By Op-Ed on February 27, 2017

Let’s consider a scenario. A smoker goes to the doctor and asks how he can prevent himself from getting lung cancer. The doctor replies, “Spend less time in the city. The pollution can cause lung cancer in some adults.”

Seems weird, doesn’t it? Why wouldn’t the doctor recommend quitting smoking? It is the leading cause of lung cancer.

While there aren’t many doctors who would make this recommendation, this is exactly the type of proposal that many environmentalists, including those at Stanford, are offering in the quest to save water and prevent other environmental catastrophes. There are signs in locker rooms and dorm bathrooms on campus advertising messages like “Stanford is WaterWise. Reducing your shower to five minutes or less can conserve more than 2500 gal/year/person!”

While this message makes intuitive sense, it is actually very similar to recommending a smoker to stay out of the city to prevent lung cancer.

According to a Center for Science in the Public Interest report, domestic use is only responsible for 5 percent of water usage in the United States. Animal agriculture, on the other hand, is responsible for 55 percent. Due to the exorbitant amount of water needed to raise livestock, it takes about 660 gallons of water to produce one-third of a pound of hamburger meat, according to an article by the LA Times.

Long story short: We can save a lot more water by cutting down on our consumption of animal products than we can save by taking short showers. And with the extensive vegan and vegetarian options on campus, along with the fact that you simply do not need to eat meat for protein (Serena Williams eats a completely raw vegan diet!), eating less meat is actually very doable.

If this is the case, then why aren’t there signs in every dining hall that remind us that cutting down on meat consumption saves water? A likely answer would be something like, “Most students just aren’t ready to give up meat, but taking shorter showers is much more plausible.”

If this seems logical to you, think about what would you say if the doctor from our scenario justified his recommendation by saying, “Most patients just aren’t ready to stop smoking! But staying out of the city — that seems doable.”

Lung cancer is serious, so we would sincerely hope that our doctors would not make this recommendation, but so is the absolutely deplorable state of our environment. This is an incredibly important issue, and if we don’t start treating it as such, the next generation will not have a habitable world. Dining halls need to remind students that the biggest impact that they can have on water usage, along with climate change and other environmental issues, is by cutting down on the consumption of animal products. And most importantly, we, as students, need to take responsibility for our environment. Eat meatless meals, and eat them often.

-Veronica Stafford ’20

Contact Veronica Stafford at vstaffor ‘at’ stanford.edu.