This resource provides information and guidance for students to start a Meatless Mondays program at their school.
Students will learn about the impacts of meat production, find out about the benefits of including more plants in their diet, and engage with their peers to take actionable steps to reduce their carbon and water footprints.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This resource provides easy-to-follow instructions and links to additional information with recipes and ideas for the program.
It provides students an opportunity to do something that will have an immediate effect on carbon emissions.
This activity can be completed by individual students, as a class, or in groups.
Cross-curricular connections to art, language arts, and math could be included with posters, presentations, or announcements about the project and/or to calculate the reduction in carbon emissions achieved.
This project may be limited to encouraging students to choose vegetarian options on Mondays vs. having only meatless choices available in the cafeteria, depending on the school.
Scientist Notes
Meat consumption accounts for about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The resource is suitable to guide students to take action by reducing meat consumption. Hence, it is recommended.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 3: Developing Claims and Using Evidence
D3.3.6-8 Identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources to support claims, noting evidentiary limitations.
D3.3.3-5 Identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources in response to compelling questions.
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.7.3-5 Explain different strategies and approaches students and others could take in working alone and together to address local, regional, and global problems, and predict possible results of their actions.
