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Meatless Monday Turns One By Ebob Besong '12, Staff Writer

Every Monday during lunchtime for the past year, Kent School members have forfeited their meat indulgences. A year ago, "Meatless Monday," which was spearheaded by Dining Hall Manager Darin Hudson, was met with much disdain and even student petitions for its termination.

Mr. Hudson maintained his willingness to go for it despite the heat, however, and to date the program has saved an astonishing three tons, or 6,000 pounds, of meat, says Mr. Klingebiel, Chair of the Science Department. This also means that we save millions of gallons of water and fossil fuels. Klingebiel does admit that "it's hard to get the exact numbers because instead of serving chicken for example, we serve fresh mozzarella and pesto and you need to consider what goes into making that." But it certainly is an amazing effort.

Mr. Hudson and Mr. Klingebiel were simply having a conversation when the idea suddenly came up. This was an action that Mr. Hudson had been trying to achieve for a very long time when Mr. Klingebiel jumped on board. He says that "a lot of what we do is to show people you don't have to eat meat. Americans are so tied into eating meat but most of the world is not because it is so expensive. It is no coincidence that America is one of the most obese countries in the world, plus one of the most energy-consuming countries: it all goes hand in hand."

When you look at the environmental costs of goods, particularly of beef, it is mind-boggling how many resources are required to produce it. The goal of Meatless Monday is to show our community that "you're better off getting protein from vegetable sources. We're educators – part of this is to expose people to theories and concepts which they haven't been exposed to. Meatless Monday shows you that you can be satisfied without meat."