22nd April 2025 Bulletin Eco-Corner

Avid fans of Eco Corner (i.e. all of you) will recall that Eco-Judaism is pushing a One Small Step initiative.  This highlights the way that small changes can span the otherwise apparently unbridgeable gap between individual goodwill and global challenge. One of the Small Steps mentioned is Meat-Free Monday.
 
Did you know that during World Wars I and II, the US introduced 'Meatless Tuesday' and 'Wheatless Wednesday' to help reduce consumption of key foodstuffs and assist the war effort? Today it seems as though we are in a war to combat the climate emergency.  This is why Meat-Free Monday was introduced back in 2003, to try to limit the deleterious effects of meat consumption and the unsustainable livestock agriculture that it drives.
 
The Meat-Free Monday website has plenty of alarming statistics.  For instance, did you know that it can take 30 bathtubs of water to produce just one beefburger; that an area of rainforest the size of a hundred football pitches is cut down every hour to create room for grazing cattle; or that almost a third of all land on Earth is used for livestock production? It may seem like cutting out meat for just one day a week won't make any difference, but the MFM people provide a handy 'impact calculator' you can use to show exactly how much it can help to make One Small Step.  And if you are still lacking motivation, listen to Paul McCartney: “A lot of people go to the gym on a Monday after a big weekend. With Meat-Free Monday, it’s a bit like going to the gym, but with the added advantage of protecting the planet.”