{"id":2449154,"date":"2019-09-25T22:22:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T04:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=313461"},"modified":"2019-09-25T22:22:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T04:22:00","slug":"wheres-the-beef-not-on-the-plates-of-basalt-town-council-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/wheres-the-beef-not-on-the-plates-of-basalt-town-council-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Where\u2019s the beef? Not on the plates of Basalt Town Council members"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Basalt Town Council members are taking \u201cgoing green\u201d to a new level \u2014 right to their dinner plates.<\/p>\n

The council decided Tuesday night they will go meatless when they have dinner during council meetings. The council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays each month. The town government supplies dinner on the taxpayers\u2019 dime.<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Katie Schwoerer suggested forgoing meat, noting that the council is moving forward with numerous initiatives to reduce the town\u2019s carbon emissions and take action on climate issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne small thing we can do as a council is buy into only having vegetarian dinners during our council meetings and any other meetings as a town host,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Schwoerer didn\u2019t discuss the reasoning. However, there is mounting evidence that if the world\u2019s population shifted toward plant-based diets and reduced meat consumption, it would help slow climate change. A United Nations report released in August details how meat production relates to carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

Schwoerer acknowledged going meatless is a small thing. She apparently spotted a look of skepticism on the face of fellow council member Gary Tennenbaum.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do it, Gary,\u201d she said in an encouraging voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoy is just not my friend,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

Schwoerer said the council doesn\u2019t have to eat soy. The plan is to go vegetarian, not vegan, she said.<\/p>\n

The council happened to have fried chicken as its official meal Tuesday. Tennenbaum noted that Councilman Auden Schendler looked like he was enjoying his chicken dinner. Schendler arrived late and was eating during the meeting after missing the dinner break.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it\u2019s my last supper,\u201d Schendler quipped. He then endorsed Schwoerer\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one meal every two weeks. There\u2019s all sorts of cool options out there and it\u2019s a good statement,\u201d Schendler said.<\/p>\n

Mayor Jacque Whitsitt noted council members could eat meat before they arrived for a town meeting or bring their own if they didn\u2019t want to go vegetarian.<\/p>\n

Going meatless is only a small part of the Basalt council broader green agenda. On Aug. 27, the council unanimously approved a resolution endorsing the declaration of a climate emergency. As part of that approval, the council pledged to examine climate issues in all its decision and policies. Declaring a climate crisis is catching on with governments around the world.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the council reviewed a report prepared by the Community Office for Resource Efficiency that inventoried the town\u2019s carbon emissions. The council worked with its Green Team on policies and projects to reduce the emissions.<\/p>\n

The council also approved an ordinance that updates sustainable building regulations in its building code.<\/p>\n

scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Basalt Town Council members are taking \u201cgoing green\u201d to a new level \u2014 right to their dinner plates. The council decided Tuesday night they will go meatless when they have dinner during council meetings. The council meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays each month. The town government supplies dinner on the taxpayers\u2019 dime. Councilwoman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 08:19:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}