To educate people about the environmental and health costs of eating meat, city authorities in Ghent, Belgium have declared Thursdays “Veggie Day” (Veggiedag) encouraging folks to go meat-free at least one day a week. The campaign claims:

eating less meat can help to minimize the ecological footprint of your food because stock breeding has a detrimental impact on the environment.-CNN.com

According to the United Nations, livestock is responsible for generating around 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition to healing the earth, Veggie Day also hopes to heal people by promoting a diet that helps to avoid obesity, cancer and diabetes.