TO THE EDITOR:
The Daily Tar Heel published an article last semester about Meatless Mondays, an international campaign that had arrived on campus. Meat“less” Mondays was approved; vegetarian entrees are now featured at the World’s Fare section of the dining halls every Monday.
Don’t worry omnivores — meat won’t be disappearing from the dining halls anytime soon. But before you write off going meatless on Monday, please consider the facts.
A recent Harvard study found that eating red meat is associated with an increased risk of death from cancer and heart disease. People on low-meat or vegetarian diets weigh less, have lower BMIs and are less likely to suffer from diet-related diseases like diabetes.
The meat industry also poses significant environmental problems. Livestock production emits more climate change-causing greenhouse gasses than all planes, cars, trains and other transportation combined. And according to the EPA, runoff from factory farms pollutes waterways more than all other industrial sources put together.
Meatpacking industry jobs are by far the most dangerous in America. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, nearly a third of slaughterhouse workers suffer from work-related illness or injury every year.
There are no federal laws protecting pigs, cows, turkeys, sheep or goats from abuse or neglect inside factory farms. Every year millions of farm animals are scalded, skinned and dismembered alive.
By eliminating meat from your diet just once a week, you can be part of a growing movement of students working to improve the meat industry’s many issues. Please consider going meatless on Mondays, for your health, the environment, people and animals.
Jamie Berger ’13
Food studies and French
Fair, Local, Organic Food
