We* want to reform Lipton Dining Hall (Hayden) to reduce NYU's impact on the environment, foster student health and spare animal lives. We have already talked with the Dining Administration and they told us that all we need is to show that students are on board. If you have any concerns or suggestions for meals, please email animalwelfarecollective.nyu@gmail.com. LET'S DO THIS!

*This Initiative is supported by a growing number of student organizations:
Earth Matters at NYU, Animal Welfare Collective at NYU, The American Association for Blacks in Energy (AABE), EcoReps, Take Back The Tap, Student Animal Legal Defense Fund, Oxfam America at NYU, Nepali Student Association, Association for African Development at NYU, Share Meals at NYU, Persian Cultural Society, Students for Sensible Drug Policy

What is plant-based?
If Lipton was plant-based, no food would be derived from animal cruelty. In addition to being vegetarian, "plant-based" also substitutes any egg and dairy ingredients. We want to have good food with a good conscience, therefore we are asking for plant-based versions of our favorite foods at Lipton Dining Hall. That includes the cookies! Think "By Chloe", but without the long lines.  

Why is it important to have a plant-based dining hall?
There is a myriad of students who are required to have a meal plan who have dietary restrictions (vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian, etc), allergies (milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, meat), who eat kosher or who want to be healthier. Those students cannot simply walk into a dining hall and just consume anything, they have to eat from the same limited options every day. While there are plant-based options in every dining hall, it is still not a safe space where people can just go and eat the way every other person does. Plant-based food is for everyone, it is non-exclusive, healthy, yummy and better for the environment and animals. 

I’m afraid I won’t like the food. What is the food going to look like?
Many universities across the country have at least one plant-based dining hall, e.g. UCSD, University of North Texas, American University, etc. These universities have proven that their plant-based eateries have become quickly some of the most popular on campus because of the higher food quality. At Canisius College the #1 sold-out item was their plant-based mac’n’cheese! Read more about their positive changes here. Here are some dishes from UCSD’s plant-based eatery: Pacheco Pass (stacked enchiladas) & Blueberry Mango Cobbler, Tres Leche Cake, potato gnocchi with edamame and spinach in a red sauce.. See the sample menu, food pics and reviews on their Yelp page for yourself: https://www.yelp.com/biz/roots-la-jolla

Why does Plantbased Lipton reduce NYU’s impact on the environment?
A plant-based diet has been shown to be amongst the most environmentally-friendly. Plant-based Lipton would reduce your environmental impact significantly, even if you only eat there a couple times a week. Some facts about the animal agriculture industry: It...
- Is responsible for around 51% of global greenhouse gases (1)
- Accounts for the most deforestation in the world (2)
- Uses 2,500 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef (3) or 477 gallons of water to produce 1lb. of eggs, or almost 900 gallons of water for 1lb. of cheese (4), or 1,000 gallons of water for 1 gallon of milk (5)
- And other things like overfishing of the oceas, deforestation, species extinction etc (6)

Why is Plantbased Lipton better for animal welfare?
Over 99% of NYU’s animal products are sourced from factory farms (7). If you don't know what factory farms are, here's a quick video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhfvkDRLdFU
→ Plantbased Lipton makes it easy for you to avoid supporting these cruel practices because you can just eat any meal without having to consider whether it came from a factory farm.

SOURCES

(1) Source: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294 For sceptics: http://www.new-harvest.org/the_world_s_leading_driver_of_climate_change_animal_agriculture

(2) http://grist.org/article/halting-tropical-deforestation-is-in-the-us-interest/

(3) http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/54/10/909.full http://www2.worldwater.org/data20082009/Table19.pdf https://www.animalsciencepublications.org/publications/jas/abstracts/71/4/818?search-result=1 http://www.earthsave.org/environment/water.htm http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/interactive-graphic/water/ http://www.waterfootprint.org/

(4) http://www.ewg.org/meateatersguide/interactive-graphic/water/

(5) http://waterfootprint.org/media/downloads/Hoekstra-2008-WaterfootprintFood.pdf

http://temp.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Mekonnen-Hoekstra-2012-WaterFootprintFarmAnimalProducts.pdf

(6)http://www.nbcnews.com/health/diet-fitness/vegan-eating-would-slash-cut-food-s-global-warming-emissions-n542886

(7) Source: The Real Food Challenge at NYU in collaboration with Aramark