Going Meatless (And Not Only on Mondays)

When I inputted my information in the Carbon Footprint Calculator I was surprised to find that my greenhouse gas emission for my food and diet was double that of the U.S. average. It scared me. This caused me to think that perhaps the sustainable behavior I chose could control what I put in my body. I had previously attended the Good Food and Clean Water: Will Corporate Agriculture Ever Deliver? and the Veganism for Omnivores talks, which informed me just how much of an impact raising and slaughtering animals had on the environment. I was not aware of this prior to the presentations and further research into this informed me its fossil fuel energy use is extremely high and that the U.S. consumes radically more meat than almost every nation in the world. All of this convinced me and I decided to become a vegetarian. I considered only giving up meat on Mondays, but I decided that giving it up completely would be easier for me.

The idea of giving up meat is foreign to me because I come from a family that looves meat. By that I mean that we have to have some kind of meat on our plate for almost every meal. I think that there is only one vegetarian I know of in my family. I have never given up meat for this long before and I foresee it being very difficult, especially since I do not have anyone else who is giving it up with me. Also, I am a bit forgetful so I am  afraid that I will just not remember that I am going meatless now. In order to prevent myself from forgetting I have written on a couple of post its that say “Go Meatless” and have put them on my desk. I also took a picture of one and set it as the wallpaper to my phone so that everytime I look at it I’m reminded. Sure I miss looking at my bunny’s face instead, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. I think the next few weeks are definitely going to be interesting.