my journey without meat

i became a vegetarian out of convenience as a 15 year old. i'd given up meat for lent over the years and though, hmph, i don't like red meat that much any way. and that choice turned into a lifestyle. i've had to explain and defend why i don't eat meat so many times it makes my head spin.

as a 15 yr. old i didn't have any good or particular reasons for why i didn't have meat. but as i've gotten older and have learned more, i do find that it is easier to explain. we in the states actually eat much more meat than we need. much more. and it's easy to say, oh i like meat, i can't give it up, it's so good...

but, consider this.

The worrisome news is that as the world economy grows, so does global meat consumption. The average person in the industrialized world eats more than 176 lb. of meat annually, compared with around 66 lb. consumed by the average resident of the developing world. As developing nations get richer, one of the first things citizens spend their extra income on is a more meat-rich diet. Whereas pork would once have been a rare luxury in China, today even the relatively poor in the country's cities can afford a little meat at almost every meal — so much so that pork imports to China rose more than 900% through the first four months of the year. In 2008, global meat production is expected to top 280 million tons, and that figure could nearly double by 2050. Producing all that meat will do more than just warm the world; it will also raise pressure on land resources....And of course, the human health impact of too much meat can be seen in everything from bloated waistlines in America to rising rates of cardiovascular disease in developing nations, where heart attacks were once as rare as a T-bone steak.

giving up meat, just once a week could make a difference!

It's true that giving up that average 176 lb. of meat a year is one of the greenest lifestyle changes you can make as an individual...The geophysicists Gidon Eschel and Pamela Martin have estimated that if every American reduced meat consumption by just 20%, the greenhouse gas savings would be the same as if we all switched from a normal sedan to a hybrid Prius.

these are interesting findings by various people. they are outlined by this article from TIME.

i know that we have the convenience of choices to limit what we eat, drive less/carpool, buy less....it really comes down to us being reminded that our choices affect those around the world and our planet.