New dining program offers meatless options, raises sustainable awareness

Grand Valley is now offering meatless options on Mondays at Campus Dining restaurants. The program, “Meatless Mondays,” aims to raise awareness about environmental and health value in consuming less meat, and allows students more sustainable options when purchasing food on campus.

This is the second time Grand Valley’s Campus Dining and the Humane Society of Grand Valley (HSGV) has worked together on an initiative. Last year, the groups worked to make Grand Valley Michigan’s first university to exclusively serve cage-free eggs.

Meatless Mondays take place at numerous universities and colleges across the nation. “By joining the movement, Grand Valley can further improve the level of sustainability on campus,” said Deb Rambadt, marketing manager of Campus Dining at Grand Valley.

HSGV President Lena Spadacene said there are many environmental benefits linked to eating less meat, including reducing carbon footprints, minimizing water usage, reducing fuel dependence, and curbing health care dependency. “According to a report by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the animal agriculture sector emits 18 percent of global, human-induced greenhouse gas emissions; that’s more than planes, trains, boats and automobiles combined,” Spadacene said.

Spadacene also said that more than half of undergraduate students said they feel their diet has gone downhill since they started college and Meatless Mondays is attempting to address that issue. The program is also intended to raise awareness about the cruel treatment of animals in the meat industry.

Learn more about Meatless Mondays at www.meatlessmondays.org.