Meat-free meals to help the environment

Since the beginning of term the school community has been enjoying a meat-free lunch once a week. This new initiative is the product of the campaign that I and others led last year alongside the Food Symposium. Largely, this was an environmental initiative as not many people know the extent of damage the livestock industry has on the environment, which according to the UN produces more greenhouse gases than the entire transport industry combined. Reducing the school’s consumption of meat has now been included in our continued drive to green Bedales. To get the project running, we had a discussion between not only students and teaching staff, but also the support staff. Support for our idea was amazingly strong. Even those who had never considered a vegetarian diet were happy to sacrifice a few meat meals per week. Last year we had one meat-free meal a week at supper, but now combined with a meat-free lunch, as a community Bedales will consume approximately 34,000 fewer meat meals per year. It just shows how effective a group of people can be when they decide to work together and change a small habit on one day of their weekly routine: the school motto in action, one might say!

By Rufus Rock, Head Boy