The Meatless Monday campaign, a national initiative started by the Hopkins School of Public Health in 2003, began at the Homewood campus on November 1st.
Students entering Nolan’s, Levering Food Court, or the Fresh Food Café were greeted by signs and volunteers promoting a vegetarian diet, if only for one day out of the week.
The initiative was originally created by the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future seven years ago. Since then, the campaign has spread internationally.
“We currently have partnerships with 45 college campuses, five public school districts and organizations within 10 different countries worldwide,” president of the Monday Campaigns Peggy Neu said.
Neu’s organization is the umbrella organization for Meatless Monday. “It has really taken off in an extraordinary way over the past few years,” she said.
The initiative uses a number of engagement and informational strategies to encourage students to make vegetarian-minded decisions on Mondays. Students in the school’s dining halls are offered more vegetarian options coupled with an educational campaign to highlight the numerous health and environmental consequences of a lower-meat diet.
“We’re planning to evaluate the effectiveness of the program after a month or so and make changes based on feedback and experience,” Director of Dining Programs Dave Furhman said. Furhman was instrumental in bringing the campaign to the Homewood campus.
Posters hung on the walls encouraging patrons to change their eating habits. “Don’t be a chicken! It’s Meatless Monday!” a cartoon chicken on one of the posters said.
“It’s a simple, easy, and very clear way to make a difference,” Joanna Calabrese, an Associate in the Johns Hopkins Office of Sustainability, said.
“It’s the kind of movement that all students can become engaged with.”
Many students are confident the campaign will make a difference.
“I saw the signs in the dining hall and definitely considered it. Having the information right there is really helpful. For those who walk into the dining halls unsure of what to eat, the Meatless Monday reminders can be very effective,” sophomore Rachel Sarcevic-Tesanovic said.
Why Mondays? “It’s the beginning of the week, and some research has suggested that Monday is the day people are more likely to set goals for themselves,” Dr. Robert Lawrence said. Lawrence is the Director of the School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future, the organization behind the campaign.
The campaign only asks for people to try to change their diet one day a week. “The US Surgeon had asked that people reduce their saturated fat intake by 15 percent [back in 2000],” Lawrence said.
“That is a bit complicated to ask people to consider [changing their diet] over the course of 21 meals a week, but what if we asked them to eliminate meat one day a week? It turns out to be the same thing.”
There are many health reasons for reducing the meat content of one’s diet.
“Research has shown that higher meat consumption leads to shorter life expectancy and higher instances of cardiovascular disease,” Lawrence said.
Many people are also concerned with the environmental effects of high meat consumption.
“A recent UN report states that nearly 18 percent of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere originate from meat animals,” Lawrence said. “I personally think both messages are really important. The health message is powerful and very appealing but with climate change being so important right now, it provides an incentive for many more to get involved.“
However, Meatless Monday does not eliminate the meat options from the menu, it simply highlights the vegetarian alternatives. Some have acknowledged that for this reason, it will be difficult to convince people to make real changes to their diets.
“It really doesn’t affect me. I will most likely continue to eat meat,” sophomore Chi Kim said.
Junior Ryan Barrett agreed. “People eat what they want to eat. An educational campaign won’t really change anything,” he said.
Administrators are aware that any change will not be immediate. They intend to fit the program to meet the needs of students.
“Changing behavior is extraordinarily difficult. The challenge of engaging those who choose not to participate can be met through the grassroots of the movement,” Calabrese said.
“People can more easily be convinced by the behaviors of their peers.”
Raychel Santo, freshman co-founder and president of Real Food JHU, a new student-group on campus that was instrumental in bringing Meatless Mondays to Homewood, agrees that many people need to be involved in order to make the campaign a success.
“Meatless Monday will be successful as long as both students maintain the interest and demand for meatless options and the Dining Services delivers,” she said.
Students tend to agree the campaign for less meat is important, but are not sure how successful they will be in changing their diets.
“I think it is a good idea. It can certainly make a difference,” sophomore Rosa Kim, who often eats a salad at Levering Food Court for lunch, said. “Some of my friends eat meat but prefer vegetarian options, so they will be looking for programs like this.”
Marco Chiaberge, an employee at the Space Telescope Institute who regularly eats at Levering.
“It’s always good to try; who knows who may actually take advantage of such a program. It is a way to remind people to do something different, something they are not used to,” he said.
Some see the program as the first of many steps that are needed.
“People are consuming 220 pounds of meat per capita per year, and that number has been increasing,” Lawrence said.
“Eventually, I’d be happy to see Americans reduce their meat consumption by 15, 30, 40 percent.”
One of the easiest ways to encourage people to make such a switch is by providing the most delicious alternatives possible.
“The more options people have, and the more of those that they realize are meatless, the more successful Meatless Monday will be,” Santo said.
