“Until we have real leadership on climate, changing what we eat
is the biggest thing we can do to save the planet.” This from a writer who loves meat yet knows
people must stop eating it, for the sake of the earth and all the people on it.
 |
| Impossible Burger NYT pic |
In his latest column, Timothy Egan also said, “At a moment when
animal-based agriculture is near the top of planet-killing culprits, ditching
meat for substitutes, faux or otherwise, is the
most effective thing an individual can do to fight climate change.” He writes favorably about the increasingly
popular “Impossible Burger” and other substitutes for meat.
And he argues against the great cost of producing one beef burger:
“Industrial agriculture to produce meat is the coal-mining of food
production. Producing a single beef burger takes
about 660 gallons of water — equivalent to a full week of water use by the
average household in the United States.”
Egan
doesn’t even need to mention the astronomical numbers of innocent animals bred
for slaughter to keep feeding meat-eaters what they want. He’s already won with his save the world argument.
 |
| Beef cattle shed |
What more (till the 2020 election) do we need to know before
making a dramatic change in our eating lives by eschewing meat? As Egan put it: “Fake Meat Will Save Us”!
I’ve mentioned
Impossible Burgers here before (http://1moreonce.blogspot.com/2019/05/justice-comes-to-hamilton-twps-animal.html),
along with Field Roast’s delicious vegan hot
dogs and burgers (sausage and roasts too). There are
alternatives to meat, and apparently they’re getting better every day. As
recent experience demonstrates. . .
The day Egan’s column appeared last week, my friend and I
returned to the Savory Leaf Café (Trenton Farmers Market) for lunch. A fan of
Impossible Burgers from the get-go, she had another one and found it delectable,
again. I opted for a vegan Reuben, with “fake” corned beef, vegan Russian dressing and real
sauerkraut on excellent rye bread. I’d
do it again.
OK,
beef cattle, maybe your long ordeal will come to an end (along with the damage
you do to the environment). Now, what about pigs and their short, brutal lives
necessitated by meat-eaters who consume their
bacon, ham and pork ad nauseam?
 |
| Brutus & Debbie APLNJ pic |
Treated
as commodities, not sentient beings -- social and playful, with intelligence
that rivals dogs’ smarts -- pigs are routinely tortured through cold indifference
or outright cruelty. In discussing video footage from pig factory farms in the
US and British Columbia, Daniel Paden, a VP with People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA) describing the horrific ways pigs of all ages are treated: a “hellish,
dungeon-like existence in extremely close confinement” with nothing to do but “stare
at the cinder block wall just in front of their noses. . .”
Their
slaughter can be even more ugly.
Pigs
have no choice, Paden says -- but we
do. If we refuse to support this kind of
abuse, “there’s only one choice left: to leave pigs off our plates.”
There
it is again: only people can stop the
horror behind meat-eating, and the only way to do that is to stop eating pigs. And other animals.
Will we?
Call for veto of S2419
Protect
NJ wildlife from pitiless hunters! A piece of legislation that’s particularly
horrible for New Jersey wildlife is moving toward becoming law -- unless state
residents urge Gov. Phil Murphy to veto it. (609-292-6000)
Bill
S2419 would legalize a number of hunting practices usually associated with low-down
animal poachers, and it would also greatly enlarge areas in the state where
these cruel tactics might be used.
S2419
appears to be little more than a license to kill wildlife in reprehensible ways
over expanded areas of NJ.
If
you agree, please act now: ask the governor to veto S2419. (609-292-6000)
Your comments are most welcome! Simply go to 1moreonce.blogspot.com to share your thoughts.
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