Sir – “A small dreamy university city of spires, bicycles . . . prospering since the Middle Ages”. No, not Oxford, you will be sad to hear, but Ghent, Belgium, which “may be on to something”, it was reported recently in the Guardian (May 14, 2009).

The report told of this fine Belgian university town’s attempt to make each Thursday a meat-free day in its schools and possibly hospitals, encouraging all restaurants to offer a meat-free alternative every Thursday. The first town in Europe, and probably the Western world, to try to make the entire place vegetarian for one day every week.

As Tom Balthazar, the Labour party councillor pushing the scheme, said: “There’s nothing compulsory. We just want to be a city that promotes sustainable and healthy living.”

Come on, Oxford! Why be beaten by our sister university town in Belgium? What an excellent idea. The organisers in Ghent cite the UN data arguing that meat production and consumption are to blame for 18 per cent of greenhouse gases — more than car usage.

If everyone in Oxford refrained from eating meat one day a week, what a huge amount of CO2 in a year we could save.

And if that is not enough, it is a great and proven way to significantly reduce your risk of obesity and diabetes. This seems a great and very simple idea, to encourage both healthier eating habits for ourselves, and for our planet, rather than just a vegetarian rant. So how about it Oxford? Here’s a dramatic and simple way we can eat our way to a reduced carbon footprint. I, for one, am up for it.

Clive Lindley-Jones Oxford