Shrinking My Footprint One Day At A Time

“Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!”–Dr. Seuss

 

 

 

 

 

So I have started my journey into more sustainable eating behaviors by cutting meat out of my diet. Cutting meat out entirely would be extremely difficult so I am sticking with my plan to start small and work my way up to more and more meatless days. This past week was not that difficult. I was able to go meatless twice. The options provided that did not include meat were delicious and satisfying. Though increasing past this two day mark might be difficult. The other five days this week all provided meat options that I just couldn’t say NO to. Especially wing bowl Friday; how does one say NO to chicken wings? Not only are they delicious, but everyone is eating them. Crowds flock to Marquis every Friday just to eat wings. I leave full and happy knowing not only is the weekend ahead, but it started off like every great weekend should- with a bowl of wings.

But when I was sitting there eating my wings this past Friday, I started contemplating cutting wings out at least one week this semester.  It would be a challenge, but one that would test how serious I am about reducing my environmental impact. The environmental impact of meat production is large. By 2020 it is predicted that world meat consumption will double.  This is due to an increased per capita global consumption along with global population growth. Most of the meat consumed will come from industrialized animal production systems.  Issues of runoff and odor, which are a problem now, will just increase as large industrialized farms increase in number and small farms with free-roaming animals decrease. More than two-thirds of agricultural land is devoted to growing feed for the mass amounts of livestock that are necessary to feed the current global population. Livestock attributes 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, including 9 percent of carbon dioxide and 37 of methane gas emissions worldwide. These percentages will just increase as meat production increases to feed a global population.

Looking at these numbers I feel that more people should become aware of the impacts meat production has on the environment. I will continue to reduce my meat consumption as the challenge progresses, challenging myself to eat more sustainably. I behavior I hope remains long after this challenge is over.

Reference

Brooks, Cassandra. Consequences of increased global meat consumption on the global environment — trade in virtual water, energy & nutrients. Retrieved from http://woods.stanford.edu/environmental-venture-projects/consequences-increased-global-meat-consumption-global-environment