This fall, cafeterias in New York City public schools will dish up something new: Meatless Mondays. Once a week, they’ll serve only vegetarian meals to students.
School officials say that eating less meat—and more veggies—will help kids stay healthy. Plus, a meat-heavy diet isn’t good for the planet. Raising livestock produces a lot of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide. They trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere, increasing average global temperatures.
Kaitlin Kushnir attends East Side Middle School in Manhattan. She, for one, feels good about the menu change at her school. “You’re helping kids find ways to get nutrition other than meat and saving the environment, too,” she says.