Does Meatless Monday make a Difference?
Did you know that the practice of Meatless Monday began way back during World War I when rationing (where people were only allowed certain amounts of sugar, meat, flour, butter and milk) was set in place in the United States of America? (1)
Although Meatless Monday began as a zero option practice, it was revived in 2003 with peoples increased awareness of the negative environmental impact of the farming industry, especially cattle farming. (2)
You may think: Why Meatless Monday but not Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? Well, this is because Monday is the first day of a fresh week which is the best time to try something new. Studies also suggest that “adopting healthy habits on Mondays increases your odds of maintaining progress over time.” (3)
Although you may think that one person not eating meat one day a week may not have a big impact on the environment, it is more about the significant win overtime to one’s life instead of short term accomplishments. Studies have also shown that skipping meat just for one day a week can reduce your annual carbon footprint by as much as not driving your car for a whole month (4).
If you want to learn more about the benefits of Meatless Mondays, keep on reading!
First of all, let’s talk about the individual impact of Meatless Mondays.
According to the Reader’s Digest article, over the course of one’s lifetime, eating meat free one day a week adds up to more than 7 whole years of being a vegetarian (5). Additionally, assuming that you eat meat every day other than on Monday, you are saving 1860 bathtubs of water per year (6).
Moreover, swapping out meat for plant-based foods generally means consuming more nutrients and healthy phytochemicals. These are both virtuous for your kidneys, heart, and body as a whole, while also reducing your risk of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and other serious illnesses. Unsurprisingly, your lifespan actually increases: people who eat less meat live longer (7).
Additionally, if you are someone who is on a tight budget or wants to spend less money on food, plant-based diets are actually cheaper than meat products. In the United States, one pound of beef costs around $5.40 but a pound of vegetables costs just $1 to $2 for the same weight (8). Cutting expensive meat out of your grocery bill and replacing it with cheaper plant-based alternatives, such as beans, chickpeas and lentils, can add up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars saved over time.
Overall, the Meatless Monday ritual can not only conserve natural resources, benefit your health, but also save you money.
Now that we’ve looked at the individual impact of Meatless Mondays, let's look at the global impact if everyone participated.
Even with many new plant-based alternatives that have been put up in the market in recent years, most people in the modern world still do eat meat: only 8% of the global population are vegan or vegetarian. Imagine, if the other 92% of the population embraced Meatless Mondays, the global impact would be huge and would far eclipse anything we could ever achieve as individuals.
A study by Reader’s Digest estimates that if every citizen of America adopted Meatless Mondays for one year, it would save:
The lives of 1.4 billion animals
Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to “ten billion charged smartphones”
Around 100 billion gallons of water
Around 70 million gallons of gas
Around 3 million acres of land (9)
Similarly, Oxford University in the UK, estimates that limiting meat consumption to three times could have a massive annual impact within the United Kingdom if everyone participated. It could essentially stop 31,000 deaths from heart disease, 9,000 from cancer and 5,000 from strokes (saving the health service £1.2 billion each year) (10).
It is clear that animal agriculture is extremely harmful to the environment. It makes up 37% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—more than all vehicles (planes, boats, trains, etc.) combine. This GHG also involves one trillion aquatic animals, with more than 82 billion land animals killed yearly for food (11).
Some people, although they care for the environment, may still be unwilling to go one day meat free. However, animal agriculture is simply unsustainable: An Oxford University study in 2020 found that, “even if harmful greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels were stopped immediately, it would be impossible to keep global heating to the lowest safe limit without a shift to a more plant-based diet.” (12)
To conclude, with the large market of plant-based foods in today’s world, Meatless Monday should be a practice that requires minimal effort. If at this point you are still not convinced to go meat free once every week, all I can do is reinforce the main points I have talked about in today's blog: On an individual level, Meatless Mondays can benefit the environment, save you money, and aid in better health. On a global level, Meatless Mondays can reduce GHG emissions and carbon footprint.
I hope this blog was helpful for you to learn more about the impact of Meatless Mondays. Make sure to follow me on instagram @sophiedeats to let me know you want more content like this. Have a great rest of your morning, day, evening, or night!
Here is an infographic I made using Canva that may be useful…
