10 August 2026

I presented a middle school science project on the greenhouse gas effect in 1982. That year, Exxon confirmed global warming consensus with in-house climate models (did I have insider knowledge?).

I wish I had kept (or could find a picture of) that project, which my father, a Grumman engineer, helped a lot with (who am I kidding? he built it…but I did all the research myself!). It looked kind of like the sketch I've drawn here.

My point is…we were already talking about climate change - or global warming - 40+ years ago, yet here we are. In a world of scientific icebergs (not literal icebergs, because those are melting), we are the Titanic - very slow to change direction, sometimes at great risk to our own wellbeing.

Which brings me to Meatless Monday (again!).

Normally, I would not embrace something that indicates scarcity or has the word “less” in it, but I think that Meatless Monday has, at its core, a positive message (replace meat with other nutritious and delicious foods).

The Meatless Monday campaign was created in 2003 by advertising executive and public health advocate Sid Lerner, with scientific and technical support from the Center for a Livable Future of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. But it was inspired by meat reduction efforts during World Wars I and II, considered a patriotic duty (save it for the troops). Over the next hundred years, the “meat” part of this concept ranged from beef, pork and lamb to include chicken and, later, fish.

Interestingly, this WWI poster specifically points out that fish is fine to eat, because fish are not consuming food that could be used by humans (today, my fish consumption are to limit, due to other factors). If the 1917 US Food Administration knew how much of our food is going toward livestock today (two thirds of all agricultural land), they’d be either perplexed or mortified.

In 2002, the USDA and Surgeon General were saying that Americans were consuming 15% too much cholesterol and saturated fat, the result of a meat-heavy diet. Lerner (who, in addition to being advocate for public health and environmental action, had just been put on statins for his high cholesterol) decided that a 15% reduction could be simplified as cutting out meat for one day per week, so…Meatless Mondays was [re]born (it was Tuesday during WWI, but the alliteration was adopted during WWII).

Twenty three years later, Meatless Mondays is a worldwide campaign. In their latest survey, 65% of respondents said they plan to try more meatless meals. Of those influenced by Meatless Monday, 40 percent indicated they eat more fruits and vegetables. A quarter said they would be persuaded to reduce their meat consumption if their friends and family also participated in reducing their meat consumption.

So…let’s. all. just. do. it!

You don’t have to choose a specific day of the week (although, personally I think trying something new on Monday gets the week off to a delicious and healthy start). Just make use of all the resources out there (including me - send me a note, ask me questions, share your ideas!) and work some meatless meals into your week.

You may find local restaurants with meatless options (if you don’t, speak up and encourage your favorite proprietors to add them to the menu). I find not a lot of options near me, but luckily I enjoy cooking. This week, I made a lentil moussaka (roughly based on this one from Nora cooks) and homemade seitan “beef” with broccoli, but it could be simple - black bean tacos, tofu scramble, a peanut butter and sliced apple sandwich.

It’s been more than two decades since the start of Meatless Mondays. Poor diet is the number one cause of death in the US (despite what influencers would have you believe, scientific consensus remains firmly in the recommendation of a plant predominant diet). And still, 90% of Americans are not meeting vegetable intake recommendations. We’ve had plenty of time to right the ship, and the answer is not to melt those icebergs in our way.

Change begins with small, meaningful, consistent actions. Maybe eating beans will not solve our chronic disease crisis, reverse climate change, or eliminate factory farms (at least not immediately), but it certainly couldn’t hurt (health-related restrictions aside) and has a great chance of improving our trajectory. Happy Meatless Monday.