Why driving a Prius is really not enough

Stirring the pot:

"A low-fat vegetarian diet is very efficient in terms of how much land is needed to support it. But adding some dairy products and a limited amount of meat may actually increase this efficiency, Cornell researchers suggest."

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct07/...otprint.sl.html

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tochatihu @ Oct 10 2007, 07:55 PM) [snapback]523947[/snapback]</div>

Key word being limited. I'm all for it. Love dairy products. Did they say what kinda meat? Not the other, other white meat I hope. As we've seen from this very thread, the kind of meat has a big impact on the efficiency of said diet.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rae Vynn @ Oct 10 2007, 11:29 PM) [snapback]524052[/snapback]</div>

Baby steps.... Baby steps. I've made a conscious effort to cut back on beef and I've been pretty successful. It ain't perfect, but it's better.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tripp @ Oct 11 2007, 12:32 AM) [snapback]524053[/snapback]</div>

That's great that you're making a such a sacrifice for the environment. I haven't been eating meat for as long as I can remember, but you're actions are a whole lot more meaningful than mine as it's no trouble for me and it's never been a "sacrifice". I can't stomach the thought of ingesting meat and don't miss it a dot. Hope you're not going through too much agony without your beef!

Do you feel any differently?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Oct 11 2007, 10:38 AM) [snapback]524135[/snapback]</div>

I wouldn't call it a sacrifice. It's a minor thing, really.

Feel the same. My arthritis has been pissing me off lately, but otherwise a feel pretty good. I've been systematically trying to improve my shitty diet. More veggies, less badness. I've mostly cut fries out, I rarely eat them anymore. Sugar is the hard part. I've reduced the amount of soda I drink (no diet, just "regular"). That's really going to be the tough one. I no longer keep it around at work, I drink tea instead (1 cube of sugar per cup). We don't buy junk food, it's the easiest way to avoid that stuff. No soda at home either. We drink loads on 1% milk (from a local diary, it's mint!) I'm slowly moving in the right direction.

Baby steps.....

 

Tripp, judging by what people have told me, taste buds will change over time and acclimate to these new healthy foods. I can't tell you how many times I think something is delicious and others nearly gag. Soon you'll probably not consider it baby steps. It would be nice if your body would fall in line and give you some type of positive reinforcement. :angry:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rae Vynn @ Oct 11 2007, 04:51 PM) [snapback]524272[/snapback]</div>

Cor luv a duck! That's interesting. I do take fish oil (oh how I hate it) and I think it helps somewhat. It's hard to know as I've got no quantifiable means of measuring the (perceived?) improvement. None the less, it's good for me whether it helps the RA or not.

I'll have to give it a go. Better eat a stick of butter to steele myself against the tough times ahead.

It's a right b*stard it is. :lol: Though, I suppose it has done a few nice things for me.

They also change over time and acclimate to delicious beer!

 

I'll begin by saying that since i didn't see this thread when it began (I seldom look in this forum -- strictly a question of time: I cannot read all of PC) I read the first page and skipped to the end.

What I wish to comment on is how so many people who boast of the positive environmental impact of driving a Prius, reacted to a long and thoughtful article on the impact of modern industrial meat production with a knee-jerk defense of their "right" to eat meat (just like the Hummer drivers who insist on their "right" to drive a 6-mpg Hummer) and how "natural" meat-eating is.

Are these folks aware of how meat production has changed in the past few decades? Are they aware of the impact on their health of eating ten or twenty times as much meat as their parents or grandparents ate?

The article pointed out that if you eat the U.S. average meat consumption, your negative environmental impact is greater than if you drive a gas-guzzler. Yet the same people who berate the drivers of gas-guzzlers go ballistic when told of the environmental impact of their meat-eating, and the modern meat industry, which is light-years away from the "natural" diet of our ancestors even a century ago.

Dredging the oceans of fish, in order to feed an unnatural and unhealthy diet to cows, chickens, and pigs, to satisfy the demand of people determined to eliminate all vegetables from their diet. A thousand gallons of water to produce a pound of chemical-laden factory beef, in a world where fresh water is being depleted to the point where in the lifetime of some people here, we'll be fighting wars over water instead of oil.

Open your eyes folks. Yes, you have the political right in these United States to eat meat. But be aware that your environmental footprint, driving your Prius and eating meat, is many times more damaging, than the environmental footprint of your parents or grandparents, who drove the gas-guzzlers of the 1950's and ate 1/10 as much meat as you do (and even at that level were eating more meat than they needed to get those few nutrients that are hard to come by in a vegan diet).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rae Vynn @ Oct 11 2007, 03:51 PM) [snapback]524272[/snapback]</div>

But Rae, I'm almost certain that I cannot live without the occasional ice cream cone.