My friend is a hardcore vegan and says I can't call myself an environmentalist, since I still eat meat. I disagree, since I sincerely care about the future of the world and do a lot to help the environment. I even volunteer with an organization to plant trees in my community. What do you think? Are you a vegetarian?
-Peter
Oh, please. We can bicker over the semantics of the word environmentalist until we're all green in the face, and alienate our fellow do-gooders by telling them they're not do-gooding enough, but the fact remains that we're not going to accomplish any lasting change by doing either. We've got ice sheets in Antarctica in "runaway melt mode" and oceans acidifying before our very eyes; as far as I'm concerned, an environmentalist is anyone who is making concrete changes to protect our natural resources and spread the message of conservation to the billions of people who reside on this planet.
Using your friend's logic, I'd also have to add that having children excludes one from being an environmentalist, since the most effective way to reduce global warming and pollution would be to just stop procreating. Granted, I know environmentalists (vegetarians as well) who have made this difficult choice, but they are a rarity. And no matter how ardent a greenie you claim to be, unless you live in a cave, there's a good chance there's room for improvement: Johnny may be a vegan, but he has two dogs that contribute to the 10 million tons of pet waste polluting our waterways every year; Suzy eats all organic but can't live without her daily Diet Coke; Bob outfitted his entire house with solar panels but flies to Europe four times a year on business; and so on and so on.
That being said, I think if you consider yourself a passionate advocate for our planet, yet find yourself hitting the drive-through for a McRib thrice a week, you might want to rethink the latter. I'm not going to use this space to debate the environmental repercussions of every conceivable food choice -- it took Michael Pollan two books to do just that -- but the information fueling your friend's snarky statement is correct: Adopting a vegetarian diet is indeed one of the most effective ways to slash your ecological footprint. If you currently eat a typical meat-heavy American diet, then switching to a lacto-ovo vegetarian one will cut your carbon footprint by almost a ton a year, not to mention drastically reduce your water consumption and help stop deforestation in the Amazon.
It may enrage some of you to learn that I am not, in fact, a full-fledged vegetarian. But I am working to limit my meat consumption, which is why I took the Meatless Monday pledge earlier this year. As a -- yes -- environmentalist, I believe we'll have a more resounding impact if we focus on solutions that people can reasonably embrace. My friend Joanna Lee, who works on the Meatless Monday campaign, agrees. "It's unrealistic to expect every individual to become a full-time vegetarian," she says. "In engaging a broad audience, every person's small meat reduction, collectively, makes a big difference." (Lee, by the way, also considers herself an environmentalist.)
A funny thing happens, too, when you don't berate your friends and family for not subscribing to your particular eco philosophy and instead encourage them to make small, doable changes: Those smaller changes often lead to larger ones. That's why I like to call Meatless Monday the gateway drug to vegetarian eating. I started with Meatless Monday in May, and with each passing week, I found myself experimenting with more meat-free eating, like making lentil soup for weekday lunches, or ordering tofu when I went to my local Thai joint for dinner. And then, I started buying slightly smaller portions of meat for my family at home, filling the void with more vegetables and complex carbs. I estimate that overall, I've cut my meat consumption by 30 percent.
For those still working toward a vegetarian (or flexitarian) diet, there are other ways to tread lightly on Mother Earth via your food choices. Buy organic, grass-fed, or locally-produced meat; stay away from fossil fuel-intensive processed foods (to wit: Kraft Foods' Boca Burger, with its "enriched textured soy protein concentrate product" made from genetically modified soybeans); and consider growing your own vegetable garden.
I'll leave you with this thought: Being an environmentalist isn't some hipster club that you're only allowed to join if you're a card-carrying member of the Sierra Club and drive a Schwinn. It's the rancher who decides to start raising her cattle without growth hormones and antibiotics; it's the Wall Street investor who focuses on renewable energy companies; and it's the big-rig trucker who decides to fill up his tank with biodiesel. My ultimate goal is for every person on earth to consider how our individual actions impact the bigger picture. We'll make the most progress when we focus more on contributing and less on criticizing.
Send all your eco-inquiries to Jennifer Grayson at eco.etiquette@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for length and clarity.
Follow Jennifer Grayson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jennigrayson
Ellen Kanner: Meatless Monday: Sleeping -- and Eating -- With the Enemy
Ashley Koff: 'Total Energy' Makeover Continues - How's Your Energy
Jennifer Grayson: Eco Etiquette: How To Eat Local This Winter
http://www.livescience.com/environment/etc/090921-recession-causes-steep-fall-co2-emissions.html.
This would mean that the problem is humans not the animals grown for consumption, because there has not been a significant decrease in meat production.
Explain that.
However, if someone is a veg who buys a lot of things in plastic, who prefers to eat takeout, drive their car just around the block (I've been guilty of that) or any other insane non-eco-conscious task, then what is the point (other than if you love animals and it's a diet to help your body)?
I think Meatout Mondays is an awesome idea for anyone to start, and being a flexitarian PLUS not using your car as much PLUS stop using so many throw-away items can have so much effect on the world.
I have been writing eco articles on my site, www.gearupandplay.com
The more people we put on this planet, the more difficult to eat without causing environmental damage. Ten thousand years ago, the planet's health didn't depend on whether the few million people in the world ate meat. Now such things do have an effect. In the future, the KIND of vegetables we eat may make a difference. "Oh, you're one of those LOW WATER vegetable snobs!"
The best things we can do for the planet are to minimize our impact every way we can. High on the list should be things like promoting education and women's rights around the world (they go a long way toward lowering birth rates), and family planning services. Beyond that, eat less meat and make sure the stuff you do eat is raised in a more sustainable fashion, live close to work, work close to where you live, insulate your house, quit buying way more than you need, and walk and bike when you can. Oh, and be nice to people...here and on the other side of the planet.
Yes, it's pretty darned horrible, and a lot could be done to make death more humane and processing of meat more sanitary.
The death of animals only seems horrible to us because we identify with animals. If we were more in tune with plants we'd be crying when sharp blades slice their heads off and throw them into the backs of harvesters with other dead and dying plants, and then pull the rest of them up by the roots to clear the fields. Studies have shown that plants communicate, that they feel stress, etc. They just don't do it on a wavelength we recognize, and we turn our inability to perceive their pain into "it's fine to eat plants."
I've been on the green train since before it became fashionable, and the new age greenthugs make me ill. Those of us who are mature enough (I am) saw it in the hippie era - people who were hippies simply because it was fashionable. The minutes polyester leisure suits and disco balls showed up, those people were gone.
The greenistas will be toast once it becomes unfashionable to be green. But the rest of us need to push on, always conscious of our impact on the planet and making responsible choices while still having fun and living a balanced life. Whatever that means for you is what it means. I'm nearly certain it means something else to me, and that's all right too.
vegan during day..local and organic at night..But most nights I eat beans and veggies..
No, that's no good, you'll be disturbing the bats. Any human existence at all is going to have some effect on the environment. I cut my carbon emissions in half, reduced but didn't eliminate meat in my diet, and I call myself an environmentalist.
If you give up meat and still have a big carbon footprint, you are not an environmentalist, just a vegan.