Meat Free Monday

 

15th Feb : Meat Free Monday

 

Meet Free Monday! (Lettuce Turnip the Beet)

Ecclesiastes 3:19 “for the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same: as one dies, so ides the other. They all have the same breath and human have no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity.

Today’s  Action:

Adopt a Meat Free Monday: Challenge yourself this Lent to reduce your meat consumption, starting with a meat free Monday.

Why is it important to reduce our meat consumption?

Good for the Globe!

The livestock industry is damaging to the planet, contributing hugely to deforestation, reduction of biodiversity, pollution and water degradation.  A report entitled “Livestock’s Long Shadow”, issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, finds that the “livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributions to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global … Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale … The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency.”  The livestock sector is responsible for a higher share of CO2 emissions  than transport.  A reduction in our meat eating can help reduce our impact on the the globe

 

Help end world hunger

Every day forty thousand children on this planet needlessly starve to death. Crops that could be used to feed the hungry are instead being used to fatten animals raised for food. If everyone on Earth received 25 percent of his or her calories from animal products, only 3.2 billion people could be nourished. If everyone ate a vegetarian diet, there would be more than enough food to nourish the world’s entire population of more than 6.3 billion people. ⁹

Compassion for animals

Animals on today’s factory farms have no legal protection from cruelty that would be illegal if it were inflicted on dogs or cats. Yet farmed animals are no less intelligent or capable of feeling pain than are the dogs and cats we cherish as companions. A vegetarian lifestyle awakens our spirit of compassion and guides us towards a kinder, gentler society in which we exercise a moral choice to protect animals—not exploit them.

 

Helps with your health

Vegetarian diets are naturally lower in saturated fat, and cholesterol, and higher in plant nutrients than most meat-based diets. Vegetarians have been shown to have a 24% lower risk of dying of heart disease than non-vegetarians.¹ High consumption of red meat may increases the risk of heart disease. The World Health Organisation has linked consumption of red meat to cancer.

Prayer

Almighty and Merciful Father, whose care and loving kindness are over all thy creation, breathe forth into us thy spirit of compassion and tenderness towards all creatures thou hast made and in whom thou are the indwelling life .Teach us , O Lord to look upon our younger brethren as a trust from thee, that the day may be hastened when men shall neither hurt nor destroy in all they holy mountain: through Jesus Christ our Lord

(Liturgy of the Liberal Catholic Church)