Feb 1- Tofu teriyaki rice bowls with vegetable stir fry and spicy yogurt
This assignment was given to our class in order to help us understand that even small individual activities, choices and behaviours can and do make a huge difference. It is important to understand that in order for change to occur the first step has to be taken, which I am not sure I would have taken if I wasn’t in this class and given this assignment. With that being said I chose for me and my family of five to do meatless Monday’s. No one was extremely against the idea but their responses were all similar, expressing their concern that if our meals don’t include meat how will we create a well-balanced meal and what protein will we use. So the biggest challenge so far has been to make a meal that is fulfilling enough to make everyone happy. With that being said tofu has been our go-to protein for sure, solely based on convenience which is similar to meat (also tofu is yummy).
Feb 8- Tofu and cauliflower tacos with sauteed vegetables
As a family we have been successful with this behaviour change so far, but it has been the slightest bit challenging and it is necessary to make a conscious effort to be meatless. I think it is very manageable for more people to dedicate certain days to being completely meatless, although in general I do find that the convenience of meat is difficult to avoid completely and I think that is one issue many others face as well. One thing that we have been doing is planning the meal ahead of time in order to make sure we have all the ingredients in the kitchen ready for Monday nights. We are all quite busy throughout the week so one challenge we have is not having a lot of ingredients in the kitchen, in this case we generally end up making whatever we can find in the pantry that night. So having a plan in regards to meals beforehand has been something that has helped us overcome that obstacle. We haven’t had too many issues in terms of motivation to follow through with this task each Monday, but since there is five people involved it’s easier to stay motivated. As Richard Stock explained there is a need for reinforcers to keep motivated to continue an action, for this specific behaviour the reinforcer is my family, if one person doesn’t want to take part for some reason the other four people keep them motivated.
Feb 15- Vegetarian lasagna and Caesar salad
Since this activity is only done one day each week it hasn’t been super difficult to not include meat in our meals. Meatless Monday in my house has actually turned into a fun activity that everyone in the family has become involved in. We all discuss and try to think of something more creative to eat that does not include meat. As a family who for the most part survives on very plain dinners (and almost always meat) in order to get nutrients and protein, it has been fun to find meals to cook that actually taste good each week while making positive choices for the planet. As Richard Stock said in his presentation, although many people feel the need to ignore the issue of climate change and just hope that the issue will be resolved by someone else, it is so important that our behavioural changes begin to happen now. He says that “the changes we do promote will help create a behavioural wedge that gives society time to implement the necessary technological fixes and policy changes” (Richard Stock). In other words these small changes are vital to surviving in the future.
Feb 22- Mediterranean flatbread with olives, goat cheese, red onion, spinach, and sundried tomato
Since we have made it more of a fun activity rather than a dreaded commitment each week I truly believe it is something that will be continued each Monday. If I were to promote meatless days such as this in the future I think I would take a similar route, making it seem like fun choices with others in your household rather than something that people feel forced to do. As Per Espen Stoknes discussed in his Ted Talk, this would fall under the “social” category of the 5 S’s; making it a fun activity that includes others which he described as peer to peer motivation. According to “climategen.org” the meat industry is responsible for more than 7% of greenhouse gas emissions and that by choosing to eat a vegetarian diet for one day you cut 7.5 pounds of C02 in regards to your carbon footprint. My family of 5 all chose to partake in this activity for the Mondays of February so our combined carbon footprint cut is 150 pounds of C02. To top it off, according to “mondaycampaigns.org” if you choose to skip even just one serving of beef each Monday for a year, it is the equivalent to saving driving 348 miles in a car. Numbers such as these are extremely motivating and it makes me want to continue this behaviour. To put this behaviour into numerical statistics it helps to better express the impact that meatless Monday’s can have even though it is just one day out of each week. In the future I hope to move to more meatless days each week, but I think it is a good start to go with one day a week if you generally eat a lot of meat throughout the week.