http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2011/12/unc_debates_meatless_meals
I was planning to write about something else today, but I could not resist commenting on this story! Just north of me (I’m in Georgia, by the way), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is proposing that its dining hall serve only vegan and vegetarian options on Mondays and the initiative is called ‘Meatless Mondays.’ Not only is this idea great for health, but it will also have great environmental impact. Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Nobel Peace Prize winner and chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, endorses individuals to have at least one meat-free day a week in order to personally combat climate change. It is estimated that cutting meat consumption in half would slash more greenhouse gas emissions than if car use was cut in half. HELLO!
I think the ‘Meatless Mondays’ model is an awesome idea and I wish other universities would follow UNC’s example. It is cost-effective and makes the student body a little more aware and health-conscious. To be honest, cafeterias across the country could probably replace meat products with soy substitutes and most students wouldn’t know the difference. I had a soy chicken burrito at the Sunflower Cafe in Atlanta that was better than any ‘real’ chicken dish I had ever tasted.
Frankly, I am sick of people who act like going one single day without meat is the end of the world. If they are, then these people are obviously not concerned with a balanced diet. Is the true issue that people favor meat or do they just detest vegetables? And in this case, I am not counting potatoes as a vegetable. Most people don’t know that if you are a meat eater, you are consuming an average of 83 to 100 animals a year.
Aside from the sheer numbers of animals slaughtered for human consumption, the environmental impact of raising this livestock is devastating. Humanity’s largest use of land is for the livestock industry with grazing taking up 26 percent of non-frozen earth and 33 percent of all arable land being designated for crops that will feed farm animals. Eight percent of global water use goes toward the livestock sector alone. The mass production of the meat industry threatens the environment not just through the production of animals and emissions, but also what is being fed to livestock. The practice of feeding animals an unnatural diet, as opposed to natural grass grazing, results in further food insecurity for humans.
More than 50 percent of the world’s corn crops and 80 percent of soybean crops go toward feedstock for farm animals while both are feeds that the animals would not eat in nature. Furthermore, crops like corn require large amounts of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and this process is environmentally damaging due to its interruption of Earth’s natural nitrogen cycle and its reliance on fossil fuels.
I want to be clear that this posting is not an effort to convert people to vegetarianism, but rather a call to practical and conscientious consumption of animals. I personally applaud pescatarians and flexitarians for their choice to eat limited amounts of meat because it is the right thing to do for the overall benefit of human survival. Ultimately, personal dietary choice is the most powerful weapon in the fight for sustainable agriculture and Mother Earth. Way to go, UNC!
I was planning to write about something else today, but I could not resist commenting on this story! Just north of me (I’m in Georgia, by the way), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is proposing that its dining hall serve only vegan and vegetarian options on Mondays and the initiative is called ‘Meatless Mondays.’ Not only is this idea great for health, but it will also have great environmental impact. Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Nobel Peace Prize winner and chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, endorses individuals to have at least one meat-free day a week in order to personally combat climate change. It is estimated that cutting meat consumption in half would slash more greenhouse gas emissions than if car use was cut in half. HELLO!
I think the ‘Meatless Mondays’ model is an awesome idea and I wish other universities would follow UNC’s example. It is cost-effective and makes the student body a little more aware and health-conscious. To be honest, cafeterias across the country could probably replace meat products with soy substitutes and most students wouldn’t know the difference. I had a soy chicken burrito at the Sunflower Cafe in Atlanta that was better than any ‘real’ chicken dish I had ever tasted.
Frankly, I am sick of people who act like going one single day without meat is the end of the world. If they are, then these people are obviously not concerned with a balanced diet. Is the true issue that people favor meat or do they just detest vegetables? And in this case, I am not counting potatoes as a vegetable. Most people don’t know that if you are a meat eater, you are consuming an average of 83 to 100 animals a year.
Aside from the sheer numbers of animals slaughtered for human consumption, the environmental impact of raising this livestock is devastating. Humanity’s largest use of land is for the livestock industry with grazing taking up 26 percent of non-frozen earth and 33 percent of all arable land being designated for crops that will feed farm animals. Eight percent of global water use goes toward the livestock sector alone. The mass production of the meat industry threatens the environment not just through the production of animals and emissions, but also what is being fed to livestock. The practice of feeding animals an unnatural diet, as opposed to natural grass grazing, results in further food insecurity for humans.
More than 50 percent of the world’s corn crops and 80 percent of soybean crops go toward feedstock for farm animals while both are feeds that the animals would not eat in nature. Furthermore, crops like corn require large amounts of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and this process is environmentally damaging due to its interruption of Earth’s natural nitrogen cycle and its reliance on fossil fuels.
I want to be clear that this posting is not an effort to convert people to vegetarianism, but rather a call to practical and conscientious consumption of animals. I personally applaud pescatarians and flexitarians for their choice to eat limited amounts of meat because it is the right thing to do for the overall benefit of human survival. Ultimately, personal dietary choice is the most powerful weapon in the fight for sustainable agriculture and Mother Earth. Way to go, UNC!
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