Remind me: Why am I doing this?

I'm serving meatless leftovers tonight, so rather than a recipe, I offer a reminder of why cutting back on your meat consumption is good for the environment.

As Kermit noted, it's not always easy bein' green. Maybe you walked past a diner and you caught a wafting, heavenly scent of bacon. Maybe you got invited to a chili cook-off. Maybe your bagel looks lost without lox on it. It's okay to admit it: you miss meat.

Bacon on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair

I'm not eating any meat during Meatless March, but I'm not swearing off meat forever. Meat tastes good. It tastes very, very good. It tastes soooooo very very very good, doesn't it?!

Cows? Delicious. No shame in admitting it.

The idea of Meatless March is just to reorient ourselves so that meat isn't a given at most meals, even if you eat it occasionally. Meat production is resource-intensive, and according to The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth), even the lowest-impact beef production is responsible for six times more greenhouse gases and 36 times more land use than producing a plant protein like peas. But peas taste good, too!

And let's review some reasons for wanting to avoid generating greenhouse gases, which are driving up the Earth’s aggregate temperature:

• "There are already deadly impacts from the 1°C, or 1.8°F, of warming so far — including more severe and longer lasting heat waves, more heavy precipitation events, and ocean warming that is killing many of the planet's coral reefs." (https://www.axios.com/un-report-warns-time-is-running-out-global-warming-action-00c54c44-2bca-4ffc-be91-b79a9641eed5.html)
• "Species abundance is down by 60% since 1970. In the human food chain, biodiversity loss is affecting health and socioeconomic development, with implications for well-being, productivity, and even regional security." (http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Global_Risks_Report_2019.pdf)
• "The warming planet is fueling conflicts that lead to more refugees." (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-23/pentagon-fears-confirmed-climate-change-leads-to-war-refugees)
• "With continued growth in emissions at historic rates, annual losses in some [U.S.] economic sectors are projected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century—more than the current GDP of many U.S. states." (https://nca2018.globalchange.gov)

Things like carbon taxes and lowering coal use globally can have an impact on climate change over time (https://www.theskimm.com/news/4kI3QORtfO08EgccwE66uA/Things-We-Skimmd-in-2018), but how many of us are in a position to levy taxes, or secure clean sources of energy for industry? Those of us who aren't high-level decision-makers can feel powerless, but cutting back on meat consumption is a simple way for individuals to reduce their own negative environmental impact. If every individual did it, we'd collectively make a genuine difference (https://www.axios.com/growing-food-staggering-environmental-footprint-65a6d84e-3188-4b59-b68e-53dfe70a85de.html).

Spread the word!