Why going vegetarian doesn't mean saving the world
As I was going through my Facebook feed recently, I saw a video by Dr. Melanie Joy on the incongruence of our eating habits and our morals. According to her, there is such a thing called “carnism” which is the belief system that conditions us to eat certain kinds of meat but not others. I highly recommend you watch the video.
What I learned is that while we proclaim to be activists against animal cruelty and we scoff or downright shudder at the notion of eating our pet dogs, we don’t even bat an eye at eating a huge slab of steak.
In the Philippines, where I’m from, we’ve even become accustomed to seeing a whole roasted pig (tail, ears, hooves and all) when attending family gatherings or birthday celebrations.
So began my discomfort of eating meat. While I don’t eat that much myself, as I just generally prefer the taste and texture of vegetables (and carbs!), I still wanted to try getting my meat consumption as close to zero as possible.
I remembered mentioning to my friend a few weeks back that I wanted to try becoming a vegetarian. What I didn’t expect was his response: “Isn’t being a vegetarian bad for you?” I was sure then that the answer was, no.
But as I’ve begun to experiment and write more about my environmental impact, I wanted to find out just how important it is to the environment that we go vegetarian.
Kinds of vegetarianism
When I was doing my research for this post, I was completely surprised that there were numerous kinds of vegetarianism. While I knew the difference between being a vegan and a vegetarian, I didn’t know more was involved.
According to an article on the Harvard Health Publications, there are five types of vegetarians:
- Vegans: These people don’t consume anything made from animal products. These include meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, etc.
- Lacto-ovo vegetarians: These are vegetarians that don’t eat meat, poultry, or fish, but eat eggs and dairy products.
- Lacto vegetarians: They’re the same with lacto-ovos except they don’t consume eggs.
- Ovo vegetarians: They’re the opposite of lacto vegetarians. They don’t consume dairy products but do consume eggs.
- Partial vegetarian: These vegetarians generally avoid meat but may eat fish or poultry.
So, already I’m beginning to see that going vegetarian is much more complex than I originally thought.
The implications of going vegetarian
More than just the complexity of choosing which type of vegetarian I wanted to be, there was also my friend’s concern. Was going vegetarian bad for my overall health?
What surprised me were the various articles and studies that point to the affirmative. But hang on! Most of these articles do go on to mention that becoming a vegetarian is generally good, but you have to pay close attention to the nutrients you’re eating (or lack thereof).
The same article from the Harvard Health Publications indicated that there is some correlation (however small) of vegetarianism with a decreased risk of heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. But it also notes that because of possible nutrient deficiencies, some women may be more prone to poor bone health (particularly those who don’t consume dairy products).
Apparently, if you’re considering becoming a vegetarian, you better monitor the following nutrients closely, as you’re likely not going to get enough of them:
- Protein
- Vitamin B12
- Zinc
- Iron
- Omega-3 fatty acids
A 2013 study by Alexandra Schmid and Barbara Walther in the Advances in Nutrition journal even mention that there is a specific vitamin that we can only get from meat (D-3).
So, being a vegetarian is generally good for us. But we have to watch our nutrient intake like hawks or it might do more harm than good.
So is meat an option?
Becoming a vegetarian may not be an option for everybody. You may need to have a larger intake of iron if you’re anemic, for example. Or perhaps certain types of meat are generally more cost-efficient in certain countries and are thus more viable options for household consumption.
Whatever the case, I wanted to know if eating meat was still on the table even if I wanted to stop climate change and eventually save the world.
After doing some research, apparently it is. But there are many (and I mean many) caveats.
The amount
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the amount of meat you eat can drastically affect your carbon footprint. Eat more and it goes up, eat less and it goes down. The United Nations estimates that cultivating livestock for meat production accounts for 14.5 percent of all manmade greenhouse gas emissions. So, lessening that amount is critical.
I typically find that it’s easy to cut out meat from my meals every other day — going one day without a single serving then having one serving the next. I found that it’s also possible to only eat meat on the weekends (I told you, I’m a veggie rabbit). I do have to substitute my meatless-ness usually with tofu, nuts, and beans.
The point is, just having a regular meat eating schedule can help. If you know your meat-loving friends usually ask you out for dinner on Fridays, make that your steak/fried chicken/bacon day and cut down on Mondays to Thursdays.
But eating less meat isn’t the only factor. Keep reading to know the rest.
The means
Obviously, how and where you get your meat is also important to curb your carbon footprint. Is your chicken breast canned and shipped from overseas? Is your lamb stew not locally made?
This 2007 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council confirms that how and where you get your food is important. According to the study:
When you combined all locally grown food, it still produced less carbon dioxide emissions in transport than any one imported product.
That’s a giant cut on your carbon footprint.
So, how do you tell if your food is locally-sourced or not? In the Philippines, it’s quite easy — just don’t go to supermarkets and opt for wet markets. A majority of the fresh produce and meats you get from wet markets are sourced locally (you can tell from the smell).
If you can’t help but shop at supermarkets, look for items with less packaging. This usually indicates that it doesn’t need to be kept fresh and preserved for long.
The type
As you go through the meat selection at your local grocery store, you’ve probably stumbled upon these labels:
- Grass-fed
- Pasture-raised
- Organic
So what do these mean?
Grass-fed: Industrial animal mills usually resort to soy, corn, and other cheap fillers to fatten their “products.” This releases a massive amount of C02 not only because the animals themselves release methane and other harmful gasses but because the production of their feed devastates ecosystems. In fact, the production of soy and other animal feeds have been recently linked to the largest “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. So, grass-fed animals are usually seen as more sustainable, as they don’t require the production of such feeds.
Pasture-raised: These animals are typically not only more sustainable, having been grown and fed on pastureland, but they are also much healthier. They are free to roam, treated humanely, and are generally not intentionally fattened.
Organic: There’s usually a governing body in every country to certify whether a product is organic or not (the most popular governing body is the USDA). Organic products mean that animals aren’t genetically modified, treated with hormones, or injected with antibiotics.
Why is this important? Choosing meats with these labels and certifications lead to generally a smaller footprint, as it gives you a picture of how they were sourced, grown, and producted.
Conclusion
So here are the things I’ve learned:
- Going vegetarian is more complex than I thought
- Monitoring your nutrient intake is paramount
- Meat can be a sustainable choice given some restrictions
But I think what I learned most in this endeavor is that going vegetarian isn’t the most important thing to save the planet. In fact, if you don’t monitor where and how you get your beloved veggies, you could be causing a whole range of different problems.
Instead, what is most important is your ability to judge whether your food source (vegetable or meat) is sustainably grown and locally sourced. Doing some research into which foods you eat, how much of them you eat, and where you get them is much more valuable than just cutting out meat entirely.
Thanks for reading! I’m generally interested in carrying out environmental experiments at home. If you’ve got a suggestion for an experiment you’d like me to try, feel free to drop a comment below!
Love,
Jac ❤
