I am a vegetarian for over two decades. I stopped eating meat when I began preparing and handling the raw product.
Vegetarian since I was 15. Seems to me like anyone who cares enough about "The Environment" would notice how much of the world's greenhouse gas emission comes directly from the meat industry and how healthy an alternative it is to reduce or eliminate meat consumption... Not that I'm trying to convince anyone. Like anything else though, there has to be a financial incentive to get people moving, and this one's particularly tough to get people moving on. I'm all for adding a fuel tax to everything, and scale it based on the product lifecycle, how far it travels to reach you, etc. and then give a tax credit to vegetarians!
We make every effort to eat locally and low on the food chain (no beef or pork). We have a huge organic, french-intensive garden. We feed ourselves and several other families.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(skruse @ Jul 24 2006, 01:29 PM) [snapback]291568[/snapback]</div> Curious . . . French-intense garden . . . How do you maintain the proper balance of green leafy plants and a sustainable number of escargot? And for all the vegetarians out there . . . Are escargot off the plate too? By eating a snail you are saving a green plant from being eaten. Are you therefore not also saving the environment? No petrochemicals are used in the organic, free-range, escargot food chain either. :huh: I think eating escargot is the environmentally correct thing to do. And, all of you out there not doing your fair share by eating as much escargot as your stomach and gag reflex will allow, SHAME ON YOU! Those who only eat escargot are the only true environmentalists. They are living off the land and protecting the plants too.
Off an on for over 20 years. Now on and veganas often as possible went off when I got sick and lost so much weight that my doc said to gain weight or else. Wildkow
I'm trying hard to get there, I just need to overcome the 2 to 5 pounds of beef per week, and get down to under 4 chicken breasts a day... Ok, I guess I'm not trying that hard after all...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Jul 24 2006, 03:52 PM) [snapback]291662[/snapback]</div> Well tou are trying i guess? :mellow:
I don't really think about it much, but I suppose I am vegan-like. Vegetarian for most of my life, and now lactose intolerant
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveG @ Jul 24 2006, 04:08 PM) [snapback]291667[/snapback]</div> Sushi, hmmmm. thats Japanese for "Bait" isn't it? Wildkow
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Jul 24 2006, 02:28 PM) [snapback]291612[/snapback]</div> Reminds me of a joke, which I won't bore you with. The punch line is: "Look at that S-car go!" You can make up your own joke.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(withersea @ Jul 24 2006, 11:13 AM) [snapback]291485[/snapback]</div> Two here. Wife has been one since she was about 14 and I have been one for about 4 years, we are both 25.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ichabod @ Jul 24 2006, 02:22 PM) [snapback]291529[/snapback]</div> I'm all for the REDUCE mindset, which explains Prius. Total elimination is not necessary. But there is most definitely a benefit of smaller portions and not as often. So that's what I've been doing for as long back as I can remember.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(j24816 @ Jul 25 2006, 01:48 AM) [snapback]291852[/snapback]</div> Another of the 'almost' vegetarians with the reduce mindset here, as well. I make an attempt to get what little meat we do eat locally, from farms that treat their animals well (I might be cutting back on meat because of the environmental and sustainability reasons, but it's an ethical pinch, too, now that I know what commercial animals go through.) I grow what I can in my backyard (I think I've saved a hundred dollars on red and yellow peppers alone this year) and buy what I can't/don't at local farmers markets. I eat a lot of eggs and dairy products, though, so even if my meat intake dropped to zero (it's steadily dropped for a couple years now) I don't think I'll ever make it to vegan.
Are all the vegetarians aware that you should be taking a vitamin b12 supplement????? It's an important addition to your diet as this vitamin is typically only available through animal products. Deficiencies can take years and years to show up through symptoms. If you research this and recognize the importance, you should invest in a sublingual form as it's supposed to be more readily absorbed than processing the supplement through the stomach.