Beginning this Friday, Oct. 23, Usdan is instituting “Low Carbon Fridays,” which will eliminate red meat from lunch and dinner. The Environmental Organizer’s Network (EON) is partnering with Bon Appétit, the campus food service provider, to reduce the dining service’s carbon footprint.

According to World Watch Report 179, livestock-related emissions of carbon and methane account for an estimated 14.5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. It takes 60 gallons of water to grow a pound of wheat, whereas it takes 2,500 to 6,000 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, according to an article in the American Chronicle. Cutting back on livestock consumption is one way to reduce worldwide carbon and methane emissions caused by the raising and production of livestock.

“We want people to start thinking twice when they’re grabbing their food,” said Anne Rosenthal ’10, Co-Coordinator of EON. “People have so many choices and I think diet just comes down to habit. We want people to be conscious that there’s some link between eating habits and the environment.”

EON approached Bon Appétit early this year with the idea for Low Carbon Fridays and the company was receptive to the idea. Bon Appetit has been open to EON’s influence in the past; when EON requested that lunch trays be removed from the dining facilities last year, Bon Appétit agreed in an effort to help reduce food waste.

“All Bon Appétit accounts, through menu engineering, reducing waste, composting, and going tray-less, are striving to reduce the carbon footprint in our mission to provide food services for a sustainable future,” wrote Michael Strumpf, Bon Appétit Resident District Manager, in an e-mail to The Argus.

Bon Appétit will be posting promotional material in Usdan to notify students of the Friday change and to clarify the benefits of removing red meat.

“This is going to be coupled with an educational campaign,” Rosenthal said. “Doing it under the radar was kind of appealing, in that ideally no one would notice, but we really want this to have an impact long-term on the way people think about their food.”