What I've Learned

At the beginning of this class we were posed a question: which has a greater beneficial impact on the environment, being vegetarian or switching to a hybrid automobile? I must admit, I was somewhat unsure as to which was truthfully more beneficial, but I certainly had my bias. Now, after two months of in-depth research reading countless articles, both empirical and subjective, I can state my verdict – vegetarians have a greater positive impact on the environment.

While I had always suspected it might be true that being a vegetarian was ecologically conscious I had never realized the impact it can have. While the United States might not be the largest per capita consumer of meat, we are the second largest producer, just behind China. Examine the charts from the previous two links and you’ll notice a trend begin to take shape. The more successful a country is economically the more likely they are to both produce and consume large quantities of meat. But what does this mean? While there are many answers to this question, I’ve formulated my own theory.

We, and by we I’m inferring countries which are successful enough to produce large quantities of meat, need to dial back our consumption and production of meat voluntarily. This doesn’t mean we need to become nations of vegetarians, but we certainly need to become conscious of the effect that our mass consumption is having on the world. As my articles, and those of my classmates, have mentioned, it is phenomenally wasteful to produce meat. It takes far more land, water, and grain to raise enough meat to feed a person than it would vegetables and grains. If even a fraction of the land we’ve devoted to meat were converted to sustainable vegetable-based agriculture we could help combat world hunger as well as rising ecological concerns.

One thing that truly surprised me during my research is how un-ecological hybrid automobiles are. For instance, in my last article I pointed out that before a Prius ever rolls off the lot it has expending enough energy to drive for 46,000 miles. It seems somewhat wasteful to dedicate so much energy to producing new vehicles when there are hundreds of thousands of used cars that get comparable gas mileage and have already paid off their “carbon debt”. While it may not be as chic, a Geo Metro is by far more Earth-friendly than even your most cutting edge hybrids.

If there’s one lesson I could pass along to readers of this blog, it would be that making ecological decisions doesn’t have to be difficult and shouldn’t be guided by what is fashionable or trendy. Simple, small decisions can add up if we all take part. Buy a used car. Eat a salad instead of a steak. Walk instead of drive. These small steps save you money, make you healthier, and just might make the world a little bit nicer.

-Andrew Diamond