Written by Carolyn Fairbanks. Digital Media by Jessica Sturgeon.
Greenville is going meatless on Mondays…well, not completely. The DC is participating in Meatless Mondays, a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health (http://www.meatlessmonday.com/about/).
The main line is the only DC line that will be meatless, but every other line will still have meat, except for the Fresh Vegetable Stir Fry Line that will occasionally serve Tofu on Mondays. Libby Zbinden, General Manager of Sodexo, says she is “not trying to encourage anyone to stop eating meat, but is giving them new and different meat-free options to try.” The new initiative is not meant only for vegetarians.
The Meatless Monday website is full of meatless recipes and information on how schools and other organizations can be part of the movement. Their goal is “to help you reduce your meat consumption by 15% in order to improve your personal health and the health of the planet.” That is only one of the hopes Sodexo has for Greenville students. Zbinden agrees and says, “going meatless helps to improve a person’s health and the health of the planet.” They chose Monday to do this project because it’s the start of the week, giving people incentives to start fresh.
There has been a mixed reaction from students on Meatless Mondays, which was a surprise to Zbinden. “I really thought that the majority of students would love the idea because they are so up on current trends and diet options,” she explained. According to MeatlessMonday.com, “by cutting out meat once a week, we can improve our health, reduce our carbon footprint, and lead the world in the race to reduce climate change.” The challenge is simple and effective, but it can make a huge difference if we look at it as an opportunity instead of a sacrifice.
