Just kidding!
Now that I have you here, (assuming you're not really angry and stopped reading) I'll get to my actual message...
I'd like to take this opportunity to make the case for Meatless Mondays. The concept behind Meatless Mondays is to simply cut out meat, especially red meat, from your diet for just one day a week. There are many great reasons to take up this practice, and here are just a few:
1. The environment- Approximately 1,850 gallons of water are needed to produce a single pound of beef, as opposed to 39 gallons needed for an equivalent pound of vegetables. 1 pound of beef produces about 66 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. This is about three times as much emitted from burning 1 gallon of gas. If every Listserve member cut out 1 pound of beef from their diets next Monday, we would save over 39 million gallons of water and almost 1.5 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.
2. Your health- Consumption of red meat is associated with increased risk of heart disease, stroke, colorectal cancer, and many other health issues that don't sound very fun.
3. Cost- Minimizing the above health risks reduces the financial burden on public healthcare spending, which is good for the fate of your tax dollars. Also, meat tends to be more expensive than a plant-based diet.
4. Ethics- According to a 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 6.6 million cows were commercially slaughtered in the U.S. That is a lot of cows. And they weren't exactly living in the best of conditions before they were systematically slaughtered either.
I'm not asking you to become a vegan or vegetarian, I'm just proposing the idea that having a little less meat can go a long way!
Finally, if anyone works in the sustainability, environmental health and policy, or renewable energy world and is looking for a passionate and competent intern this summer, hit me up!
P.S. Shoutout to my siblings who have both already won the Listserve but didn't have the guts to use my subject line idea :D
Orly Arbit
Philadelphia, PA
[email protected]