An Aug. 31 study conducted by the University of Cambridge has concluded that if we do not dramatically alter our world food system, greenhouse gases from food production alone will make overall GHG reduction goals for 2050 impossible. The main culprit is meat.

Syracuse University, and a long list of other places, has adopted the Meatless Monday campaign. This is positive. But nothing is stopping anyone from walking right past the colorful campaign stickers, loading up their plate with fried chicken and a rack of ribs and never stopping to think about the environmental implications of their food choices. SU needs to take Meatless Monday seriously and have a meat-free dining hall every Monday. Anything less is inadequate.

By eliminating meat from the menu one day a week, Syracuse students will actually be forced to think about this larger issue. It’s easy to just ignore the issue and to think that one person cannot make a difference. It’s thoughts like these that are detrimental to collective progress.

We need not only to be informed but also must want to be informed. For some, this light switch has already turned on but for others something like a truly meatless Monday may just do the trick.

When people think of GHG emissions people generally think of cars and energy production. However, as of 2012, our global food system accounted for roughly one-third of all GHG emission. This information was gathered by the Consultative Group on International Agriculture. This trend is on the rise.

According to the University of Cambridge study, by 2050 cropland will have expanded 42 percent and fertilizer use will have increased 45 percent over 2009 levels. Further, another tenth of the world’s tropical rainforests will be extinct. These projections have the food industry alone upping their GHG emissions by almost 80 percent, thus making worldwide GHG emission goals impossible.

The main culprit for these emissions is methane. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, livestock produce large amounts of methane during their normal digestive process. Additionally, mass storage of animal manure is a heavy methane source.

In theory Meatless Monday is a fantastic idea. In practice, it needs to be revamped. With worldwide recognition, Meatless Monday has the potential to make a significant impact on the way people see their food. For starters, universities participating in Meatless Monday can become true to its meaning and have a completely meatless Monday.

Currently, the Syracuse University Healthy Monday page explains the meatiness of Monday dining halls a result of actually staying true to the campaign. The dining halls work hard to emphasize meatless options but will not abandon the “personal choice” principles that Meatless Monday was founded upon. This is what needs to change.

Providing the chance to make choices that are smarter for the planet is not enough. As already evident, world food trends are worsening. We need an intervention. Disrupting a destructive pattern of consumption one day a week is a great place to start. It’s time for Meatless Monday to live up to its name.

Azor Cole is a junior public relations major and geography minor. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at azcole@syr.edu.

Published on September 17, 2014 at 12:06 am