Why Meat Free Monday Might Be The Best Way For Us To Save The Planet

16 Aug 2021, by Lydia Kah-Pavlou, min. read

If you want to do your bit to help the environment, meat-free Monday is a good place to start.

What is meat-free Monday?

If you struggle with the idea of turning fully vegan or vegetarian, the idea of meat-free Monday means cutting out meat for just one day a week. There’s plenty of research to suggest that cutting down on your meat intake can significantly benefit the environment and help combat climate change, and by doing it one day a week you can do your bit to help.

The idea of choosing Monday is because it’s the start of the week and that way you can get it out of the way and start your week off with a challenge. There’s also plenty of health benefits to cutting down on meat too, so taking the plunge to have a meat-free day one day per week is great for yourself too.

How does meat-free Monday help the environment?

Research from the meatless Monday campaign shows that:

Livestock production creates more greenhouse gases than the entire transport sector (every car, truck, plan and bus in the world)
Livestock production uses 75% of the earth’s agricultural land
Producing one quarter pounder beef burger uses enough energy to power an iPhone for 6 months
Producing one quarter pounder beef burger uses 425 gallons of water, enough to fill 10 bathtubs
Livestock production is the biggest human factor in species decline and has lead to over 60% of species population since 1970

What are the health benefits?

While the idea of ditching meat to save the environment is super important, due to the significant impact it has on the planet it can also help you too. Reducing your meat intake can decrease the risk of cancer, heart disease, strokes, heart failure and lower your cholesterol.

By eating less meat, you’ll also be substituting this with alternatives that are high in fibre and have greater nutritional value, and increasing your fruit and vegetable intake too.

So, if you think you can rise to the challenge, try a meat-free day once a week to help contribute to saving the planet.