charcoal’s Recent Comments

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  Do the best you can

  Not everyone can make the commitment to be a vegan -- I have a lot of respect for those who can.  I am a vegetarian (not vegan) and have been for almost 2 years (I am 40 years old).  Over the years I had slowly reduced my meat intake, first eliminating red meats, then poultry, and finally sea food.  

  I made the change mostly for environmental reasons -- I had read about how many resources it required to bring meat to the table.  But also, it angered me that the cattle industry was growing and expanding into territory where bison, wolves, and elk once lived.  The worst stories I heard of were of bison that had wandered out of Yellowstone, only to be immediately slaughtered by over zealous ranchers.  The bison were slaughtered because of unfounded fear of disease and also I think out of jealosy -- the ranchers want to encroach upon Yellowstone itself.  They consume so much land.

  I thought that if every person could reduce the amount of meat they ate, then the cattle industry could shrink (sorry ranchers, but you just take up too much space), and maybe some of that ranch territory could again become wild.

  I gave up fish as I read more about how our oceans are over fished, how genetically different farmed fish are comingling with wild ones, and how coral reefs are destroyed by the fishing industry.

  So, we can't all be vegans or vegetarians, but we can reduce our consumption animals.  Take it from a former red-meat lovin', beer quaffing, military veteran. On Umbra on soy vs. meat posted 4 years ago 27 Responses