Mike Tidwell on the Low Carbon Diet

Audubon Magazine features a great article this month on The Low Carbon Diet, aka: Being vegetarian.

The columnist, Mike Tidwell, says a few things that I have felt like a broken record saying, mostly about how people who consider themselves environmentalists conveniently leave our dietary choices off the table when talking about saving the planet. (Including taking Michael Pollan to task a bit, which I do enjoy.)

He makes the point that our beliefs about food may be so ingrained and, in a way, irrational, that only the most tough talk and moral imperative may sway most folks.

"All of which is to say that for people to care, the climate–food discussion must be about more than just facts, more than pounds of greenhouse gases per units of food. It’s got to be about morality, about right versus wrong. And I don’t mean the usual morality of environmental “stewardship.” Or even the issue of cruelty to farm animals. I’m talking here about cruelty to people, about the explicit harm to humans that results from meat consumption and its role as a driving force in climate change. Knowingly eating food that makes you fat or harms your local fish and birds is one thing. Knowingly eating food that makes children across much of the world hungry is another." 

I think it's true. But I also think it's smart of Tidwell to talk about how easy he finds it to be veg*n these days. The first question many people ask me abotu being a veg*n is "Isn't that hard?"

It's a good article. More than that I hope it's an impactful article.

Hat tip: Vegan.com