than any other day; and
Whereas, According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health website, "In 2000, the Surgeon General released the Healthy People 2010 report outlining health objectives for the nation to serve as goals for the next decade. Healthy People 2010 specifically called for a 15% reduction in saturated fat in the American diet. Since saturated fat in the diet is almost exclusively of animal origin and one day of the week is just under 15% of the week...
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