Why Meat-Free Mondays are the best thing you’ve ever hated

Meat-Free Mondays was the product of an idea: to unshackle UCL from its polluting past and downsize its carbon footprint.  Following a series of passionate hook-ups with other tree-huggers, Meat Free Mondays was born, kicking and screaming to tell you why cutting back on bacon-butties gives you major planet-hugging points.

Ever since then, we at Meat Free Mondays HQ have been subjected to an array of insults from aggrieved carnibores. My personal favourites include ‘Vegetarian Fascist’, ‘Carrot-Fucker’ and ‘The Dark Side of the Force’; cutting edge material.

So you like meat, but isn’t eating it three times a day, seven days a week just a tad excessive? Given the WHO’s warnings about all the dodgy health problems caused by too much bacon, sausage and ham, your Mediterranean Vegetable melt is a stress-free, tasty way of cramming more nutrition into your flesh-heavy diet.

Feeling so good about myself rn

Although UCL might be a carbon dioxide-loving monster that loves to pummel away at all things green and good, its students don’t have to be. We’re living in one of the most polluted cities in Europe – but, simply by going veggie one lunchtime a week, we can fight back against the fumes.

Knowing that UCL management vigorously invest millions into fossil fuels as much as they unrelentingly rip off students’ rents, isn’t Meat Free Mondays that one little spark of hope – an environmentalist campaign that actually worked? A movement that did something tangible to help make UCL’s moral chart seem a little less shit.

In 20 years our alumni selves will be able to look back at this moment with pride – giving up meat for one lunchtime a week will have significantly cut the CO2 emissions from UCLU’s catering. Maybe you’ll miss your BLT, but the feel-good factor gained from your sacrifice will at least help cure regrets about who you vommed on in Fabric over the weekend.

The best thing since Leo won his Oscar

Change is hard: I get it. But when meat-production accounts for 14.5% of global greenhouse gases and scientists everywhere are telling us to drastically cut emissions, it’s time to take our heads out of the lazy-sand and do something.

And Meat Free Mondays is literally the easiest thing  you can partake in to give yourself some of those selfless planet-loving points. It’s way easier than remembering to turn off the lights when you leave a room. MFM involves zero effort: you just turn up, eat your sandwich, and go. Guilty feelings about probably thinking you should do something nice for the planet – sorted. It’s that simple.

So redirect your protesting energies, blow your snotty nose and wipe away those ugly tears, empowered with the knowledge that Meat Free Mondays makes you so much more beautiful on the inside.