Eating Animals

Eating Animals

The Carbon Costs of Diet

For her nineteenth birthday, I asked my daughter what she wanted. She told me that she'd like my gift to be reading a book.
"Ooh, What book?" I asked.
"Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer," she answered.

Now, I have always considered myself an Environmentalist. It's part of who I am.

I grew up hiking. I was a Boy Scout (and actually, an honorary Girl Scout in my mom's troop before that.) I went on trash hikes as an elementary schooler. The tree in my front yard, I planted on Arbor Day in fifth grade. I joined the outing club as a teen. I vote for environmental referenda, give to Clean Water Action, and even supported Ralph Nader in 2000 (albeit from Massachusetts). Environmentalist is part of my identity.

I have also always been an omnivore.

I believe that humans evolved eating plants and meat. I am not personally bothered by killing animals. I have fished for and even slaughtered, food. I like beef and lamb and chicken and cheese, and of course, bacon. Meat was a part of my cultural tradition, and an big part of my family table.

Jonathan Safran Foer is a New York Times best selling author and wonderful story teller. Eating Animals tells the compelling tale of our system of animal based food production and all its ramifications. In chapter three, he shares that "our food choices contribute at least as much to climate change as our transportation choices." He notes that the United Nations recently summarized the effects of animal farming as "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale, from local to global."

He ends the section on Environmentalism with, "Most simply put, someone who regularly eats factory-farmed animal products cannot call himself an environmentalist without divorcing that word from its meaning."

I was stunned.
I regularly eat store-bought meat.
I am an environmentalist.
Who am I?


According to "Shrinkthatfootprint.com" The average American's food footprint is 2.5 tons per year.  The average U.S. vegetarian's is 2/3rds of that at 1.7 tons.  A U.S. vegan diet is roughly 1.5 tons per year.



That day, I became a vegetarian.
It was not hard. My wife had been a vegetarian for years. But it took my child to nudge me. I love exploring the glories of vegetarian food. I aspire to be vegan, or mostly vegan, but have not yet made the jump.

Vegetarian and Vegan (for carbon) are not absolutes:
If the goal is Carbon Footprint reduction, then the goal is achieved by every incremental step. Meatless Mondays are a good first step for many. The occasional slice of bacon is far better than a steak once a week. Cow milk in your coffee is OK, especially if you forgo cheese on your sandwich. (But have you tried oat milk in your coffee yet? It might be even better.)

Where's the Cheese?
When it comes to Carbon, it turns out, that it is not just about meat. But it is also, not just about dairy. As this graph from the Businessinsider.com shows, cheese is the third most carbon intensive food, behind lamb and beef, and slightly worse that pork, salmon and turkey. Milk and yogurt? They are actually not so bad.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-10-foods-with-the-biggest-environmental-footprint-2015-9


Today, I am still a practicing vegetarian. By that one choice, I have reduced my Carbon Footprint from diet by 32%. But I strive to do better.

The Apprentice Path:
Each of us comes to our diet decisions in our own time, in our own way. Food is personal.
For the path today, I suggest...

• Check out Eating Animals from the library, or download the audio book.
• Commit to "Meatless Mondays" or "Vegan Sundays" or "Vegetarian January."
• Ask for vegetarian food at the next work meeting or social function. 

Small steps, make a difference. Normalizing low carbon diets, matters.