The article discusses the environmental reasons that motivate people to become vegetarians. The author presents the results of a survey of Russian bachelor students who major in ecology and nature management. The survey reflects the tendencies of students' eating behavior, as well as factors that can affect their diet. It is concluded that despite the overwhelming number of meateaters among the surveyed students, many of them are aware of the negative impact of animal husbandry on the environment and express their desire to reduce the proportion of meat food in their diet and increase the consumption of vegetarian products, since they note their greater environmental safety, diversity and a wide range on store shelves.