Meatless Monday - One Good Reason #1

Since I'm meatless every day, I don't think much about Meatless Mondays, but I do want to encourage anyone who still eats meat to consider going without it just one day a week... for starters! I realize a lot of people don't have the time or interest to read entire books on the subject, or even to watch some of the really enlightening films on a vegan diet's effects on our health, animal welfare, and the health of the planet herself. But for those people, maybe just one good reason, one at a time, would be enough to get some curiosity going. So today I'm starting a new "feature" here on PV, called... One Good Reason! I'll pop in with these now and then, whenever the mood strikes me, and I think most especially on Mondays. So here we go...

One Good Reason (to go vegan) #1:

"Growing meat (it’s hard to use the word “raising” when applied to animals in factory farms) uses so many resources that it’s a challenge to enumerate them all. But consider: an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation."

This is from a 2008 article in the NY Times, so it might actually be worse now... So how can we turn this into a positive? By whipping up a batch of Black Bean Burgers! I got this recipe from my son's girlfriend, and I wouldn't change much about it, except to maybe add a little extra flaxseed, and maybe some rolled oats to give them a bit more body. It's a really flexible recipe, so feel free to change the seasonings to suit your tastes. See? Meatless Mondays might be more fun than you thought!

Delicious looking photo gratefully borrowed from Eat, Live, Run, where you'll find this recipe for  Boyfriend-Approved Spicy Black Bean Burgers. Enjoy!