There's No Waffling in Belgium

At least when it comes to environmental footprints. Last week, the Belgian city of Ghent announced that on Thursdays, the food menus offered to city employees would be meat-free, with schools following suit in September.

In the interest of free choice, you can still request meat on those days, but most folks will be giving meat a rest for at least one day a week - taking a chunk outta the water use (as many as 2,500 gallons per pound of grain-fed beef) and greenhouse gas emissions (producing 2.2 pounds of meat spits out as much CO2 as driving for about 150 miles) associated with more carnivorous choices.

Nice work. By the way: Thanks for the beer, Belgium.

-Senior Editor Mike...off to have a Delirium Tremens in support...
Bookmark and Share
The problems you cite here stem from feeding grain to cattle, not from raising cattle in and of itself. Even the methane cattle put off (we do too, by the way) is increased when they are fed grain. It's much less in cattle that are pastured. So don't feed grain to cattle. You don't have to do that to produce beef. As for water use, not only do grain fields use lots and lots of water, but that water then runs off with all the fertilizer and pesticide it's picked up and winds up polluting our waterways. It doesn't matter if it's from an organic field, either; fertilizer pollution is fertilizer pollution, and it leads to water plant overgrowth and dead zones in major bodies of water. The root problem isn't meat-eating; that has sustained us for the duration of the existence of our species. This isn't the beef industry talking, it's anthropology. All primates began their species existence as insectivores, not grass-eaters. Some of us went on to salads, but still eat bugs and the occasional monkey. Others of us went on to be scavengers and, eventually, hunting carnivores (but non-obligate, like dogs, rather than obligate like cats). That's why human beings never evolved with special defenses like claws or fangs: you don't need those to eat bugs. At the same time we don't have multiple stomachs or protozoa like herbivores do, either. Advice like this ignores our evolutionary heritage and often leads to poor health decisions down the line. It seems like every vegan I run into is either fat (as I got, when I tried it) or emaciated-looking. There's a reason for that and it isn't "they didn't learn how to eat vegan properly." To eat vegan "properly" such that you allegedly do not ruin your health, you must rely heavily on industrial agriculture and industrial foods because the kinds of nutrients you need don't all appear in plant foods. But it's understandable if you reach the conclusion that no way can all human beings follow an evolutionarily ideal diet that nourishes us properly. I have already reached that conclusion. That is why I say meat-eating isn't the central problem. It is, instead, overpopulation. If we solve that problem then we have more leeway to make other choices without causing extensive ecological damage. If we don't, then it doesn't really matter what we eat because we're going to cause damage even if we stick with tofu. Meanwhile, if you're going to discuss meat-eating, could you please make a proper comparison between CAFO operations and pasture operations? Every single time I see this issue discussed in the "environmental" media, it comes down to CAFO versus vegetarianism (usually veganism). Those are not our only two options, you know.
tiffany jewelry hot sale now with discount. Tiffanyhotsale provides the best Tiffany & Co jewelry, including Necklaces, Bracelets, Earrings, Pendants and so on .
thanks for your goodwork this ed hardy ed hardy clothing ralph lauren polo juicy coutureafternoon.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <font> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <p> <br> <img>

More information about formatting options