The University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) should stop serving meat at all of its events. The UTSU endorses the idea of sustainable food practices and social justice, but it contradicts those commitments by serving hamburgers to students.
In 2006, the United Nations published a report detailing the environmental costs of eating meat. Eighteen per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from industrial livestock production — more than the entire transportation sector. Factory farming is also responsible for more water waste and water pollution than any other industry. Bottled water is a drop in the bucket by comparison.
This is also a social justice issue of the first order. According to the World Health Organization, millions of people are already feeling the disastrous effects of global warming. That number will undoubtedly increase. Factory farms are also breeding grounds for potentially fatal mutations of the influenza virus. For these reasons, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has advocated reducing meat consumption in industrialized nations.
There is also the health risk to students: the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Harvard School for Public Health have issued reports that link red meat consumption to increased risks of cancer and heart disease. Grilling meat increases the risk of cancer even more, and hot dogs contain potentially carcinogenic sodium nitrates.
There are many inexpensive, healthy, and plant-based alternatives to meat. For example, the UTSU could be serving black bean burgers at barbeques.
For the last six years, I have spoken with UTSU officials about this issue. My concerns were, for the most part, met with polite evasions. On one occasion there was a sincere person on the inside who wanted to change things, but they proved unable to obtain sufficient action.
The UTSU Sustainability Commission did hold a single vegan barbeque in 2012. While laudable, the barbeque does not negate the fact that the union continues to serve meat throughout the summer and during frosh week. I do not detect ill will in any of this, just a lack of serious concern for the issue.
The UTSU currently provides vegan options at events, but this is hardly progressive. Even McDonald’s now has a vegetarian options. The UTSU also endorses Meatless Mondays, but how sincere is this if no action is taken other than one vegan barbeque per year?
Some argue that it is a matter of freedom of choice, but is that really a good argument when food choices have such dire public consequences? The desire for a certain taste is trivial when weighed against the suffering of human victims of climate change, not to mention the potential suffering of animals in factory farms.
I grant that the UTSU is not in a position to force clubs to eliminate meat consumption if the clubs purchase the meat directly. However, the UTSU could demonstrate greater leadership on this issue by changing internal practices, eliminating meat from summer barbeques, refusing to supply clubs with meat, and making efforts to educate campus groups and the student body on the merits of whole-food and plant-based diets.
So why is the UTSU so committed to serving meat? Politicians frequently serve hot dogs to win votes. Perhaps the UTSU feels it would lose popularity and votes, but votes should not be put ahead of social justice. Doing the right thing is more important than political expediency.
There is growing awareness within our society that the best choice, for many reasons, is a whole-food and plant-based diet. I am hoping that this opinion piece will compel the UTSU to do the right thing by abolishing animal products from all of its events and finally demonstrating some leadership on this issue.
Paul York is a PhD candidate at U of T studying climate ethics.
