I hate to break it to you, but in my multiple reasons for switching to a vegetarian diet (as of Sunday, May 4th–I’m a recent convert, I know) there is nothing about the poor animals’ suffering. While I believe the way animals are treated in CAFOs is ethically wrong and horrible, I would be completely willing to eat animals that have been born, raised, and slaughtered in humane conditions that are sustainable and allow them to behave as their nature would have them. Unfortunately, for most of the year, I live on campus at a lovely university, and I can be pretty sure that these qualifications are not met by the company that provides our food (time to write some letters, I think?). So, if I have no qualms with the heartless killing of innocent creatures, why go to the trouble of adopting a vegetarian diet?

I’ll start with the reason that first started me down the path–I’m going to Scotland in the spring for a semester of studying abroad. I am so excited about this that it’s kind of hard to put it into words, so I’ll just tell you that I’m pumped. I’ll be living in Findhorn, an ecovillage on the northern coast, with 10-20ish other college kids participating in their Community Semester. Yes, I appreciate the irony of flying half-way around the world to learn about sustainable living, but I’m young and have wanderlust, so it’s just something my conscience will have to deal with. Anyway, the cuisine served in the community kitchen at Findhorn is vegetarian, so I figured why not start getting ready now? Thus the expedition began.

Reason #2: My family’s health history is scary. I’ve said it before: I’ll be lucky to live past 40 without some terrible ailment. There’s cancer and heart disease everywhere, endocrine disorders, cholesterol issues, you name it. So my goal is to live as healthily as possible, because I kind of like life.

Reason #3: The vast majority of meat produced in the US is floating on a vast ocean of cheap corn (I can’t remember if I’m stealing this metaphor from Micheal Pollan’s amazing book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma*, or not, so I’ll just be safe and give him some credit), which in turn is based on cheap oil, which as we all hopefully are starting to grasp, will not last forever. It is a completely unsustainable system that is costing us through the health of our landscapes and bodies.

Reason #4: The most important one–we can feed a heck of a lot more people on grains and produce than we can on meat. I remember briefly discussing in freshman biology the principle that only ten percent of something an organism consumes becomes more mass on that organism (I can’t remember the name of this little fact for the life of me). So basically, a cow eats 100 pounds of feed and makes 10 more pounds of cow from that. So instead of 100 pounds of food going directly to humans, it’s reduced to 10 pounds of food. We need to stop growing all this corn for cows–which isn’t even what they’re supposed to eat in the first place–and instead grow food that people can eat. I, for one, think global hunger sucks. Let’s do something to fight it. Vote with your stomach

*There’s no link for this one–get it at your local library or independent book store!

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what I’m currently appreciating: Pandora Radio, and couscous from the bulk bin at my favorite grocery store