An Incrementalist Makes an Incremental Effort

At times, my more socially-conscious friends have thrown up their hands in despair when we are discussing issues they most care about, such as environmentalism, animal rights, same sex marriage, tax policy, gun laws, etc. For the most part, I lean in the direction of being for all of these things. 

• I love the environment and all those creatures who depend on it being safe and clean.
• Animals raised to be our food should be treated respectfully.
• People should marry the person they love and want to share their things with.
• Taxes are good because they pay for things we like.
• There should be reasonable gun laws that allow reasonable people to own them - we all know someone we wouldn't want to handle our guns while we are in the room with them.

While I have family, friends, and acquaintances on all sides of these hot-button issues, I believe that some progress is better than being too afraid to take the first step. After all, moving forward is way better than moving backwards. Because of this attitude, one of my best friends recently labeled me an "incrementalist." I don't believe they meant it unkindly because in many ways it is true.

I only bring this up, because I recently decided to participate in the Meatless Monday movement. I can remember no specific determining factor that precipitated this decision. I think it was more a perfect storm of conversations and information including:

• A podcast featuring PETA VP Dan Matthews (informative without all the propaganda)
• A Time Magazine Article pointing out that from an evolutionary perspective, people really only need meat around 3 times a week. 
• A quote from the Dalai Lama which suddenly had new meaning: "If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them."

So, I did a little research. To make this even more about me, I was particularly interested in how many animals I would personally be responsible for not eating if I chose to be vegetarian one day a week. My best friend, Google, informed me that I would save 35 pounds of animals per year - Equivalent to an average 4 year old human in the United States. 

While that is impressive, I also learned that being vegetarian one day each week would also:

• Save 84,000 gallons of water - who knew it takes 2400 gallons of water to make a pound of beef?
• Save 247 pounds of grain - did you know if takes 7 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef? And nearly the same amount for pork and chicken.
• Save 15.5 gallons of gasoline.
• Reduce the world-wide supply of manure by 400 pounds. That is quite an impressive figure.
• Reduce my carbon footprint through less gasoline usage and smaller manure piles.
• Make a tiny, tiny dent in the 10 billion land animals slaughtered for food in the US each year. 
• Improve my health by eating a few more fruits and veggies.

Not bad for a one-day-a-week effort. Imagine the difference we could all make by just taking this small step together. I imagine my dear friend Clodagh's head is about to explode considering her 20-year effort to persuade me that meat is immoral. Well, these are my baby steps, my incremental effort to make the world just a little better - one day at a time.

Just down the street from my office

Full disclosure: Today, I completed my second meatless Monday. On both Tuesdays, I broke my "meat fast" with a few Snoopy's Hot Dogs. Sadly, I love to eat at the bottom of the meat quality chart. 

To read more about the above stats, go to: Go Vegetarian One Day a Week

If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/dalailama384423.html#8ELbP2gsax1p1BqJ.99

If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/d/dalailama384423.html#8ELbP2gsax1p1BqJ.99