Veggie or Non-Veggie?

I have increasingly found it troubling to consider the dilemmas surrounding meat eating in our household. This spurred out of a long time want to be a vegetarian but never being able to properly manage the diet for my own wellbeing but also out of a few posts I read on The Atlantic Magazine blog in their Food stream (here, here, here and here)

I had tried to consider myself at least a "conscious meat eater, but as you'll note in that last link "How 'Conscientious Carnivores' Ignore Meat's True Origins" by James McWilliams, even this feat would be inadequate. It's not the most compelling article, but certainly the picture is rather gruesome (reminds me of this horrible art-activism montage that is a Nike shoe made out of human leather). For me, when it came to the reality of trying to be a

conscious meat eater, it just did not materialize. Out at restaurants and such, 9 times out of 10 you have no idea where it came from. At the grocery store, we just stopped buying meat altogether, because we couldn't afford the alternatives.

In the argument of animal cruelty, I had never been one to succumb to that guilt. I had packed it away somewhere, but if I even begin to consider it, I become increasingly uncomfortable with my far removal from the animals I eat, knowing with immense regret that I would not be able to kill another living being.

Sustainability

When it comes down to it, a most convincing argument for me comes down to sustainable, far reaching solutions to food. Even if you are not the one who is able to support a vegetarian lifestyle, that you will benefit from the greater, positive effects of green lifestyles.

The second link is called "The Absurdity of Trying to Measure a Food's Sustainability" where the challenges of quantifying things that are not quantifiable for the purpose of indexing are explored. Seeing a price tag beyond monetary value might sway some to vote with their dollar. But, in all honesty, I find it hard to say whether this helps, hinders or does little. Food labels already exist for our own health, yet many do not know how to read them or do not feel they have the time or money to really consider them.

My philosophy tends to be, if you found it in the aisle and it has a food label, it's probably already not very good for you, as it is likely quite processed.


My favourite of the articles is the first link, called "Infographic: The Carbon Footprints of 20 Foods, Shown as Car-Miles" an easy to understand visualization of the environmental impact. The Environmental Working Group has an easy to understand brochure that you can download the pdf of here. Within it, they present this graphic (based on lifecycle assessment by cleanmetrics.com)

So, at the end of the day, I would not say that I’m a strict vegetarian but I have considerably cut down on meat, selecting a vegetarian option when I can. That said, I am being careful not to turn this into a tofu or processed-to-taste-just-like-meat diet, but one that is balanced and varied.


Bees

By the way, the thid link is about bees, who are dying out because they need undisturbed wild flowers which are predominantly in livestock grazing areas.

The story of the death of bees is a sad one (excellent David Suzuki video available on the cbc website here), one of displacement and disease. They suffered especially in the postal strike, as their hives are shipped around the country to various farms to “service them” and move on. Upon further consideration, it’s certainly an interesting line of work.