Let me get this out of the way first: I AM NOT TRYING TO TURN YOU VEGAN. I do, however, believe that when people become more conscious of how their food choices impact the environment they tend to adjust their eating habits.
The tl;dr version of this diary is to just go on Netflix and watch Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret. It’s a 91-minute investment that will leave you looking at the world a little differently, and that’s a good thing.
In a nutshell, a massive (and almost completely hidden) part of the world’s ecosystem is now organized around the production of meat for human consumption. Keeping this going requires designating the bulk of our crops as animal feed as well as ongoing deforestation to generate new grazing land. This creates a double whammy of destroying plants that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while breeding and harvesting billions of methane-producing livestock. This is a one-two punch of greenhouse gas emissions.
How bad is this problem, you may ask? Well, if you’re like me, you never spent much time considering the relative biomass proportions different terrestrial vertebrates. My intuition told me that humans are plentiful, and livestock are many, but somehow we still fit into a small corner of Mother Nature’s abundance.
This is not true, it seems. Depending on which source you read the combination of us and our future meals comprises about 98% of the spine-possessing animals that walk the Earth.
In my humble opinion, that is so far out of whack as to be unsustainable. And that is to say nothing of the fertilizers and pesticides required to move the machine, or the waste runoff, or the antibiotic overuse, or the amount of water this system consumes, or the depletion of the world’s oceans.
So what should we do?
Step 1: Watch Cowspiracy. They make the case in a far more compelling manner than I can, especially in diary-form. You will be glad you did.
Step 2: Look in the mirror. Positive actions by the world’s governments are necessary to haul the planet back into a human-friendly balance. But it would be a mistake, I think, to push the responsibility solely onto our elected (cough) officials when we can make impactful moves as individuals that go well beyond energy efficiency.
Step 3: Consume fewer animal products. Very simple. While I am vegan, I believe in meeting people where they are, and understand that my diet is overkill for almost everyone starting down this path. Fortunately, we are living in a veritable renaissance of meat alternatives, from Beyond Meat and Field Roast to Garden Burger and Quorn. Try some, you might actually like them.