Last week, I found out UCSB, my beloved alma mater, is trying out Meatless Mondays in its dining commons. The news came at a great time because I've thrown this important movement on the back burner for a while. The article on the school's newspaper was just what I needed to remind me why I need to get on board with Meatless Anyday.
For reasons most likely due to successful advertisement and plenty of hype, hybrid cars have become the poster child of "Going Green." But did you know that eating meat, especially red meat, is more damaging to the environment than driving around in a car with poor fuel economy? Animal farming is an incredibly energy-expensive process. Raising 1,200 pounds of steer on a feedlot takes 200 gallons of oil. Besides depleting nonrenewable fossil fuel, an innocent pound of beef requires 30 times more water than growing 1 pound of wheat! Ruminant animals such as cattle, goats, and sheep excrete methane gas during their digestion process. In fact, methane from captive ruminants accounts for 1/5 of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions! Moreover, methane is 20 times more powerful as a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide. Who would've thought cows are making the planet hotter?
Meatless Monday is a campaign that aims to reduce our carbon footprint through our food choices. Perhaps a long-distance commute to work or school is inevitable, but eating meat isn't a necessity. By cutting out meat 1 day a week, you can probably save at least $6. Multiply that by 52 weeks will give you a savings of $312! On the environment front, we can reduce the 1.4 billion tons of animal waste generated by U.S. factory farms each year! Besides monetary savings, eating less meat will also reduce your risk of heart disease and cancers among other health benefits.
Going green doesn't have to involve trading in an SUV for a hybrid car or spending hours sorting through recyclables. It can be as simple as having your favorite vegetables or legumes in place of meat. There are so many good reasons to adopt Meatless Mondays. I'm confident you'll find your own reason for skipping meat one day a week.
For reasons most likely due to successful advertisement and plenty of hype, hybrid cars have become the poster child of "Going Green." But did you know that eating meat, especially red meat, is more damaging to the environment than driving around in a car with poor fuel economy? Animal farming is an incredibly energy-expensive process. Raising 1,200 pounds of steer on a feedlot takes 200 gallons of oil. Besides depleting nonrenewable fossil fuel, an innocent pound of beef requires 30 times more water than growing 1 pound of wheat! Ruminant animals such as cattle, goats, and sheep excrete methane gas during their digestion process. In fact, methane from captive ruminants accounts for 1/5 of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions! Moreover, methane is 20 times more powerful as a heat-trapping gas than carbon dioxide. Who would've thought cows are making the planet hotter?
Meatless Monday is a campaign that aims to reduce our carbon footprint through our food choices. Perhaps a long-distance commute to work or school is inevitable, but eating meat isn't a necessity. By cutting out meat 1 day a week, you can probably save at least $6. Multiply that by 52 weeks will give you a savings of $312! On the environment front, we can reduce the 1.4 billion tons of animal waste generated by U.S. factory farms each year! Besides monetary savings, eating less meat will also reduce your risk of heart disease and cancers among other health benefits.
Going green doesn't have to involve trading in an SUV for a hybrid car or spending hours sorting through recyclables. It can be as simple as having your favorite vegetables or legumes in place of meat. There are so many good reasons to adopt Meatless Mondays. I'm confident you'll find your own reason for skipping meat one day a week.
Click here to learn more about Meatless Mondays and environmentally-friendly recipes.
2 comments:
unborn chicken egg...gross ><
Hi Elizabeth-
I just wanted to reach out to you and thank you for joining the Meatless Monday movement and for your terrific post about our campaign. It really is bloggers like you who post about Meatless Monday as a strategy for reducing saturated fat and conserving our environmental resources, that helps the movement to grow exponentially.
I was very impressed with Healing Foodie's focus on foods that help to sustain you, the planet and are tasty too! I think it falls right in line with Meatless Monday's mission to encourage people to one small change in diet to make a big difference to their health and the health or our planet. Many bloggers think it’s fun to do weekly Meatless Monday posts, usually profiling a meatless recipe or meal, every Monday. Or you could do Meatless Monday posts chronicling a positive effect or issue in going meatless too. Weekly posts really help to spread the word. Does that sound like something you'd be interested in?
I'd love to be in more direct communication with you so we can better coordinate outreach efforts. If you're interested in doing weekly posts please email me at jlee@mondaycampaigns.org.
Thanks so much and keep up the great posts!
-Joey Lee
Project Associate
Meatless Monday
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