Scrapping Meat Free Mondays is a no-brainer

There’s been uproar this week because two Sabbatical Officers have submitted a motion to UCLU which seeks to repeal Meat Free Mondays – an initiative started last year to try and raise awareness for the environmental impact of meat production.

As far as I’m concerned, a vote in favour of the motion is an absolute no-brainer.

Meat Free Mondays was a noble cause; a valiant but onerous attempt to raise awareness for an obviously concerning issue. However, Meat Free Mondays has failed: As explained in the motion, meat consumption hasn’t gone down – sales have. And whilst the Union struggles to fund our sporting exploits and our dramatic escapades, Sainsbury’s Local taunts us with their increasing profit margins and ever-growing curry sales. Meat Free Mondays has done little but fund yet more corporate, capitalist corporations: A Student Union nightmare.

But if that isn’t enough to persuade you, then consider the arguments from a basic perspective of human autonomy. In no other capacity would it be acceptable to have someone force our diet upon us. I don’t wish to be hyperbolic but we live in London, not Saudi Arabia, and should have dietary choice.

Yes, there are a number of students passionately committed to the Meat Free Monday cause, but there are also a number of Jewish Students at UCL, and I don’t see Kosher Thursdays coming any time soon. There’s absolutely no excuse for dictating what students can and can’t eat, and it’s clear from the 13.5 per cent drop in Monday sales that students feel the same.

The rugby player coming out of the gym who wants their protein, the mid-lecture snacker who wants his steak and bacon crisps, the early-riser who wants her bacon sandwich and coffee before an exhausting day of lectures, all of these people are looking elsewhere for their fix, and it’s us who are going to pay for that.

I’m all for making a political statement but don’t start crying when your Snakebites cost more in Phineas.

Nothing about the food industry is sustainable, we know that and we know there’s an issue. Meat Free Mondays was a movement with noble goals and I’m glad we gave it a go, but the means failed and we need to look elsewhere to fix things rather than feign success at the expense of real change. The motion endorses continued investigation in sustainability and promoting environmental benefits, but they’re right to suggest we need new ways of doing it.

Sorry Meat Free Mondays, I promise to recycle the packaging.