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Frustrated with lack of government action, I became a vegetarian. Technically, pescatarian – but very rarely, because overfishing, mercury, etc. We need govern
by gdubs 9y ago
Frustrated with lack of government action, I became a vegetarian. Technically, pescatarian – but very rarely, because overfishing, mercury, etc.
We need government action on this, and I don't have illusions that my vegetarianism will make a dent in the problem. But, I believe in taking the actions you can.
I've also become an advocate for permaculture food production. I will talk at length about it to anyone who will listen. [1].
We waste a ton of carbon making food. Even if you just cut down on meat consumption, you'd be reducing your carbon footprint pretty significantly. But it's not just meat vs vegetables. It's also the way we've centered our food production around monocultures. Or how we demand fruit that's out of season in January, that gets shipped and trucked across the globe. (Again, guilty – I have kids and sometimes you just need to convince them to eat anything besides pasta, but that's another story.)
Maybe for you it's not vegetarianism, but something else you can change in your own life. We may not fix the problem with our individual changes alone – but I do believe our individual efforts can create positive momentum towards progress.
1: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16441733-restoration-agriculture https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16441733-restoration-agr...
- hinkley 9y agoIf nothing else you are voting with your wallet, and perhaps being a role model or peer pressure for others.
- kaiku 9y agoI agree with you about government action. That said, if you work for a company, rally together with your like-minded coworkers to push for change within your organization. Even small companies can have an outsized impact on both mindshare and environmental direction. I belong to a group broadly devoted to environmentalism where I work, and we push on things from renewables; having less meat and more vegetables at lunch and dinner (we're very lucky to have catered food); and bringing in guest speakers.