I’ve been attacked by naysayers who claim one cannot be an environmentalist and consume meat. I beg to differ, but that’s my opinion.
For years I was a happy vegetarian. My husband is a devoted carnivore. We have five children and my vegetarianism fell to the wayside. I’m not a short order cook, my husband DEMANDS meat (and luckily fish qualifies as meat in his world) in his dinner and chances are the kids and I are eating the same meal. That’s a little thing called life.
Does this mean we are not green? Absolutely not. To me, being green is about so much more. We recycle everything under the sun tossing out only 1-2 bags of trash each week for seven people. I’m looking for ways to reduce that. We compost. We reuse. We buy fair trade & organic products. We live chemical free both in our food and our household products. We support small business. We support education of the green life style. We make a conscious effort to not buy more than we need. Unfortunately we don’t live off the grid, though we are working toward a fully self sustaining house (using solar power and private well). We have changed out all our light bulbs, sealed our house up to prevent leaks and have taken care of all our phantom power suckers. Our children carry wastefree lunches and are happy to share why with their friends. I carry my reusable coffee mug and Klean Kanteen everywhere, even to church Sunday morning.
Among my community of parent-friends, I’m considered over the top green. They have a good laugh about my ideas during gatherings, but I know they are listening. One Mom told me recently that she quit using chlorine bleach and switched to vinegar in the wash because of our discussion. We are seeing a growing community of Prius cars in our area. Ours was the first, now we can usually find a twin wherever we go. Are they buying the Prius because we have one? No, more likely its the economy and desired fuel savings more than being green. But it is happening nonetheless. I help educate others about things we can do to help keep our homes healthy and save the planet at the same time.
I’ve been accused of lacking in environmentalism because we aren’t vegan and I’ve more often been accused of being a little over the top. So I ask, what makes you green? Do you consider yourself light green, dark green or somewhere in between? Share your green-ness with us (and any tips you have!).
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I consider myself to be mid range green. I keep trying to be greener whenever I can.
I recycle everything I can, reuse what can’t, compost, and grow some of my own veggies and fruit. I shop for local and organic goods and I love treasure hunting at thrift stores, consignment shops and antique stores.
I also do what I can to educate others about going green. I am also ready to admit I still have a long way to go…mainly stemming from financial resources not desire. If money was nothing I’d live off the grid in a totally green home and drive a kick ass hybrid or cute little electric number. But I am currently stuck with what I have so I make the best and greenest of it.
By the way, I also eat meat. Vegans have a right to eat and do what they want. That’s the great thing about being American. It’s just like religion please don’t push your beliefs onto me.
Food, what we like, what we eat…eating meat- is very personal. I really like steak and cheeseburgers. I don’t eat them every day. I make an effort to have meatless meals, even meatless days in my home and that’s a start and it makes a difference, but don’t expect me to go meatless anytime soon.
I think I’m fairly green, though not green enough for some and too green for others. LOL I think it’s a state of mind as much as it is what you do. We don’t just follow green practices, we do them intentionally to be green.
I’m a non-meat eater living with an absolute carnivore too. It’s hard to balance two diets like that.
Jamie, there will always people who believe that their way of doing something is the only way of doing it.
I’m with you. My family eats meat. We eat a lot less of it than we used to, and I buy smarter (organic, from small farms) whenever I have the opportunity. But my husband wants meat, too. He’s agreed to two meatless dinners a week (one being meatless Friday night pizza). I also don’t force my kids to eat meat they don’t like anymore. But, we fall in the carnivorous family category.
The best you can do is to follow your heart and your convictions. Don’t allow others’ opinions of you to discourage you. Those who are accusing you of not being an environmentalist because you’re not the kind of environmentalist they think you should be need to reconsider their attitude.
You’re committed to your environmentalism and chances are their attitude may hurt our feelings, but it’s not going to alter your habits. But there are others who might get turned off from environmentalism all together if they had someone saying to them, “your brand of being green isn’t good enough. mine is.”
I think that an important part of being a good environmentalist is leading by example and encouraging others when the opportunity arises. Environmentalists who attack other environmentalists for not meeting their personal standards – I would say THEY are bad environmentalists.
Keep doing what you are doing and encouraging your family and friends through your actions and your readers through your writing.
Kudos to you and your family for making such an effort and being conscious of your choices. I think that’s what being green really comes down to though: informing yourself, giving a darn, and making conscious decisions. We’re all on our own paths, the important thing is that we try!
That said, after informing myself I have concluded that there is no way eating meat is sustainable, at least as the current system stands. The UN reported that raising animals for food creates more greenhouse gases than all of transportation or any other factor. So it matters a lot more what you eat than what you drive.
My partner took about six months to decide to go vegetarian after I did. We’d both been raised omnivores and the majority of our friends and family eat meat. I thought he was a die-hard carnivore, and was totally fine dealing with our differing diets. But I inspired him to look into the issues himself, and he learned about how polluting, disgusting, and cruel factory farming is. He saw the videos (I’m sure you know where to find them) and read about the conditions on farms and the deterioration of our agricultural system. He no longer wanted to support that, and we’ve both been vegetarian (or vegan) ever since. The truth is, the way we raise animals for food is not sustainable, there’s simply nothing green about it.
Obviously you’re eco-conscious in your decisions so I’m sure your family hunts or choses locally raised organic meat or whatever. I completely respect that. It’s definitely important to lead by example. I’ve found the best way to interest people in green living is food – making an organic, homegrown, vegan meal for people is my favorite way to open their eyes to the fact that it’s possible to eat well and sustainably at the same time. 🙂
I think it’s just best not to worry if you’re green enough or considered too “out there” or whatever. I know I don’t want to live by anyone else’s standards. I guess the most important aspect of being green in my eyes is the commitment to constantly inform yourself and continue to work at living sustainably. It’s the effort that counts – keep leading by example and remember that there’s always room to be make greener choices. We’re all on the same side, so it matters only that we’re getting greener, not which shade of green we are, right?
Wow, what great responses! You guys rock!
We are lucky to live in the COUNTRY, y’all know what I’m talking about. 🙂 So, we have access to homegrown meat that is literally grown and prepped right in our own backyards (not mine specifically because raw meat grosses me out, so you can imagine what the prep would do to me). I won’t even let Hubs buy eggs that aren’t cage free, hormone free, etc… we are blessed that a local farm (and friends of ours) have plenty of eggs and we can have at them for $1.00 a dozen. We know what these animals are fed, how they are raised, etc… we are able to completely avoid traditional meat production, which IMO is WAY more sustainable than other other meat consumption.
Our family also has many dietary allergies & celiac disease, so we are restricted as to what grains, breads, etc… can come into our house. When all else fails, I know my kids can eat a homegrown hamburger patty and rice and not get sick!!!! We all LOVE veggies and believe they are the largest part of our diet and the first thing the family eats. Hubby won’t eat veggies except on the rare occasion and to make it better, he also doesn’t like beans. I’ve only had good luck with vegan chili he thought was meat filled thanks to Boca Burgers.
I’m also a firm believer in educating my kids and allowing them to make informed decisions, this includes their diet. So while Hubs and I NEVER eat pork and I rarely eat beef… the kids love it and ask for it often. I draw the line at pork and don’t bring it into the house, they can eat that elsewhere!
TeenGirl went through a phase of getting mailers from PETA and other animal activists groups. Once I pointed out where our food comes from and how it is grown/raised, she wasn’t bothered by our food. She will never be a purchaser of regular meat and may continue in her vegetarian endeavor for the rest of her life. Either way, she has the information needed.
When I was single with children, we all ate vegetarian unless they were out and about with family who took them to a restaurant. The kids were fine with that! Now, I use only 1/2 lb of beef or ground turkey or a chopped up chicken breast in an entire casserole for 7 people. This is also an economical decision, as meat is pricey and while try to shave a bit off our food bill, we have to consider meat as a large portion of the expense.
I get so annoyed by the “crunchier-than-thou” crowd. What I find amusing is that I often hear them complaining at length about how obnoxious they find religious fundamentalists when they themselves are just as intolerant of those who do not share their lifestyle….
Crimson Wife… I hear ya!!!!