Environment
Cambridge joins a growing list of U.S. and global cities backing a plant-based food system as a climate and public health strategy.
The Plant Based Treaty Boston team gather to watch and give public comment at Monday’s Cambridge City Council meeting. Plant Based Treaty
Cambridge City Council unanimously passed a policy order endorsing the Plant Based Treaty at Monday’s meeting, making Cambridge the first city in Massachusetts to formally call for the global initiative.
The vote makes Cambridge the 66th city worldwide and the sixth in the United States to support the treaty, according to a PBT press release.
PBT U.S. City Campaigner and Scientific Advisor Kimmy Cushman told Boston.com that the ultimate goal of the treaty is to negotiate a global agreement to complement the Paris Agreement and encourage a more sustainable and equitable food system. At the local level, she said, the focus is on implementing best practices in food policy.
Looking ahead, Cushman said PBT volunteers and employees will work with Cambridge staff to carry out the endorsement while also seeking similar actions from other cities, including Providence, Rhode Island and Boston.
In the lead-up to the vote, local residents with PBT met with councilors to discuss plant-based food system solutions that helped shape the policy order, the group said.
“The global climate crisis is rapidly worsening, requiring bold and immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate its impacts,” the order states.
It describes plant-based diets as “one of the most effective individual actions to improve global sustainability,” citing research showing such diets generally have about a quarter of the environmental impact of high-meat diets and can reduce pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and strain on water resources.
At the council meeting, Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, who co-sponsored the order, said the endorsement builds on Cambridge’s broader climate work.
“What we eat matters, and supporting the Plant Based Treaty helps Cambridge reduce emissions, improve health, and protect our shared resources,” Siddiqui said.
Councilor Patricia Nolan, who initiated the order, said the goal is to raise awareness and help the city reduce consumption-based emissions while highlighting public health benefits.
Councilors Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Marc McGovern, and Cathie Zusy also co-sponsored the measure.
McGovern emphasized that the order does not mandate specific actions.
“It is so that we have a greater awareness of this issue, can make some progress, and do a better job with healthy eating and environmental issues,” he said.
Nine residents delivered public comments in support of the endorsement, including Hannah Roach, a volunteer with PBT Cambridge and a Tufts University nutrition master’s student.
Roach said the order is meant to make plant-based eating feel accessible — not intimidating.
“Ideally, the City of Cambridge residents will become more informed about how plant-based eating choices can improve their health and why plant-based eating choices are better for the environment,” she said in an interview with Boston.com.
Among the speakers was Taylor Cross, a first-year pre-med student at Harvard and a lifelong classical ballet dancer, who described food as a powerful, evidence-based tool for addressing chronic disease.
“A whole foods plant-based diet has been shown to prevent, treat, and in many cases, reverse chronic disease,” Cross said. “Physicians and researchers, including many within the Harvard and Cambridge and Harvard medical community, have demonstrated that plant-based diets can lower cholesterol, improve insulin sensitivity, and significantly reduce cardiovascular risk.”
Another speaker, community organizer and artist Adriana Prat, said her support stems from both environmental concerns and personal experience.
When her daughter attended high school in Cambridge, Pratt was disappointed in the limited plant-based food selections, she told Boston.com.
“I hope that we see more offerings of vegan or actually plant-based foods,” Prat said. “Hopefully, that will also curve the prices. Sometimes when you go to local farmers’ markets, there are things that are vegan-based or plant-based that are more expensive.”
Prat added that her own autoimmune disease became more manageable and her symptoms improved after switching to a vegetarian diet.
Environmental activist and Sierra Club volunteer Kelsey Kelter discussed at the meeting how the City should implement “plant-based defaults,” such as offering plant-based options first at City-sponsored events.
“This behavioral nudging technique increases sustainable [and] healthier eating while preserving freedom of choice,” Kelter said. “Thus, serving meals that work for all dietary restrictions reduces overhead and food waste within our boundaries.”
Kelter told Boston.com that the endorsement now moves into a more bureaucratic phase, with the City Manager’s Office working with food system partners and considering how plant-based options might be incorporated into city-sponsored events and school settings.
Roach said she hopes to help the City Manager’s Office explore realistic ways to improve access to plant-based foods.
“I know the thought of changing a diet is extraordinarily difficult, and the idea of the treaty is not to make anyone uncomfortable,” she said. “We just have to overcome the misinformation and start making changes little by little.”
Plant Based Treaty by John Waller
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