"Full vegetarianism is a noble ideal, but many are intimidated by an illogical fear that it has to be a single major, all-or-nothing leap. Reducetarianism is a good, humane, environment-friendly, step-by-step approach to an ideal whose time will finally come." - Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, An Appetite for Wonder and Brief Candle in the Dark.
"Reducing meat consumption is a practical way to address the moral case for animal rights, sparing farm animals from suffering, and preserving the environment from destruction." - Noam Chomsky, Author of Profit Over People: Neoliberalism & Global Order
“There are some ideas that make such obvious sense that one wonders why they haven’t become universally adopted by now. Reducetarianism is one of them. Anyone who has thought even a little about food production and usage realizes that reducing the amount of meat is good for the environment, good for your health, and good for humanity. Without committing to a potentially difficult and disruptive wholesale change of diet and lifestyle, reducetarianism makes sense for all of us. “ - Lawrence Krauss, author of The Physics of Star Trek and A Universe from Nothing.
"Many of us are troubled by the fact that, given current farming practices, our dietary choices impose continuous suffering on billions of nonhuman animals. However, there is an easy way to be less complicit in this misery: become a 'reducetarian' and eat less meat." - Sam Harris, Author of Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
"Reduce now, and next month, reduce more. Maybe you'll get to zero, and anyway, you'll be doing less harm." - Peter Singer, author, Animal Liberation and co-author with Jim Mason of The Ethics of What We Eat
"We all need to adapt to the reality that consuming less meat is essential to rebuilding a healthier planet. Reducetarianism is a smart step in the right direction.” - Sean B. Carroll, biologist and author, University of Wisconsin
"We change history through the surprising power of small acts that unite people in movements for social change. I am joining the reducetarian movement in eating less meat to meet the challenge of our times -- climate change." - Dacher Keltner, Co-Director of Greater Good Science Center and author, Born To Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life
“Moderation in everything means being a reducetarian in practice. By eating less meat, you’ll be doing your body, your planet, and your kids’ future a favor. And you’ll be proving once again that small steps can take us long distances." - Daniel H. Pink, author of DRIVE and A WHOLE NEW MIND
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." That mantra from Michael Pollan has inspired me and millions of others to pay attention to what we eat. So I'm delighted to hear about Reducetarian and its efforts to encourage less meat consumption. I have no plans to become a vegetarian, but eating less meat is a good idea for all of us, for animals and for the environment." - Sree Sreenivasan, technology journalist and social media guru.
"Just by the simple act of filling your plate primarily with plants you can make a significant improvement in three major issues: your personal health, the health of the planet, and animal welfare. I don’t know of any other choice that we make on a daily basis that makes this sort of impact.” - Sharon Palmer, RDN, author of Plant-Powered for Life and The Plant-Powered Diet.
"I love meat. I love big juicy steaks, crispy fried chicken, and soft tender pork. But you know what else I love? Rich creamy eggplant, crunchy sweet snap peas, and buttery, salty potatoes. Also seitan. Have you had it? It totally crushes tofu. There is plenty of deliciousness to be found outside the animal kingdom, and if we each seek it out just a little more than we do now, we can contribute to a tangible, positive change." - Dan Pashman, host of The Sporkful food podcast and author of Eat More Better: How To Make Every Bite More Delicious
"No other single action can have a more profound effect in our lives and that of the environment than moving towards a plant-based diet!!" - Marco Borges, exercise physiologist, founder of 22 Days Nutrition and author of The 22-Day Revolution
"A balanced mood, energized body, and sharp brain are just a few of the many benefits of being a reducetarian." - Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness
“Eating more meatless meals is a great New Year’s resolution to improve your health!" - Dr. Michael Greger, Founder of NutritionFacts.org.
"While I would love the world to be vegan, I know it will not happen soon if at all. However, if every individual reduces her or his consumption of other animals and continues to do so and nicely asks others to follow, we could surely make a difference in the lives of the beings who are brutally abused on the way to our plates." - Marc Bekoff, author of Rewilding our hearts: Building pathways of compassion and coexistence
"Sustainability is all about doing more with less, so reducing meat and other high embodied-energy food protean helps us move towards a more equitable future" - Leyla Acaroglu - Sustainability Provocateur
"Factory farmed meat is bad for you, bad for animals, and bad for the world. Cut out the bad stuff, savor the good stuff, and bring on the hummus." - Joshua Greene, Author of Moral Tribes, Emotion, Reason, and The Gap Between Us and Them
"I have been a reducetarian for many years without knowing the term as I was aware of the environmental impact of raising stock. I have been cutting down greatly on meat consumption.... The next challenge is to cut down on dairy products as well!" - Chris Stringer, Author of Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth
"The idea of going vegan or vegetarian is intimidating for many people. But anyone can be a reducetarian." - Daniella Martin, Author of Edible: An Adventure into the World of Eating Insects and the Last Great Hope to Save the Planet
"The suffering of billions of animals in factory farms ranks among the most serious moral issues of our time. As an effective altruist, I try to use my time and money to alleviate as much suffering as possible. Inspiring people to eat less meat is a pragmatic and effective way to help vast numbers of sentient beings." - Adriano Mannino, philosopher, president of Sentience Politics and co-founder of the Foundational Research Institute
"In an ideal world, everyone would forgo eating animals. But for now, I believe the most effective strategy to reduce animal suffering is to encourage people to consume less meat rather than give it up entirely. As Voltaire said, sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good." - Hal Herzog, author of Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It's So Hard To Think Straight About Animals
"Effective altruists consider all causes and actions, and then act in the way that brings about the greatest positive impact. By eating less meat, reducetarians are helping to make the world a better place." - William MacAskill, Author of Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and How You Can Make a Difference
"The fact that we cannot do everything to fix our planet often leaves people doing nothing. But we should all do something. Reducing harm to animals and cutting our carbon footprint is a great 'something.' It's something quite powerful." -Joanna Zelman, Executive Editor of The Dodo
"Not all food waste is equal as the environmental impact of meat is multitudes greater than almost all other forms of waste. The reducetarian lifestyle can teach us all how to be better environmental stewards." - Jordan Figueiredo, Founder of End Food Waste
“The trend is clear – Americans are eating fewer animals and more plant-based foods. That’s a welcome sign in shifting our food system away from cruel and unsustainable animal factory farming, while also moving ourselves to a healthier lifestyle.” – Josh Balk, Senior Food Policy Director, The Humane Society of the United States/Founder of Hampton Creek
"You can go a long way toward making the world a much better place by simply choosing to eat fewer animals." - Matt Ball, Author of The Animal Activist's Handbook: Maximizing Our Positive Impact in Today's World
"Finally someone has put a name to what many are doing to live a better life." - Claudia Bahamon, Host of Master Chef Colombia and WWF Ambassador
"People don't think twice about eating meat; it's conveniently packaged, anonymous and well-marketed. I'm horrified when I look at the contents of supermarket trolleys, realizing that customers haven't given a thought to the cruelty to the rearing and killing of animals for a meal that they'll hardly notice." - Heather Couper, Co-Author of The Secret Life of Space
“Our individual choices matter. By eating primarily a plant-based diet, I’ve reduced my personal water footprint and hope to inspire others to do the same." - Wendy Pabich, President of Water Futures and author of Taking on Water: How One Water Expert Challenged Her Inner Hypocrite, Reduced Her Water Footprint (without Sacrificing a Toasty Shower), and Found Nirvana.
"We all instinctively crave meat. But we’re also born with the gift of human consciousness, which let’s us transcend the scripts of our genes that no longer serve us well. By becoming a Reducetarian you will learn to love better food. It’s the best of both worlds -- and what’s best for the planet and all its inhabitants." - Douglas Van Praet, Author of Unconscious Branding
"The reducetarians offer a practical and psychologically viable path to reducing the many forms of harm done by eating meat; in doing so the reducetarian movement is threatening to make the world a better place." - Sam Gosling, Author of Snoop: What your stuff says about you
"With this one simple, powerful step—becoming a reducetarian—you improve the lives of animals, you improve your own health, you improve the planet’s health. There’s no excuse not to reduce." - Gene Stone, Author of Forks Over Knives: The Planet-Based Way to Health
"Meat production is very energy inefficient and unbelievably polluting. It has also created unprecedented amounts of animal suffering. Making the decision to eat less meat is one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce your negative impact on the planet." - Liv Boeree, poker player and co-founder of Raising for Effective Giving
"Eating less meat is not only kinder to the environment and to the animals, but kinder to our bodies." - Heather Christo, author of Pure Delicious: 200 delectable allergen free recipes made without gluten, dairy, egg, soy, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish or cane sugar.
“Trying to be perfect can be paralyzing. But we have a natural capacity for goodness, and the insight behind the reducetarian movement is that being just a little bit better—or even less terrible—can do wonders in lessening the suffering of helpless creatures." - Paul Bloom, Author of Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil
“The reducetarian solution is the same one I came to after falling off the meat wagon so many times since being convinced by the intellectual arguments that meat eating is morally wrong. The protopian model of moral progress—small increments instead of giant leaps—is how the moral arc has bent historically. Reducetarianism is how we will achieve this moral revolution.” - Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, columnist Scientific American, author of The Moral Arc
"It's hard to give up meat. We eat it because of powerful hooks rooted in our culture, genes, history and marketing of the livestock industry. That's why we should reward cutting down meat consumption - reducetarianism - whether it means cutting down by five percent, by twenty, or by ninety nine." - Marta Zaraska, Author of Meathooked: The History and Science of Our 2.5-Million-Year Obsession with Meat
"It's hard to imagine what the argument could be against taking this step, given all that we know about the way our planet works, our bodies work, and our industrial food system works." - Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy
"Reducetarianism: 2 → 1 burgers saves as many cows as 1 → 0" - Steven Pinker, Author of The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
“What’s good for the Earth is good for the Earthlings. Pledge to eat less meat for the next 30 days and make yourself, your cardiologist, and a whole lot of farm animals very happy.” - Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness
"Reducetarianism is a great concept and very much in line with Weekday Vegetarian!" - Graham Hill, Founder of TreeHugger and Exception Lab
"It’s easy to operate on auto-pilot, making choices out of habit. Thank you reducetarian movement for reminding us to eat with a little more deliberation." - David Eagleman, neuroscientist, author of The Brain
"Addressing climate change and reducing heart disease starts with reversing the trend of... meat consumption that is inherent in our culture. Reducetarianism promises to activate needed long-term change by bringing consumers on board in enlightened ways." - Jacquie Ottman, Sustainability expert and author, The New Rules of Green Marketing, Founder, WeHateToWaste.com
"I believe it is very important that we all reduce the quantity of meats we consume both in terms of frequency and portion size. Reducetarianism is a good way to accomplish these goals." - Jared Koch, Founder and CEO of Clean Plates
"A one degree shift in your habits made consistently on a daily basis would set your sails on a complete different trajectory in just 30 or 60 days. Becoming a reducetarian and committing to less meat would constitute a one degree shift." - Dr. Cynthia Thaik, Harvard-trained Cardiologist and Best Selling author of Your Vibrant Heart: Restoring Health, Strength & Spirit from the Body's Core
"Here's a simple fact: cutting out or cutting back on chicken, fish, and other meat will spare smart, curious animals from a lifetime of misery on modern farms. It will also give you a longer, more energetic life, and help protect the environment. Joining the reducetarian movement is a great way to get started!" - Nick Cooney, Founder of The Humane League, author of Change of Heart: Why Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change
“Reducing the amount of meat you eat is, simply put, the best thing you can do for the world. It spares animal suffering, reduces your carbon footprint, and conserves water – all while making you healthier. The reducetarian campaign is your ticket to the most important food movement of the 21st century.” - Jonathan Wadley, Founder of America for Animals
"Reducing your consumption of animal products is by far the most impactful choice you can make toward your health, ending world hunger, conserving natural resources, and the plight of farm animals." - Lindsay Nixon, Author of the best-selling Happy Herbivore cookbook series.
“Every time you open your wallet, you vote for the kind of life – and the kind of future – you want for yourself, the planet, and the billions of people and animals who inhabit it. When you decide to reduce your consumption of animal foods, you exercise a powerful vote for sustainability, stronger environmental stewardship, improved personal health, and better treatment of animals.” - David Robinson Simon, author of Meatonomics
"One of the biggest threats that the Earth’s environment faces comes from the food production industry. Consuming less meat is one way everyone can help protect the environment and make a serious impact on behalf of the Earth and on behalf of animals!" - Birute Mary Galdikas
"Meat consumption is one of the largest contributors to a person's individual environmental impact. It would be great to see companies commit to some reduction in meat in their cafeterias and events as well!" - Andrew Winston, Author of The Big Pivot and Green to Gold
"If you eat less meat, you'll enjoy what you do eat more and you'll help make sure that your grandchildren have a place to live and water to drink." - Barry Schwartz, Author of The Paradox of Choice
“Reducetarian is an attractive idea because not everyone is able or willing to completely cut meat from their diet. Its message builds on the simplicity of Meatless Monday: Just try skipping meat one day a week for health and the environment. Meatless Monday is all about incremental changes, cutting back a little here, a little there. Whatever you do, don’t despair: You can always start getting back on the wagon next Monday.” - Sid Lerner, Founder of the Meatless Monday movement, Chairman of The Monday Campaigns
"Only the crazy think life is about all or nothing. The rest of us know it is about better and worse. And its a whole lot better to eat less meat." - Dale Jamieson, Author of Reason in a Dark Time: Why the Struggle to Stop Climate Change Failed--And What It Means For Our Future
"I'm a big fan of the reducetarian movement. Our brains get spooked by sudden change, but small, subtle changes can sneak past our change detectors. Reducetarians are basically change ninjas." - Tania Luna, co-author of Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected
I love the idea of becoming a “reducetarian”-- which seems like a direct and non-threatening way to improve the health of ourselves, our communities, and our planet: gradually, moment-by-moment, without lines to cross or barriers to erect. - Dale Peterson, author of The Moral Lives of Animals and Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man
"Carnism -- the invisible belief system that conditions us to eat certain animals -- blocks our awareness and empathy, so that we act against our deeper values without realizing what we are doing. Reducing our consumption of animals to the greatest extent possible reduces carnism’s influence on us, so that we can make food choices that reflect what we authentically think and feel, rather than what we have been taught to think and feel." - Melanie Joy, - Melanie Joy, PhD, author of Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows; President of Beyond Carnism
"What's the easiest thing someone can do to improve their life, the environment, and the lives of others? Reducing their meat intake. The message is more important today than ever before." - Isha Datar, Executive Director of New Harvest
"The reducetarian way shows us precisely how less equals more." - Robert B. Cialdini, Author of INFLUENCE.
"The one thing that everybody agrees on is that vegetables are a boon to health. The reducetarian movement offers great ideas for how to eat more plants, feel great, and improve your health." Tess Masters, author of The Blender Girl, The Blender Girl Smoothies, and The Blender Girl Smoothies app.
“Eating more plants and whole grains is not a flavor killer. I encourage everyone to get into the kitchen and explore how exciting, delicious, satisfying and nutritious plant-based foods can be.” – Anthony Fassio, Executive Vice President of Great Performances
"In the twenty-first century, we don't need to eat meat. There are plenty of mouth-watering meals we can choose that don't involve any exploitation of animals, with its concomitant cruelty and damage to the environment." - Nigel Henbest, Co-Author of The Secret Life of Space
"I do a joke occasionally in my standup comedy act where I call vegetarians veggie-arians because they won't eat meat but think they are better than everyone else… It's a silly joke but I myself have been a proud veggie-arian and have gone long periods of time without touching meat. It feels great to be a part of the reducetarian movement and be a reducetarian!" - Lahna Turner, Comedian
"I am all for being a reducetarian. Our culture is becoming more conscious about the impact the industrial food system is having on our health and the health of our planet. By consuming less factory farmed meat we significantly improve both. Respect the Earth." - Francesco Mastalia, Photographer and author of ORGANIC Farmers & Chefs of the Hudson Valley
"I'd love to see the world go vegan. Still, somebody needs to speak convincingly to the large numbers of people who want to protect the environment and are willing to make some changes in their food choices, but who aren't yet ready to adopt a plants-only diet. Brian Kateman and the other contributors do this beautifully, meeting people where they are and making a real difference." - Victoria Moran, author of Main Street Vegan and Creating a Charmed Life
"Something important happens every time a reducetarian chooses a veg meal over meat: the very meaningful and real suffering of animals on factory farms is prevented." - David Coman-Hidy, Executive Director of the Humane League.
Reducing your consumption of animal products is a great first step for taking control of your health and the health of our planet. - Del Srofue, co-author of Forks Over Knives The Cookbook: Over 300 Recipes for Plant-Based Eating All Through the Year