Fox News lambasted local Texas schools' implementation of Meatless Mondays as anti-scientific “propaganda” that won't improve the environment. But several scientific studies show that reducing meat from the average diet brings considerable environmental benefits. 

Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Todd Staples has been railing against the implementation of “Meatless Mondays” in several Texas elementary schools as "agenda-driven propaganda," and he continued his campaign on Fox News' September 15 edition of Fox & Friends. The lunch programs, taking place in several Texas and California schools, will serve vegetarian meals on Mondays, giving students the option of bringing their own non-vegetarian lunch as well. Staples berated the program as an “agenda-driven campaign” that's “really not sound science,” and co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck agreed, wondering, “Why should our children be subjected to such propaganda?” And when co-host Steve Doocy asked Staples if Meatless Mondays are “brainwashing,” Staples answered: “Clearly, it is,” suggesting that it will not be “better for the environment”:

Far from “brainwashing,” the idea that eating less meat is better for the environment is based on sound science. Many studies show that meat production places a substantial burden on land and water use and contributes substantially to the greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change. A United Nations agency determined in 2013 that the agricultural sector is the third greatest contributor to global warming, largely due to livestock production. A 2014 study of over 50,000 United Kingdom residents found that switching to a meatless diet can cut an individual's diet-related carbon footprint in half. A study published in Climatic Change also found that greenhouse gas emissions for meat-eaters are substantially higher, meaning that “if agricultural emissions are not addressed ... meeting the climate target [is] essentially impossible” according to science news website Phys.org. Moreover, according a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a non-vegetarian diet uses “2.9 times more water, 2.5 times more primary energy, 13 times more fertilizer, and 1.4 times more pesticides,” as a vegetarian diet, concluding that "[f]rom an environmental perspective, what a person chooses to eat makes a difference."

And even one day a week makes a difference for the environment: a study in Environmental Science Technology found that foregoing red meat once a week for a year reduces greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of driving 1160 fewer miles.  

John Crowley, the food services director for Dripping Springs school district -- the district at issue on Fox & Friends -- told a CBS affiliate that the district has “had requests for more vegetarian options” given that they “serve a lot of Texas beef on [their] menus.” An Environmental Working Group report comparing the greenhouse gas emissions of common food products found that beef makes up 30 percent of meat consumed in America and has the second highest climate impact of common food sources: 

Staples has reportedly received over $100 thousand in campaign contributions from beef producers and ranching interests since 2010, which was not disclosed in the segment.