- Contrary to Verdantic's hopes and predictions last week, Exxon didn't do anything for the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez spill.
- Verdantic was recently confronted by a reader about what veganism or vegetarian has to do with verdancy? In other words, how is eating meat environmentally unsound, if it is a natural point along the circle of life?
Our world is no longer perfect, but if it were, animals could graze on grass and we could collect their manure to fertilize other produce. Unfortunately, a calf is ready for slaughter as soon as 14 months because it is loaded with hormones while it eats 25 pounds of corn per day. Thus, its manure is too toxic to use as fertilizer and also ruinous to wildlife in waterways. Starting from fresh and whole foods, the more a food is processed, the further it moves up the food chain. Since all farm animals eat corn, they have already progressed along the food chain. Moving up the food chain drastically reduces the food energy, while it requires more energy to produce and transport. In addition to wasting food, it is a waste of valuable calories, nutrients and natural resources.
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Re: vegetarians and the green movement and how does it fit in:
ReplyDelete"...a massive manure spill occurred at a dairy in western New York after a wall of its manure lagoon collapsed. As a result, three million gallons of animal waste spilled into the Black River, killing 200,000 to 250,000 fish, disrupting recreational tourism, and forcing Watertown, NY to temporarily suspend use of the river as a source of its public water supply"
The 2005 accident in western NY is one of many examples of why I am a vegetarian (well, vegan actually)
I think the problem is that a lot of meat eaters associate vegetarians as those who just "don't want to see cute little animals die for no reason." While this is the case for a good number of us, I personally am a vegan because I feel that eating meat from a grocery store is irresponsible due to the water pollution, the air pollution (huge amounts of N2S and NH3 from factory farms) water use (150 gallons per cow per day) and absurd transportation lengths for distribution.
That said, I would have no problem eating eggs and cheeses from a local farm with 5 or 10 cows or chickens running around eating what they would naturally eat.