enVeg

By Fine Print Staff

Environmentally Conscious Vegetarians, or enVeg, is a University of Florida organization that is raising awareness about the connection between meat consumption and the impact humans have on the environment.

Although there are many reasons why students choose to become vegetarian or vegan, enVeg focuses on how our diet actually affects our planet’s health more than our own. A 2006 report by the United Nations’ Food and Agricul-ture Organization revealed that meat, egg and dairy production contribute more greenhouse gas emissions than transportation. The industry is also a main contributor to deforestation, excessive water use, pollution and waste runoff, and food scarcity. In other words, the less meat you eat, the smaller your ecological footprint will be.

EnVeg is composed of a diverse group of students, allowing us to do various outreach and educational projects. One of the most well-known projects is Meatless Mondays. Every other Monday from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Plaza of the Americas, enVeg urges students to pledge to give up meat at least one day a week to help curb climate change. We use this as an opportunity to give out free vegan treats and brochures and fact cards about eating sus-tainably. We also have outreach campaigns every semester to raise awareness. Hopefully, you stopped by our table last month for free Valentine’s Day vegan condoms!
We are even getting into classrooms, such as forestry, wildlife, sustainability and nutrition classes, to give short presentations about how vegetarianism is relevant to these fields. One of our most ambitious projects is getting a vegetarian nutrition course at UF.

An enVeg cookbook is also in the making, which will be sold or given as a reward to those who have committed to reducing their meat consumption. We fill our web site with recipes from our monthly potlucks. Other than living a sustainable lifestyle, there is another thread that holds the members of enVeg together: the love of food.

For more information on enVeg, visit our web site, enveg.org, or join our Facebook group. EnVeg meets every other Wednesday in Rinker Hall at 6:30 p.m. The next meeting will be held on March 18.