Greening NTU 2016 was a two-day event organised by Earthlink on the 17th and 18th of February to promote green living and environmentally conscious lifestyle choices. Chief among these was Green Monday, a growing movement that advocates vegetarianism and veganism, at least once a week on Mondays.
The reasons behind Green Monday are manifold. From an environmental standpoint, animal agriculture requires space, crops, water and other resources that are simply unsustainable. According to ourworld.net, over 50% of the planet s crops are currently being used to feed animals and not people. The animals that are fed these crops are certainly not able to sustain as many people as the crops themselves would sustain; an elementary understanding of food chains and the downgrading of nutritional value as you progress up the chain from plants to predators would show that. Alternatively, the mere fact that over a billion people in the world are undernourished could prove that there is a problem with the distribution of resources.
according to the National Geographic. To produce this much meat, farmers and factories can t spend much time on ensuring clean and humane treatment of animals. Many argue that humans are natural herbivores, judging by the shape of our teeth and the lack of developed incisors. I m no biologist, so I make no claims as to the validity of these statements. However, as an engineering student, one thing I do understand is efficiency. We are funnelling half our potential food sources into animal agriculture which returns a significantly less amount of food. This is inefficient and unsustainable.
Many worry that cutting out meat from diets poses a health risk to humans. After all, meat and dairy provides us with Vitamin D, B12, iron, calcium and of course, protein. However, while these may be convenient sources of these nutrients, plant foods are often much denser in these nutrients. Beans and legumes provide abundant protein; leafy greens are much richer in calcium than milk and cheese. And all the other vitamins found in animal products can be found in fruits and vegetables with just a little extra effort. One needs only turn to YouTube to find a veritable fruit farm of people advocating all manner of vegan, fruitarian, raw-till-four, fully-raw, bananas-only, potatoes-only, juice-only, high-carb-low-fat, low-carb-high-fat, high-carb-high-fat (I m still working out how this one works) diets that do not include animal products whatsoever, but still provide all the nutrients needed for a healthy lifestyle. Of course, I m not suggesting we drop everything and start shovelling down fruit; that would be, well, bananas.
out meat could even save us some money, considering meat costs a lot more than beans or vegetables. Greening NTU aimed to show students that a day of no meat could benefit human health, the environment, and animals. And who knows, one day a week might turn into two, or even three. Reducing the demand for meat even slightly may give animal agriculture industries a chance to rethink their processes and work towards a kinder, more humane and more sustainable world for animals and humans alike.