I hope that President Obama, the members of Congress, and the rest of us will
all consider going meatless one day of the week. Pie-in-the-sky thinking?
Maybe, but I hope not. We only have one earth and we should try to do whatever
it takes to save it.
Heather Moore has written yet another very worthwhile article on Care2
called "Are Meatless Mondays Going Global? I think the best way I can condense
her article is by asking some thought-provoking questions for which- in my
opinion, she has very good answers.
1. Did you know that going vegetarian for at least once a week is becoming
the "green" thing to do in some countries? Israel began promoting Vegetarian
Monday in their upscale restaurants. Paul McCartney is spreading the message
in Britain and Australia and just recently the city of Ghent, Belgium urged its
citizens to eat vegetarian on Thursdays. Way to go!
2. Did you know that not surprisingly- we in the US are lagging behind in
adopting this concept? However, kudos to Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
which is sponsoring Meatless Mondays to help Americans eat healthier. This
will also help the environment and animals as well. The less meat we eat - the
less green house methane gas expulsed into the air. Also fewer animals will
need to suffer as a result of our intensive CAFO farming and slaughtering methods.
We can also help to halt water pollution as well.
3. Did you know that if meat-eating patterns don't change -the world wide per
capita meat consumption is expected to rise by 14 per cent in 2030. And when
you factor in population growth- the rise equates to an increase of about 53
percent in global net consumption. Not at all what we need to lesson the continued
threat of global warming from the significant amounts of methane production by
the animals.
4. Did you know that '"The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook" states
that "refusing meat" is the "single most effective thing you can do to reduce your
carbon footprint?" But I have to interject here - how many of us truly care? How
many people even bother to read enlightening posts such as the one by Heather
Moore and others of her ilk? I don't think even President Obama has given this
much thought either. How to get to him? What about his cabinet? What about
Congress? I think they pretty much are daily meat eaters with the one exception
that I know - my own congressman- Dennis Kucinich who is a vegan. Does
anyone know of any other exceptions? If our leaders don't feel the need to curb
global warming by eating less meat - what kind of example are they showing to us
their constituents? Ms. Moore suggests we don't wait for any politician to
designate a vegetarian day and that we should pick one ourselves. She even thinks
that once we mastered one day a week - we may "graduate" to two and so on.
What an optimistic thinker! God bless her.
5. Did you know that Care2 has a site where you can sign ''our vegetarian for a
month" petition? You'd be surprise - sometimes just such a signing may start
you on a course of hopefully no return to the over-eating meat habit. And Heather
even steers us to a place for recipes and product suggestions: www.VegCooking.com.
And lastly, I have to reply to a comment which asked - How is this a new concept?
The writer says "that the Catholic Church has suported meatless days as long as
I have been alive. They are certainly global and have lots of followers. I believe
1.3 billion Catholics was the last count."
Well, whoever wrote that comment must have been born after 1966 when the Pope
at that time took away the obligation of 52 MEATLESS FRIDAYS each year for
Catholics. What an impact that would have made if that Pope had not lifted the
meatless Friday ban. Goes to show you Popes don't always make wise decisions.
The 7 meatless Fridays during Lent we now observe are hardly comparable to the
impact of the the 52 meatles Fridays of the past. If we had been observing meatless
Fridays -can you imagine how many animal lives would have been spared? Can
you imagine how much less methane green gas would have been expelled into the
air since then?
Since I'm a vegan, I don't have to pick a day - but if I did - I would choose Friday
again as remembering the day Jesus died on the cross.
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