Filed under: General
Although I try not to crow on about it too much, as I don’t want to force any opinions down anyone’s throats,
I often get asked why I eat the way I eat. (I’m vegan – but hey at least I’m not macro! Those dudes are hardcore)
Allow me to explain.
It really wasn’t much to do with animals, though that does factor in a little more now.
It was always a question of my own health (never better) and resources.
The amount of energy and land required to make equivalent animal protien and plant protien is astonishing.
The meat industry is astonishingly hungry (sorry) for energy and resources when it comes to production.
A recent study at the University of Chicago had some remarkable results.
I quote Kathy Freston from commondreams.org –
“They noted that feeding animals for meat, dairy, and egg production requires growing some ten times as much crops as we’d need if we just ate pasta primavera, faux chicken nuggets, and other plant foods. On top of that, we have to transport the animals to slaughterhouses, slaughter them, refrigerate their carcasses, and distribute their flesh all across the country. Producing a calorie of meat protein means burning more than ten times as much fossil fuels–and spewing more than ten times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide–as does a calorie of plant protein. The researchers found that, when it’s all added up, the average American does more to reduce global warming emissions by going vegetarian than by switching to a Prius.
According to the UN report, it gets even worse when we include the vast quantities of land needed to give us our steak and pork chops. Animal agriculture takes up an incredible 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet. As a result, farmed animals are probably the biggest cause of slashing and burning the world’s forests. Today, 70% of former Amazon rainforest is used for pastureland, and feed crops cover much of the remainder. These forests serve as “sinks,” absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, and burning these forests releases all the stored carbon dioxide, quantities that exceed by far the fossil fuel emission of animal agriculture.”
Her full article is quite an interesting read.
The full report is interesting if you have time.
Though for the quick, quick version, our old mates at goveg.org simply say in their take on it:
“By far, the most effective thing that you can do to fight global warming is to go vegetarian.”
Quite simply put I think.
Vegetarian is the new Hybrid car Indeed!
xx aa
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Another good reason to consider this lifestyle option; I’m considering it for many reasons but this may be the best. The report on global warming scared the hell out of me and lets hope it affects everyone in this way. All of this damage to our glorious planet and it only took us 50 or 60 years. If we “sober up” right now and all think of what we can all do individually maybe this dunderheaded world can actually leave a planet for future generations to enjoy. If panic is what it takes then bring it on!
Keep making us think about the issues that really matter Andrew. Thanks.
I have a 9 month old Jersey calf. She is so loving and adorable with the biggest brown eyes. Everyone comments on her. I often look at her and wonder how anyone could kill and eat an animal like her. It breaks my heart. I’ve been told “Cows feel no pain”. Bullshit!! I’ve had to inject her with medicine and it hurt her.
Yes, Global Warming is terrifying, but think of those poor animals too!!!
Instead of eating what we need and being self sufficient, we have evolved into a reckless, greedy, consumer driven species.
We want bigger, cheaper, and more of it. One house is not enough. The meat we buy has to be the biggest for the cheapest price, and is eaten as often as possible. McDonalds is another example of this mind set.
There is so much wastage. Think about all the meat, fruit, and vegetables that are thrown away when they are no longer fit for consumption; and packaged food when they have reached their use by date. We only consume a fraction of what is on display.
If we practice a more self sufficient way of living we would cause much less of an impact on the environment. Organic farming is really important because the chemicals sprayed on plants have far reaching effects on the habitat of animals. We often forget that we are sharing this planet with other organisms, and they don’t have a voice.
Not only is the climate changing, lifestyle related disease is prevalent, and a growing list of animals are going extinct.
yeah, i get asked a lot by my friends why i recently turned vegetarian and well, i usually direct them to the Meatrix site because my friends seem to interrupt me before I can ever finish saying what I really wanted to say.
unlike my other friend who is in love with animals and ‘forces’ her opinion onto everyone to ‘not eat a life,’ i’m vego for different reasons. I mean, we were born to eat animals, werent we? Didn’t we learn that from Charles Darwin? But times have changed. We don’t hunt for meat, we now harvest it. And yes, it’s ruining the world.
I started being vegetarian in October last year, and I know that I should have started sooner, but at least I’ve started.
To go vegan is hardcore Andrew. never doubt that. (it’s a compliment) =)
Once I finish uni I really do hope that I can maybe start a business or a company to get the word out. Or maybe I’ll just write a letter to the new Australian of the Year.
if you’re a hybrid car, i guess im still public transport. :/
thanks for the insightful blog.
=Deb=
But is Vegan really the new Hybrid car? That is, is the comparison truly valid? If an individual buys a hybrid car instead of a Canyonero, then there is a measurable reduction in the carbon emissions that the person is contributing. Even though there may be the same number of Canyoneros produced, there would be one less on the road.
But if an individual becomes Vegan, the corporations are still producing, feeding, killing, transporting, and processing the same amount of meat. Corporations take notice of much larger trends than an individual – or a few – making a change. Therefore I would contend that the idealistic view that “the average American does more to reduce global warming emissions by going vegetarian than by switching to a Prius” is, regretably, a delusion.
(Unfortunately, this analysis of the comparison is struck by the very same problem that taints the comparison itself: Comparing usage of a product with production of a product.)
I am not saying that people should not try to make whatever difference they can. What I am saying is that by far the most carbon emissions are generated by corporations. For them to change, there needs to be an exremely profound change in society’s view of consumerism on a broad scale.
Jeff, for a moment there, in your initial argument, I thought that you’re essentially saying, “Don’t bother to vote because your one little vote won’t matter.”
I thought that you might have cause imply that the individual has no power.
I am sure I am wrong…
xx aa
G, I’m glad it was only for a moment… I don’t at all mean that individuals should not do what they can; nor that individuals cannot make a difference. Indeed, there would be little point in anyone ever doing anything if that were the case.
My comments were questioning the logic of the comparison between usage of a product (deciding between a Prius or a Canyonero, resulting in personally contributing more or fewer carbon emissions) with production of a product (BeefCo producing n tonnes of meat, resulting in a specific cost to the environment before it even hits the supermarket shelf, and therefore whether we buy it or not).
Individuals do have power… they have power to decide what car they will buy… and they have power to decide what they will eat… and they have power to speak up about wasteful use of resources – such as those used for the production of meat. My point was that they don’t have power to prevent the expenditure of resources that have already been used.
So, you’re sitting there at your computer
Thinkin’, ‘Can I be less a polluter?’
Just cut out the meat
From the food that you eat…
As good as becoming a hybrid commuter?
[...] I shamelessly ripped these off from Andrew G’s blog entry about the same thing. [...]