University chef holds firm for the climate on meatless Mondays

Tony Heesterman, the University of Victoria's executive chef, has zero patience for students who complain about campus-wide meatless Mondays.

The university recently decided to join the global trend where people and institutions forgo meat on Mondays to help tackle the climate crisis. Meat and dairy are responsible for about 14 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions around the world. Some students had negative feedback about the initiative, but Heesterman wasn't deterred.

"I mean, you're talking one day out of the week," he said. Instead of meat on campus menus, students get nachos that come with homemade vegan "cheese," burgers built from beans, and butter chicken with zero poultry. Contrast that with the cost of climate change, and he said it was clear to him that forgoing meat was worth it "to make the world for you younger people and your kids last."

Initiatives like meatless Mondays could be key in turning the corner on climate change, researchers suggest. A team based out of the University of Exeter in the U.K. recently found that encouraging institutions like universities to use less meat and changing the type of fertilizers farmers use to grow crops could go a long way to making our economy more sustainable. Their report is not peer-reviewed.

"The climate community has long talked about tipping points in the biophysical system … where if you reach a certain point, you would see more unstoppable behaviour," explained Kelly Levin, chief of data, science and systems change for the Bezos Earth Fund, which collaborated with the University of Exeter research team.

"There's also been complementary research (on) so-called socio-economic tipping points, (which are) movements where we see much more exponential change than analysts predicted." The iPhone's astronomical rise or the rapid, widespread adoption of automobiles are good examples, she said.

The researchers found that boosting the number of institutions serving and researching plant-based proteins and replacing conventional nitrogen fertilizers with green alternatives would have an outsized impact on reducing emissions. That's because those changes would help fund the infrastructure or changes needed to make other sectors more sustainable, Levin explained.

Nitrogen fertilizer production is responsible for about 0.7 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Most production relies heavily on natural gas, which is converted into hydrogen and then ammonia before being transformed into fertilizers.

The researchers found that replacing ammonia produced using fossil fuels with so-called "green" ammonia (produced using renewable energy) could reduce emissions from fertilizer. Green ammonia is more expensive than its fossil fuel-derived counterpart, as is the green hydrogen used to produce it. About 99 per cent of all hydrogen used today is made from fossil fuels.

The idea is that if fertilizer production relied on green ammonia, it could drive down the cost of green hydrogen production. This, in turn, would help bolster the use of green ammonia in shipping and green hydrogen in steel production, both carbon-intensive industries difficult to untangle from fossil fuels.

Paul Martin, the co-founder of the U.K.-based Hydrogen Science Coalition and a hydrogen researcher who was not involved in the study, noted the "replacement of existing uses of hydrogen is the highest priority" for using green hydrogen. The ammonia used in fertilizers is a good candidate because its use can't be avoided, he said.

As for plant-based proteins, the study found that efforts by institutions like UVic to make meat alternatives more widespread could help these products replace up to 30 per cent of the planet's market for meat by 2035. Institutions have a unique role because they feed so many people simultaneously and, in the case of governments or universities, can sometimes also support research into new foods.

Beyond helping to reduce the amount of meat people consume, a major shift to plant-based proteins could reduce the pressure to convert forests into ranchland or fields. Forests are carbon sinks vital to tackling the climate and biodiversity crises but are regularly cut down by agribusinesses looking to expand their agricultural land.

Yet, Levin acknowledged that plant-based proteins still face a huge challenge if they are to become widespread: people's palates.

"Alternative proteins are on track to reach cost parity, but it's unclear whether social norms are going to lead to a very widespread adoption," she said. Changes to those social norms around plant-based proteins need to be "nurtured" by supportive policies and initiatives by governments and institutions like UVic.

For Heesterman, tough love and tasty food are the keys to making those changes happen. While some students are unhappy, most either don't notice or appreciate efforts to give plants a priority on the menu — a testament to his team's culinary innovation.

"It's not the easiest thing, but it definitely is working towards the ultimate goal in the longevity of the planet," he said.