Walking the Eco Talk: Green Media Veggies Follow Their Own Advice

Just the other day, my friend and colleague Michael d'Estries (who runs the celebulicious Ecorazzi, and also Groovy Green, and also Ecorattle ) started a new site, Veg Daily (which he runs with partner Michael Dudell who is an eight-years-and-going strong vegetarian). Michael made the switch to a vegetarian diet about six months ago and says he'll never go back to his meat-eating ways. "I think what works for me is the tasty faux-meat alternatives that are now available. Faux chicken nuggets rule!"

Michael d'Estries

As a 16-year veteran of the veggie life (half my time here on Earth!) and publisher of Eco Chick and editor of Greenopia, I've written literally hundreds of blog posts, magazine articles, and done radio and TV interviews talking about the virtues, enjoyments and practicalities of living a greener life.

Starre Vartan and Amelia the goat

And the one thing I've picked up from all my research and writing (my undergrad degree is in science and love to delve into nutrition/climate/enviro sci studies) is that a vegetarian diet is the single simplest thing you can change in your life to leave a smaller footprint on the Earth (21% of global CO2 emissions come from livestock). It doesn't involve buying new gadgets or redoing your home, installing anything or require any more work. Vegan is even better! And minimizing meat consumption to once or twice a week, and choosing local/organic, non-tortured animals when you do is a pretty darn good step too. I always say that if everyone in America ate half as much meat, that would be like 50% of our population being vegetarian- that is a very reachable goal.

Brian Clark Howard

Turns out plenty of my fellow green bloggers follow their own suggestions for living a greener life and are veg or almost so, which is encouraging; I think that once you know the realities of your impact, it's hard to be a hypocrite. Brian Clark Howard, born and raised in the midwest, comes from a meat-loving family that even adds bacon to their veggies! Longtime editor at E/The Environmental Magazine and now editor at Hearst's The Daily Green, these days he chooses mostly vegetarian options, though he does allow for some flexibility. "The more I've learned about the environment and factory farming the more I've cut down on meat, and I always try to choose free range, natural and organic options."

Graham Hill

Graham Hill, founder of Treehugger, was vegetarian for five years, but now eats some meat. "I am lazy and apparently able to live in denial," he says of his defection from the veg life. He says he recognizes that the issue is important, so his new plan is to be veggie during the week but take a break on weekends. "As a concept, I think this may be more manageable for the general public," says Graham. This reminds me of the NYTimes food writer Mark Bittman's own crusade to be more environmentally-sensitive with his food choices; he's a proclaimed "Vegan until six."

Matthew McDermott writes about alternative energy for Treehugger/Planet Green and was a vegetarian (for ethical and pollution reasons) for 12 years, took a break, and has been mostly vegan since 2004 (after learning how food animals contribute to global warming). "As someone who's concerned about the environment (ignoring animal rights issues) I don't think you can make an argument in favor eating meat much more than on special occasions. Cutting meat out of your diet is one of the greatest personal steps you can take to reduce your personal carbon footprint: Far greater than any 'small step' such as using CFLs, unplugging you cell phone charger, or most of the easy things we in the green media are so fond of promoting," says Matthew.

Jill Fehrenbacher and her son

Jill Fehrenbacher, a gorgeous new mother who hails from California, is the founder and editor of Inhabitat (and most recently, Inhabitots). She qualifies herself as an almost-vegan ("I eat too many non-vegan cookies to count!" she demurs). Her husband is vegan and she maintained her animal-friendly diet throughout her pregnancy, which resulted in her very adorable son. 'I've been a vegetarian for 18 years and I've never found it difficult or challenging in any way - and this is coming from someone who loves food. If you truly care about climate change and want to do something to help the environment, the SINGLE MOST EFFECTIVE thing you can do to reduce your carbon footprint is to eat less meat - especially red meat." This month's Body and Soul Magazine backs up Jill's assertion, but purely from an advice for healthy aging perspective. "A recent study found that people who consumed the highest amounts of red meat had a 20-60% higher risk of developing certain cancers," reports Jessica Cerretani.

Jill echoes my own thoughts on the issue when she continues: "This is why when I meet environmental activists who are heavy meat eaters, it blows my mind. It totally undermines your credibility as an environmentalist if you expect other people to change their lifestyles, but you are unwilling to take the necessary steps in your own life to help the planet."

You can now go online to any one of a number of sites and get nutritionally-sound advice and information, and even if you are a foodie, or eat fast food, sites like Greenopia will show you which of your fave chains offer a number of veggie/vegan options.

Comments

[LMPE]

My mom became a vegetarian in 1969, mostly as a hippie thing. When she started working in the cancer unit of M.D. Anderson Hospital a few years later, she found that the information on meat is damning, so she now had two reasons not to eat meat. When she met my dad, she convinced him to be a vegetarian. I have been a vegetarian my entire life, and I have no aim to start eating meat.

I should identify that I'm not a vegan; I like fish, eggs and cheese too much to do that (I don't know anyone in Portland, Oregon, who avoids fish). But I would say that in Portland, it's practically easier to be a vegetarian than a carnivore. To me, slabs of beef look like something scraped out of the sewer. Lisa Simpson and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon would probably agree with me.

[jackpinesavage]

This argument gets really tiring. A well run livestock farm is far and away the most eco-conscious way to get one's food. No inputs, little to no tilling, almost no machinery needed. Cows (and sheep) eat grass, poop on grass, three days later the chickens are allowed to graze the same plot, chickens peck, chickens dig grubs out of cow poop (chickens, btw, are evil omnivores), digging spreads cow poop, chickens poop...via the miracle of nature and healthy soil the grass grows and the cows return.

If you're buying fresh fruits and vegetables out of season in order to sustain a vegetarian lifestyle, then you have absolutely no room to talk about how environmentally sensitive you are. (And few eco-vores really want to know how large-scale, organic farms that supply major markets operate.)

Maybe vegetarians should focus on how meat is raised rather than...oh, wait, that's right, the vegetarian groups were in favor of CAFO's when they began in the 80's. And their argument was that it would be better for the environment because farm land could be used to raise feed and let the prairies return to "nature" (minus the herds of herbivores, of course).

Why must vegetarians proselytize? It's no more endearing than when the Witnesses do it you know.

[StarreVartan]

I've heard a lot of arguments for locally-raised, organically raised meat, and from an environmental perspective, maybe they could be a sustainable option- IF we had about 1/4 of the population that we have now. From the reports that I have read, and the math as I understand it shows that to produce organic, free-range beef for every American who eats it, and eating as much volume of the stuff as we do now, would be impossible. There's just not enough land. I grew up down the road from a small, responsibly-managed family farm in the Hudson Valley- cows raised organically need A LOT of space! As it is right now, the world that we live in is finite; if everyone in the world consumed as much as Americans, we would need 6-10 more planet Earths (basically we are using the resources of the future, now. Which screws the people in the future). So I think that unless we put serious thought into population control, healthy meat will not be available (or affordable) to everyone. The earth CAN sustain more people in a sustainable way if we choose to be vegetarian, or mostly so. So, it's either healthy meat available to those who care and can afford it and factory-produced meat for everyone else (detrimental to our health and the environment), OR healthier mostly-veg diets for all, so we can survive and thrive into the future. I know what my choice is.

[Vickster]

You overlook the fact that most regions can only produce fruits and vegetables for a few months every year. There are also regions that can't support any large-scale vegetable production. This is why most produce consumed in this country is grown in California, Florida and now Mexico. Believe me, there's no way we could feed everyone if we all became vegans or vegetarians, especially since California and Mexico are arid regions.

Also, there is plenty of land to raise grass-fed cattle, goats and sheep. Just visit Nebraska, Iowa or most other Midwestern states. All those cornfields that are used to feed livestock in the CAFOs could be converted to pastures instead.

It seems to me that our entire agricultural system is unsustainable because most people insist on eating what they want when they want it regardless of where they live; i.e., salads in February or ribs on the Fourth of July. As for me, I try to eat a local, seasonal diet, meaning one that consists mostly of vegetables, goat cheese (I raise dairy goats), eggs and fish (freshwater as a rule, since I live in Michigan) in the summer, while my winter diet consists of dried beans, the veggies in my freezer from my summer garden, goat cheese (of course), eggs and lots of meat.

[Danielle Brigida]

Great post! I am especially glad to see Waylon's comment about how it's not just taking meat out of your diet, but learning to supplement and create healthy dishes.

[Waylon Lewis - Huffpost Blogger]

What about the jerk behind elephant journal dot com? I've been veggie, converted by ex-girlfriend, for 7 years now. It's been surprisingly easy—key was to really learn how to eat veggie, not just take meat out of dishes. I'm 190 pounds and do yoga, climb or play bball just about every day...so learning how to get my protein etc is vital. There's so many delish veggie options, and dining out is still easy, which is essential for this refrigerator-less bachelor who couldn't cook his way out of...anything.

And, with the thing I miss most—sushi—being badly overfished, it's even in fish-lovers' own interest to cut down a bit (not to mention the mercury). As for most folks, even if they can get local meat, free-range, that'd be a great improvement.

[StarreVartan]

Waylon, thanks for commenting and letting us know about your veggieness! That is awesome. I really wanted to mention vegan Ironman Brendan Brazier (http://www.brendanbrazier.com/) in the post and forgot- he is with you in maintaining an animal-friendly diet and is also a serious athlete. It CAN be done, as you have pointed out. I've been reading up on protein a lot as I've been working out six days a week (so good for stress!!), which is much harder than ever before. I've never had a problem getting enough protein in all my years as a veggie, but do want to keep tabs on it as I work out more (I do eat eggs though- and even after about 8 a week, average, my cholesterol is quite low and my doctor told me I had 'negative heart disease risk' which was nice to hear, though I'm not sure what precisely that means- she was happy to tell me about it though and sadly, says she has never told any of her other patients that, so that was interesting). Apparently some nutritionists are finding that there is actually a high percentage of absorbable protein in vegetables, which is really interesting. I want to learn more about that :)