BY DAVID HAMPTON
White Rock

Chair Derkacs and Councilors,

Thank you for your quick action on traffic safety at last Tuesday’s Work Session, as well as the update on the dire situation at Elk Ridge that allowed a free flow of public comment from those affected.

Beyond these, I was contemplating Councilor Hand’s comments during the Environmental Sustainability Board presentation, regarding a plant based diet, as well as the impending approval of our Climate Action Plan on November 12th.

Looking at the Draft Climate Action Plan, on page 46, under “What can you do?, Healthy Living”, I found,

“Eating more plant-based foods—such as fruits, grains,and vegetables—and reducing consumption of meat and dairy products not only helps reduce emissions, but it can often be good for your health, too. Regular exercise, such as walking or biking, can also help improve health while reducing emissions.”

To give more context to this suggestion, here are some excerpts from a New York Times article published July 21, 2023 and updated September 15, 2023, titled, “Save the Planet, Put Down that Hamburger”,

“People who follow a plant-based diet account for 75 percent less in greenhouse gas emissions than those who eat more than 3.5 ounces of meat a day, and a vegan diet also results in significantly less harm to land, water and biodiversity, according to new research from the University of Oxford.”

“The study found that, compared to meat-heavy diets, vegan diets resulted in 75 percent less land use, 54 percent less water use, and 66 percent less biodiversity loss. A vegan diet avoids all animal products, including meat, eggs and dairy.”

I’ve heard some people argue that Los Alamos shouldn’t pursue costly climate change actions because they will not have a measurable impact on the global or local climate. The usual response is that Los Alamos is a science based community, and that we should be leaders in scientific approaches to global problems. This is a compelling point.

Funny thing, when I transitioned to a plant based diet in 1988, the science was already well established, and everything in this article was already established as fact from previous studies. We’ve failed to follow the science, change our choices, or lead by example, for decades.

With these things in mind, and in order to demonstrate support for the CAP in regard to “What we can do,” I advocate adopting a plant based menu for many county functions. My personal recommendations, leaning into my own bias, would be the Strategic Leadership meeting on November 14th, and the Boards and Commissions Luncheons. We have many options from local caterers and other sources.

This also would help us accomplish our Strategic Leadership goal of Environmental Stewardship, Greenhouse Gas Reduction, “integrate sustainability and resiliency practices into County policies and operations.”