Meatless Monday

Okay, so I know it's Tuesday, but I never got around to posting this yesterday. Here's my linguine in cream sauce with asparagus for Meatless Monday --->

A few months ago I read an article about Baltimore area schools going meatless on Mondays. I thought it was such a fantastic idea that we adopted the concept at home and over on the Living Simple & Green board at iVillage as well. Then I found out that Rebecca (aka Greeen Sheeep) with whom I blog over at the Green Phone Booth has a Meatless Monday Flickr pool.

Since my resolution this year is to get serious about greening our food, I thought this would be a great challenge for our family. It's small enough that everyone can agree to play along, yet reducing meat consumption by one day per week can still make a big impact.

Did you know that, on average, Americans eat about 8 oz of meat each day, which is twice the global average?

I'm happy to say that I definitely don't eat that much! In fact, as I start to become more conscientious about what I'm eating, I've found that I don't even eat meat as much as I thought I did.

For breakfast I usually have a small meal of yogurt with granola, some bread, or oatmeal. Lunch varies - if I'm having left overs it may include meat, but if I'm making something fresh I often have salad, or cheese, crackers and fruit. Dinnertime is a little different since I have to please everyone (and usually fail in that regard). We typically have meat for dinner 4-5 nights per week. I'd love to get that down to 3, but that would mean tying down my husband and forcing vegetables down his throat. A girl can only eat so much pasta!

I think everyone who reads along here is well aware of the environmental impact of meat by now but, in case you're wondering, here are just a few of the issues:
"The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has estimated that meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions. These are generated during the production of animal feeds, for example, while ruminants, particularly cows, emit methane, which is 23 times more effective as a global warming agent than carbon dioxide. The agency has also warned that meat consumption is set to double by the middle of the century." Guardian.co.uk

"Global demand for meat has multiplied in recent years, encouraged by growing affluence and nourished by the proliferation of huge, confined animal feeding operations. These assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains, a dependency that has led to the destruction of vast swaths of the world’s tropical rain forests." -NY Times

In the same NYTimes article, two geophysicists at the University of Chicago calculated that, "if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent, it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan — a Camry, say — to the ultra-efficient Prius."

If you haven't joined the Meatless Monday movement, jump on board. I'll be posting about my MM adventures here and on Twitter. You can follow me on twitter by going to http://twitter.com/cmkellie. Each Monday look for the #meatlessmonday tag for great tips and ideas from fellow MM participants.