The Styrian initiative Fair Life – Less Meat (Gerecht leben – Fleisch fasten) started in 2012 and was co-initiated by Welthaus. Numerous institutions of the Catholic Church in Styria invite people to abstain, to a large extent, from eating meat during Lent. The initiative aims at encouraging people to find alternative ways in order to lower their meat consumption and thereby contribute to social justice, their own health and the protection of animals and the environment.
In Austria, we consume more than 60 kilograms of meat per person and year. However, we do not have enough farmland to grow the food for the animals necessary – most of it has to be imported from other countries such as Brazil and Argentina. Not only the environment and people in far-away places suffer the consequences of our current meat consumption, but also Austrian farmers, who are under a lot of pressure: as low market prices for meat and fierce competition force more and more farmers to give up their production.
We can put a stop to this unfair system and foster sustainable farming with fair pay. This is what the initiative Fair Life – Less Meat aims to do.
www.fleischfasten.at (german)