HomeNewsFor the benefit of the environment: German Environment Minister bans meat at official events

Barbara Hendricks, German Minister for the Environment

The decision of the German Minister of the Environment to serve only vegetarian food at official government events caused conflicting reactions from politicians in the European country.

Barbara Hendricks, who represents the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and has been (since the end of 2013) Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, announced that eating meat is harmful to the environment, therefore, when the government organizes official events , only vegetarian food . The meat/fish ban was announced by an email sent by a representative of the Ministry of Ecology to department heads. Its text declares the responsibility of the ministry in combating the "negative consequences of eating meat" and speaks of the need to lead by example. (There is already a wealth of research on the causes and extent of environmental damage caused by livestock farming. For more on that, see our article “ Why and how does livestock farming harm the environment? of the climaterian movement in the world .)

The decision taken in the Ministry of the Environment immediately provoked protests: Christian Schmidt, Minister of Food and Agriculture of Germany (since 2014), representing the Christian Social Union (CSU) party, accused Barbara of imposing rules through politics that affect a person’s personal choice: “I believe in diversity and freedom of choice, and not in the state-educator and ideology. I am against paternalism and ideology. Meat and fish are also part of a balanced diet.”

Additional criticism was that the ban only applies to official events, while meat and fish are still available to ministry employees in their canteen. Gitta Konnman of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany: “They won't save the climate by stigmatizing people who eat meat and they know it. The ban only applies to a small number of guests, not all 1,200 government employees. It's pure ideology, teaching people how to diet."

Despite such accusations, Europe knows much more extensive examples of prohibitions in favor of vegetarianism. Since May 2009, one of the largest cities in Belgium - Ghent - has become the first region in Europe to adopt a universal vegetarian day . Since then it has been held once a week and is known as Donderdag Veggiedag . This initiative was taken to fight obesity, global warming, cruelty to animals and to debunk the myth of the scarcity of a diet that excludes meat from the diet. Another example is the Italian city of Turin , which last year introduced a political program aimed at promoting veganism and vegetarianism at the government level.


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Dmitry Shurupov Dmitry Shurupov

1 comment

  1. Barbara Hendricks, the German Minister for the Environment,
    has declared that eating meat is harmful to the environment.
    But other climatic deviations also harm the environment.
    Official statistics: “Tap water cannot be drunk in any country in the world. These are the results of a study by scientists from the University of Minnesota, who analyzed 159 samples of tap water taken from around the world. The water is contaminated with microplastics. The highest level of water pollution was found in the USA - 94%. Plastic has also been found in samples taken from the Congressional Building, the headquarters of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Trump Tower in New York. In second and third place are Lebanon and India, which are contaminated by 93.8% and 82.4% of samples, respectively. European countries, including the UK, Germany and France, have the "lowest" level of pollution (72%). Quote: "Deadly smog in China (and around the world): 3 deaths every minute."
    These and other negative figures will grow in industrial Germany.
    There is a solution to restore the ecology of Germany - this is the use of two types of sponsorship - German money, and technology - I have them.
    Scheme: I produce fresh water in the Niger River.
    Germany is digging branched canals on the territory of the republics of Mali, Niger, and Chad. On both sides of the canals, farmers settle and tree seedlings are planted. Pros: Forest plantations cover the earth from the sun's rays, and reduce emissions of hot air into the atmosphere.
    Destroyed in a CO2 atmosphere.
    “One hectare of forest plantations permanently destroys up to 6.5 tons of carbon dioxide annually and releases 5 tons of oxygen.” 1000 hectares will remove 6.5 thousand tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a million - 6.5 six million, and so every year. Incremental forests are a ready-made natural technology for the destruction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the elimination of warming. The seedlings grow and work continuously for many hundreds of years. Nature works, which has been doing this for billions of years. No cost other than watering. They destroy poisonous smog: “One hectare of green spaces absorbs 60 tons of dust and purifies 18 million cubic meters of air from harmful impurities.”
    This is the only technology in the world that destroys poisonous smog forever. Nature has been working for many hundreds of years. No additional costs other than watering. Bottom line: Stupid Germany is investing in the restoration of the ecology of the whole world.
    This is wrong. Smart Germany, starting from the first year, earns money from the sale of fresh water, and image. And in two or three years, the whole reasonable world will invest in Germany. Sincerely, the developer of environmental programs, Viktor Rodin. Ukraine. Khmelnitsky NPP. Tel. Kiev Star: 961336344. Email: [email protected]

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