Ginger Bunny

Eating less meat

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:10:06 -0400

I have made the effort to eat little or no meat for the same reasons as Marco. People are often confused by my choice and think I am vegitarian. Many people think it is black or white. Meat eater or Vegan. I have reduced my meat consumption to maybe 1 or 2 servings a week of only seafood or traditional farm raised animals. I have been doing this for 2 years and do not miss over consuming meat.

Thanks Marco for this post. I am glad more people are starting to see the grey area and concerns of over consuming.

marco:

I’ve made a dramatic shift in my diet over the last few weeks: eating almost no meat. (update: thoughts on fish.)

There are plenty of good reasons not to eat meat, including:

The treatment of the animals is awful. The more you know about industrialized meat production, the less you want to support it. (And it’s not just for cows. Chickens and turkeys aren’t much better, and pigs are probably the worst.)

High-volume meat production creates a large environmental burden, usually as a result of having to feed the animals so much and figure out what to do with their waste.

Meat is more calorie-dense than many alternative foods, and red meat in particular is unhealthy to eat frequently. Non-meat-heavy diets can generally be much healthier.

Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food makes a great argument for low-meat diets. (You should really read it regardless of your thoughts on meat. Do you eat? Then it’s relevant to you.)

Wait, so are you a vegetarian now?

No.

I’m not big on all-or-nothing obsessiveness. I’m not a recovering hamburger addict who will sink back into meat abuse if I ever have another taste again. All things in moderation.

The problem isn’t eating animals. It’s a lot of people eating a lot of animals. If demand was reduced to 25% or less of its current level, we’d see massive environmental and health improvements. Humane animal treatment is trickier, since you’re still killing and eating them, but it could be improved if less meat was needed and it could command a higher price. For instance, actual free-range (not the bullshit kind) and grass-fed animals would become more practical.

A few weeks ago, I decided to significantly reduce my meat consumption. To start, I went all-vegetarian for one week to force myself to broaden my horizons a bit (especially for office lunches) and try new non-meat options. It worked, and was much easier than I expected.

Now, I’ve lowered my overall meat consumption to approximately these levels that I intend to maintain:

Chicken or turkey: 1-2 meals per week.

Beef: 0-1 meal per month.

Pork: Almost never. Occasionally as a minor ingredient in something else.

With such a severe reduction, I’ll achieve most of the benefits of vegetarianism, but without many of the inconveniences. It’s still ridiculously easy to get good meals at restaurants or while traveling. I don’t even like tofu or giant mushrooms, and it’s still much easier than I expected to avoid meat most of the time and still eat healthy, satisfying, widely available meals.

Try it.

If a lot of people made this change, we could make a big difference on many important fronts.

Do the vegetarian week, then see how little meat you really need to eat. You may be pleasantly surprised at how easy and practical it is.

Web 2.0 - Keynote, Clay Shirky

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:35:30 -0400

Web 2.0 - Keynote, Clay Shirky

Vimeo, Video Sharing For You

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:19:18 -0500

Vimeo, Video Sharing For You

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION on Vimeo (via Vimeo)

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:06:23 -0500

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION on Vimeo (via Vimeo)

"Speak when you are angry—and you will make the best speech you’ll ever regret."

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:31:00 -0400

““Speak when you are angry—and you will make the best speech you’ll ever regret.””

- Laurence J. Peter

SNAPSHOTS By: Frank Lieu

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:30:29 -0400

SNAPSHOTS By: Frank Lieu

School vs. Work

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:29:05 -0400

Throughout my working and academic career I have learned so much. One of the most important things I have learned is you hate school while your young then you work and you hate work and then you go back to school to get a career you love and you love school again.

It’s all relative to your perspective.

Ginger Bunny