"Though I can be political, living greener is not political for me. Nor is it about running out and buying lots of "green products," or being the trendiest girl on the bandwagon.
Simply put, I did not make this ground on which I step, or paint the sky. Of my will, I cannot make a single blade of grass grow, or a stem bud and then flower. I am here as witness and steward, and worshiper of the Maker. I want to treat less callously what He made. And with a clothespin, a homemade meal, a planted seed, give thanks."
By the way, did you know that what you choose to eat has more effect on our planet than what kind of car you drive? A United Nations study reported that the meat industry is responsible for producing 40% more greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, planes, and ships in the world put together.
Christopher Flavin of the Worldwatch Institute says, "There is no question that the choice to become a vegetarian or lower meat consumption is one of the most positive lifestyle changes a person could make in terms of reducing one’s personal impact on the environment. The resource requirements and environmental degradation associated with a meat-based diet are very substantial."
Interested in exploring vegetarianism this Earth Day? Why not pledge to be veg for 30 days?
Hmm... well, I think the vegetarian diet has that effect, but only to to a point. If you live, say, in the northeast and your vegetarian diet includes apples from Washington, spinach and asparagus from CA, grapes from Peru, peaches from Argentina, and tomatoes and bell peppers from Mexico, are you really improving matters all that much?
ReplyDeleteI think the best impact of all is to eschew industrial agriculture of any form (organic or conventional) and try to remain fairly local in our food consumption. Even with occasional meat consumption, I think this sort of diet is going to have the greatest impact. But there are so many different variables going into this, it seems hard to know how to best crunch the numbers to really figure it out - if such a thing really is even knowable!
Can you tell I've been reading books like The Omnivore's Dilemma, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and Real Food recently? *grin* Lots of good food for thought there! (ok, couldn't resist, sorry)