Meatless Monday

What are all these people waiting in line for? Well, Outreach worked with the Food Services Department here at the Regional to institute our school's first ever Meatless Monday on June 6th!

Please continue below to view the Meatless Monday opinion article written by Outreach leaders Isabel Kojima and Julia Hines for our school newspaper, The General Consensus.

Meeting the Meat

On Monday, June 6th, the high school cafeteria did not serve meat. It was HWRHS’s first “Meatless Monday,” initiated by the Outreach Club in an effort to promote healthy, humane, and environmentally friendly habits within the student body. The event was a net success that attracted the support of students, teachers, and alumni of the Hamilton-Wenham community. However, we were disconcerted to hear remarks of indignation from some of our peers.

Spoken chants of “meat, meat, meat” travelled from the back of the cafeteria. A student yelled, “Meat Monday! Give me barbecue!” Who knew that finding a veggie burger on a lunch tray could trigger such a visceral outrage? Our meat-loving attitudes are so entrenched that when the threat arose of meat being taken away for one day of the week, some claimed that their human rights were being violated.

The point is that those who expressed their disapproval for the event did not understand the benefits of eating meatless, even for just a single day out of the year.

Most people do not think about how their food gets to their plate; instead, they just see what is in front of them. What they don’t realize is that a single hamburger’s journey from farm to plate consumes the amount of water that the average person would use if he or she were to take a shower for a year. Not only does meat waste large amounts of water, but, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. This is more than the exhaust from all transportation, including trains, cars, and planes. Moreover, the Humane Society of the United States reported that avoiding meat for just one day a week can make you feel better, gain energy, and lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer.

So the next time you look at your lunch tray, think about the effect your food has on you and your environment. In the fall, when the next Meatless Monday is scheduled, support the environment, animal rights, and a healthy lifestyle by buying school lunch. You can have your barbecue sauce on the side.

We will continue this initiative next year, and hope to 1. reify the event to become a monthly or weekly occurrence at the school, 2. host more activities that engage students in learning about the benefits of vegetarianism through Outreach-sponsored movie screenings, debates, etc., and 3. incorporate vegetarianism and its effects on climate change into our school's academic curriculum.

#reflection