Vegging Out

I read a disturbing book this weekend called Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.

I've heard of the horrors of factory farms for many years now but it has never drastically changed my diet. Why not?

"Just how destructive does a culinary preference have to be before we decide to eat something else? If contributing to the suffering of billions of animals that live miserable lives and (quite often) die in horrific ways isn't motivating, what would be?" --"Eating Animals" (e-location 3301 of 5290)

Honestly, because I've never had to deal with it. I don't have to see the gruesome ways that animals are raised and killed for my dinner plate.

"Having little exposure to animals makes it much easier to push aside questions about how our actions might influence their treatment." --"Eating Animals" (e-location 1375 of 5290)

...Which is so selfish it just makes me sick. I avoid watching the videos of the cruelty of factory farming because it's disgusting, and yet for years and years I still paid people to do it! Just so I could have some bacon! And yes, I still love the taste of bacon. But, after thinking about it, I'm not sure that flavor is worth the cost to the planet, the cost to the workers, and the cost to the animals.

I fear that I have become one of those people who might stand back and do nothing while the world falls apart around me. I care strongly about the environment and try to do "my part" by reusing what I can, recycling what I can't, & composting most of the rest. So why wouldn't I change my diet when the majority of meat that I can find in this country (at most restaurants and most grocery stores) is procured through means that are devastating to the environment?

"Animal agriculture makes a 40% greater contribution to global warming than all transportation in the world combined; it is the number one cause of climate change." --"Eating Animals" (e-location 555 of 5290)

So, I've finally decided to make a change and not eat meat. I'm on day one, and while I don't think it is the easy choice, I do, wholeheartedly, believe it is the right one.

"Our decisions about food are complicated by the fact that we don't eat alone....we are not merely animals that eat, but eating animals." --"Eating Animals" (e-location 2606 of 5290).