[A-List] You Can Have My Bacon When You Pry It From My Cold Dead Greasy Hands

[Leigh Meyers <the.buffalo.in.the.midst@xxxxxxxxx>]

A sidebar to the diet-as-politics debate:

01.21.2007
You Can Have My Bacon When You Pry It From My Cold, Dead, Greasy Hands. 
(24 comments ) 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/toby-barlow/you-can-have-my-bacon-whe_b_39167.html>

Toby Barlow

While it is admirable that people like Kathy Freston are promoting a 
vegetarian diet as a viable solution to climate change, what about those 
of us who just really love the salty meats?

A simpler answer is to simply not use meat as the default answer 
whenever you're putting a meal together. Cutting your meat diet by 60% 
would allow you to contribute to a significant reduction in the climate 
changing emissions while making that rare melon ball wrapped in pancetta 
(mmmn, pancetta) just that much more delicious.

Don't get me wrong, I think our diets are ridiculous. And as we all 
know, it's all about the sauce anyway, so smother that tofu in teriyaki 
sauce or make that rice and bean burrito a little spicier, but just 
don't think that if you're not ready to go vegi 100% then you are going 
to hell on a roast spit.

We can and should and must react to the realities of climate change. 
Last year James Hansen, the NASA climate scientist, was saying we have 
about ten years. Which means-- doing the sort of math I can handle -- 
we're now down to nine years, and we still haven't seen the sort of 
radical policy change that will make a difference. We need clean coal, 
we need more people behind the wheel of hybrids (though the sooner 
people stop worshipping the great god Toyota the better, since they are 
infinitely more interested in selling massive tundra-melting Tundra 
trucks than Prius cars) and we need lots and lots of solar panels.

But extremism in any stripe gets me nervous, and becoming a social 
pariah just because I want a side of link sausage with my oatmeal 
doesn't seem to be the right answer.

Finally, if we're talking about changing our diets for a better planet, 
then a dramatic reduction in the consumption of fish is an important 
part of the story. According to the New York Times, we have about fifty 
years before we have fished the oceans to extinction. So, order 60% less 
salmon, 60% less steak, and help achieve a greater balance (not to 
mention you'll have a lot less mercury and fat circulating around in 
your system.)

Plus, you can still enjoy any backyard barbecue you hit without coming 
off like one of those wack jobs who make everyone feel guilty for every 
bite they take.

--30--