Mr. Cole endorses Meatless Monday and its ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  We agree that supporting Meatless Monday is one approach to improving environmental health.  However, we’d like to offer further perspective to help people more fully understand the initiative and its goals.

Meatless Monday was never intended to remove meat from any menu.

The goals of the campaign are to increase awareness about our food, encourage behaviors to support a healthier diet and expand the healthy options that are available.  As Mr. Cole appropriately points out, there are beneficial implications for environmental health but it also contributes to good personal health.

Research points to the environmental benefits of reducing meat consumption from reducing the strain on water and fossil fuel resources to reducing greenhouse gas emission.  Scientific evidence alone is rarely sufficient to drive long-term behavior change.

Removing choices in the dining center may seem like a logical solution to change students’ eating behaviors, but isn’t an effective long-term solution.  For example, the Illinois Public Health Institute’s Health Impact Assessment found that restricting sugary-sweetened beverages from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program did not result in decreased consumption of sugary drinks among SNAP participants.  Instead, an increase in out-of-pocket spending on sugary beverages among SNAP participants occurred.  The lesson from this policy emphasizes the difficulty of changing individuals’ behaviors, suggesting that education and expanding awareness are necessary to influence behavior.  Mr. Cole points out, “We need not only to be informed but also must want to be informed” and we could not agree more.

Meatless Monday at SU is a collaboration between Healthy Monday Syracuse and SU Food Services.  Food Services’ offers many healthy dining options and supports opportunities to educate students about the benefits of plant-based diets.  A partnership with Orange Wrap, encourages students dining on campus to sample healthy, meatless options and engage with their peers in a discussion about the benefits of healthy eating.

Expanding choice and providing education are a few ways to shape the campus environment to influence a culture of wellness.  The reality is, we are surrounded by food and must make choices daily about what we put into our bodies.  Simply taking meat out of the dining centers isn’t sufficient to encourage sustainable behavior change.  A multi-pronged approach, including education and creating a healthy environment is what will drive the change to improve our health, and the health of the planet.

Leah Moser, MPH, CHES, Program Coordinator
Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion
Maxwell School

 

 

 

Published on September 29, 2014 at 12:31 am