What’s for Dinner—Part I

It’s time for a touchy subject. Yes, it is time to talk about food. The relationship between our sources of our food and the meals that end up on our tables has never been as unclear as it is today. It has become all too easy to go to the supermarket and buy pre-packaged groceries—you never know where your food comes from, how it is produced, or the steps that went into how your food ends up in your shopping cart. And you never get to consider the effect that this has on the environment.

I’d like to talk a lot about diet and the effects of your choice of food. First, however, a quick disclaimer: moral superiority has nothing to do with this discussion. My diet was the same for 30 years, and not until the very end did I even consider the possibility of changing. I didn’t want to change my diet—I liked it just the way it was, thank you very much. Eventually, however, I started to see how empowering it was to really examine and take control of my food choices. For me, it was not a way to feel better than others. By forcing myself to make some drastic changes, I was able to think a lot about the deep connection people feel with their food.

If you want to get a reaction from someone, tell them that you don’t like what they’re eating for lunch. “How can you eat that? That looks terrible!” Nothing brings out an independent streak faster than criticism of someone’s meal. I don’t want to tell anyone else what to eat—the choice can only be made by individuals. However, I do think it’s important to know the ramifications of your choices. I hope that the reasoning behind my choices is solid enough to convince others, but my goal here is even less ambitious. I hope that people try to be more aware of their food, where it comes from, and what that means for all of us.

I have recently stopped eating meat. (I personally choose not to use the word vegetarian, opting for the somewhat passive construction of I don’t eat meat. The exact definition of vegetarianism changes depending on who you talk to, and what their particular biases are.) Not eating meat was not an easy transition for me. Not at all! I have eaten meat at most every meal since I began with solid foods. Meat is convenient, easy, and extremely satisfying. Why would I want to stop?!?

There are a lot of reasons to reduce or eliminate consumption of meat. Today I am going to concentrate on global warming. In future posts, I’ll get into some of the other reasons, and how they affect the environment directly and indirectly. But for right now, I will stick with the issue of global warming.

For me, there are few issues that could ever be considered more important than climate change. It is a massive problem without easy solution. Global warming feels like an abstract concept, because the average person can’t observe the connection between the cause and the effect. When you eat a cheeseburger, you don’t notice the temperature rise in your backyard. It doesn’t feel like a direct connection, and so it’s easy to ignore, especially when the cheeseburgers are sizzling on the grill.

Unfortunately, eating meat is a major contributor to global warming. The evidence is clear. I am going to list a number of reports that you can easily reference at the bottom that prove clearly the impact of eating meat. Methane is produced by livestock, both through their digestive process and through the storage of animal waste. Methane is far more powerful a greenhouse gas than the much talked about CO2. By some estimates, methane is responsible for as much global warming as all other greenhouse gases combined

Also, the amount of meat consumed by the human population continues to rise. As more people eat meat, we need to find more room to raise the animals. Hmm, where should we put all these beef cattle? I have an idea—how about that rainforest over there? We can cut it down and stick a beef cattle farm there. Hopefully I don’t have to tell you why it’s a bad idea to cut down all the rainforests.

One of the more interesting points I found in regards to the production of methane was in the Earth Save Report. Methane will cycle out of the atmosphere in around eight years (compared to CO2 which lasts for over a century). A reduction in methane would help reduce greenhouse gases almost immediately! By switching to some variation of a vegetarian diet, or simply by reducing the amount of meat that you consume, you can drastically and immediately help to reverse the effects of global warming. For me, this is a strong motivating factor.

Ok, well that is it for today on this topic. I don’t know that I have changed anyone’s mind just yet, but maybe I have given you one thing to think about. Eventually, I will discuss what it’s like to cut meat out, how I got through those harrowing first few days, and what to say to people who wonder where you might be getting your protein. I even have some good advice for when people try get you to admit that you are only vegetarian because your girlfriend/wife/significant other must be making you.

Some background material:
Earth Save Report
Diet, Energy and Global Warming
Can you reduce your carbon footprint with a vegan diet?
Livestock a Major Threat to Environment