
This is not another doom and gloom piece about how eating meat is destroying the planet, I promise.
But Ecorazzi senior editor Michael Parrish DuDell's recent blog about environmentalists partying with beef tartar got me thinking: If people know about the massive global damage caused by meat production, why is making a change so difficult? Is it because people don't care? Is it because it's too difficult to give up meat? I'd argue it's neither. It's simply because we all think: it's just me and my burger, what's the difference?
Well, instead of more stark statistics and guilt, I thought I'd try something different: inspirational facts on the difference you could be making. The source for the following list is Marianne Thieme's amazing documentary, Meat the Truth, a quirky, unauthorized sequel of sorts to the more famed An Inconvenient Truth. You can watch an abbreviated version of the film here.
Here's what Marianne's research team found it would mean if all Americans left meat off their plates for just one day. Or two. And so on. I suggest you print out this list and put in on your fridge door, you might just get inspired:
- If all Americans did not eat meat for one day a week, they would save 99.6 megatons of greenhouse gas emissions. This would be the equivalent of removing 46 million round trip flights between Los Angeles and New York, or taking 19.2 million cars off the road for a full year.
Need another reason? I thought not.
And if you're one of those people who still feels I'm just trying come between you and your burger, I say: not at all. Just eat a veggie burger. At least once a week.