Sarah Gray, Director of Marianist Social Justice Collaborative (MSJC) sends us this update.
Want to have an impact on climate change? Here is an easy way to make a big difference. Eat less meat! This Lent, the Integral Ecology team of the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative initiated a way to address climate change in our Marianist Family network of communities and institutions. We invite you and the entire Marianist Family to commit to not eating meat one day a week.
All food production requires fertilizers, land, machinery, and transportation, but meat demands more of these resources than crops. In addition, cows and sheep directly release methane, a greenhouse gas, as they digest their food. Over half of the CO2 emissions from the average American diet result from eating meat. It can be estimated that going meatless one day a week for a year by 1000 Marianists would save about 350,000 miles of driving! Wow!
In launching the Laudato Si’ Action Platform in 2021, Pope Francis said: “I therefore renew my appeal: let us take care of our mother Earth... let us overcome the temptation of selfishness that makes us predators of resources, let us cultivate respect for the gifts of the Earth and creation, let us inaugurate a lifestyle and a society that is finally eco-sustainable.”
Our Marianist Family Encounters Project Goals invite all of us to do something! Marianist Meatless Mondays responds to those appeals, combining care for the Earth with a simple, sustainable lifestyle and concern for others.
Convinced? Sign up here today.
You can commit to the rest of Lent, six months or a year, as this will be a continued project with support from MSJC’s Integral Ecology Team. To help you get started and keep going, we post delicious meatless recipes each week in the MSJC Lenten calendar. After that, new recipes will appear on the MSJC website, and watch for periodic articles in Justice Jottings. If you don’t get Justice Jottings, sign up here.
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