Every week join sustainability mascot Sqwatch as he introduces a new tip of how to live green.
Simple actions can add up. For instance, going meet free for an entire day each week not only reduces the number of calories you consume, but also your carbon footprint.
Why Meatless Monday? It’s the beginning of the week and the day people are getting back into the swing of things. Over the weekend, we all tend to relax and eat a bit more junk food than we should. By the time Monday rolls around, we can replace our unhealthy habits with positive ones and incorporate different vegetarian dishes in our diet. A Meatless Monday serves as a reminder to renew healthy habits for the week. Not to mention, going meatless once a week has a lot of environmental benefits:
- Reduces your carbon footprint: The meat industry generates about 20 percent of greenhouse gases. Replacing meat with a healthier alternative minimizes your carbon footprint.
- Conserves water: Raising livestock takes more water than growing vegetable and grains. On average, about 2,200 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef, whereas only 10 percent of that amount is needed to produce one pound of soy tofu.
- Reduces fossil fuel consumption: On average, the amount of fossil fuels going into producing meat is 18 times more than the amount of fossil fuel energy needed to produce plant-based protein. It also takes a lot of fossil fuels and oil and gas to cut, process, refrigerate and transport meat.
So, what are you waiting for? Join the Meatless Monday movement (over 36 countries are already part of it).
Fun fact: To aid with the war effort in WWI, the U.S Food Administration encouraged families to reduce meat consumption. The government even introduced “Meatless Monday” and Wheatless Wednesday, and over 13 million families signed a pledge to observe the national conservation days. The government also initiated the slogan, “Food Will Win the War,” to boost moral and optimism in America. The campaign returned during WWII.
The UW Sustainability mascot, Sqwatch, has a love of the environment so deep his heart is green (and he's clearly got a passion for purple and gold). As a Sasquatch, Sqwatch is well versed in leaving no trace and making sure his impact on the environment is minimal. Even a bigfoot can have a small environmental footprint, and Sqwatch is here to help spread the knowledge to the UW community. We'll be letting you in on some of Sqwatch's Secrets every week, providing easy tips to reduce your impact and leave a lighter footprint.