Pass the Broccoli
• 60% of all water used in America is used for meat production.
• It takes 16 pounds of grain and 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat.
• The livestock population of the US consumes enough grain and soybeans to feed over five times its human population.
• Eating 1 pound of meat emits the same amount of greenhouse gasses as driving an SUV 40 miles.
These facts and others were brought to my attention a few weeks ago during a panel discussion on humanity's responsibility to the environment. I've given this a lot of thought since then, and though I still have more research to do, I've decided to try to pursue a pseudo-vegetarian lifestyle (I won't call myself vegetarian as my brother informed me that true vegetarian's are annoyed by people who do so)... for the time being I've decide to stop purchasing meat and supporting an industry that's helping to speed up the consumption of our planet's limited resources.
The reason I'm not going to take a full-fledged vegetarian stance is because I still like meat (I'm gonna miss chicken A LOT) and I don't want to be catered to when I go out with friends or to someone's home - I intend to eat meat when it's offered. My decision to refrain from meat goes only as far as my personal spending - I don't judge those who continue to buy but I'll be happy to answer questions about my decision...
What does this leave me to eat? That's what I'm trying to figure out. Of course I'll be eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and grains. I'm still going to eat eggs and cheese, though I hope to purchase a lot more locally grown food at the Farmers Market in town. I plan to experiment with tofu, but as was pointed out to me by a friend, it's not the best option as soybeans do a lot of damage to the soil in which they're grown and the farmers who grow them use tons of nitrogen to get huge yields. I guess I still have more research in this department.
For now, I will continue to study about this lifestyle change and I welcome any suggestions or tasty recipes... and I'll keep you posted on my progress!
**The above bullet points come from Robin Robertson's web site and goveg.com's web site.
If you're looking for a neat term to discribe what you're doing (since it's not technically "vegetarian" and I appreciate your sidenote xoxo) you could just say you're going green. Makes sense and most directly identifies your motivation.
Oh, and if you're cutting down on meat, make sure you eat plenty of green veggies for your iron, and combine your starches with your legumes so that you can get complete proteins.
Good for you! I'm going green, too.
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You Spartans... always trying to suck the rest of us in...
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