The good, the bad, and the downright delicious.

Food. For some people, it’s a simple necessity. For others, it’s a reason for living. Regardless of where you fall on the foodie spectrum, you’re sure to enjoy this selection of food infographics, which explore everything from seasonable eating to food waste to the optimum temperature for enjoying a (not ice) cold beer.

Eat Seasonably: an interactive look at what’s in season (click for interaction).

Understanding Artisan Gelato: and why it tastes better than regular gelato.

Bring Food Education Back: an infographic from Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution that makes an argument for teaching kids about good food.

The Case for Beer: so it’s not technically food, but this infographic takes such a good look at beer that we’ll leave it in anyway.

Summertime American Eats: thanks, Pepto-Bismol, we now have heartburn just from looking at this

Food Waste: a reminder to finish your plate.

The Splendiferous Array of Culinary Tools: we sense our Foodie Underground fans drooling.

Kings of Fast Food: a look at how fast food advertisers lure us in.

Vegetarianism: for National Vegetarian Month, RetailMeNot breaks down the world of vegetarianism.

America Wants GMOs Labeled: so “just label it” already, FDA.

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Image: Selma Broeder

The post 10 Food Infographics That Have Us Consciously Consuming appeared first on EcoSalon.

EcoSalon’s 30 favorite quotes about animals.

Whether you’re an aspiring crazy cat lady or partial to the clumsy wet-nosed affections of a dog, a conscious meat eater or a passionate animal-defending vegetarian, it’s hard not to be touched and inspired by animals and the unique connection that we have with them as humans. These 30 quotes from Ghandi, David Sedaris, Paul McCartney and many more illustrate some of the most poignant, uplifting and funny things people have to say about animals.

The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men. – Alice Walker

Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures. – The Dalai Lama

Happiness is a warm puppy. – Charles M. Schulz

I wish outer space guys would conquer the Earth and make people their pets, because I’d like to have one of those little beds with my name on it. – Jack Handey

Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in. – Mark Twain

Animals never worry about Heaven or Hell. Neither do I. Maybe that’s why we get along. – Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

Dogs come when they’re called; cats take a message and get back to you later. – Mary Bly

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. – Mahatma Ghandi

I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it’s such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her. – Ellen DeGeneres

Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. – George Eliot

You can judge a man’s true character by the way he treats his fellow animals. – Paul McCartney

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between dog and man. – Mark Twain

Were the walls of our meat industry to become transparent, literally or figuratively, we would not long continue to raise, kill and eat animals the way we do. – Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Our Meals

Animals are my friends – and I don’t eat my friends. – George Bernard Shaw

Look, PETA! If God hadn’t wanted us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them so darn tasty! – Stephen Colbert

Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. – Albert Einstein

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise. – The Beatles

If language naturally evolves to serve the needs of tiny rodents with tiny rodent brains, then what’s unique about language isn’t the brilliant humans who invented it to communicate high-level abstract thoughts. What’s unique about language is that the creatures who develop it are highly vulnerable to being eaten. – Temple Grandin

The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others. – Saint John Chrysostom

When I was a kid, if a guy got killed in a western movie I always wondered who got his horse. – George Carlin

I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being. – Abraham Lincoln

Time spent with cats is never wasted. – Sigmund Freud

We should have each other to tea huh? We should have each other with cream, then curl up in the fire and sleep for a while – it’s the grooviest thing, it’s the perfect dream. – The Cure, ‘The Lovecats’

I love things made out of animals. It’s just so funny to think of someone saying, ‘I need a letter opener. I guess I’ll have to kill a deer.’ – David Sedaris

If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience. – Woodrow Wilson

Animals, whom we have made our slaves, we do not like to consider our equal. – Charles Darwin

Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. – Groucho Marx, The Essential Groucho

Animals have these advantages over men: they have no theologians to instruct them, their funerals cost them nothing, and no one starts lawsuits over their wills. – Voltaire

True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind’s true moral test, its fundamental test (which is deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude toward those who are at its mercy: animals. – Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Everyone’s pet is the most outstanding. This begets mutual blindness. – Jean Cocteau

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Photo: Cia de Photo

The post All Creatures Great and Small: 30 Best Quotes About Animals appeared first on EcoSalon.

As the ball dropped at midnight, did you resolve that this will be the year you try your hand at the cut back or eliminate meat from your diet? You’ve scoured the Internet for information, read books, planned menus, and now you’re ready to take the plunge. Lots of us have been there and so let us play big sister for a minute and share nine surprising and fun things you need to know about becoming a vegetarian.

You don’t have to live on tofu – Tofu is a protein-packed tasty and versatile ingredient in your vegetarian arsenal, but it’s not the only thing on the menu. In fact, there are several yummy options for getting your protein needs met, including veggie burgers, quinoa, and a whole parade of legumes to choose from.

Even if you’re not all-in, it still counts – If you’re drawn to the vegetarian philosophy, lifestyle, or menu but aren’t sure you can give up meat entirely, we’re giving you permission to just do what you can. Any reduction in meat intake is good for your health and great for the planet, so whether you start with Meatless Mondays, double up on vegetables at lunch, or just read a cookbook, any step at all is a good one.

People will annoy you sometimes – People mean well, but are apt to say the darndest things when they discover you’re a vegetarian. You’ll hear everything from “Are you sure you’re getting enough protein?” to “My friend’s sister’s brother-in-law’s cousin’s hair fell out from lack of iron.” Unless you really enjoy the thrill of a long debate about the merits of your new lifestyle, just be polite, arm yourself in advance with pleasant responses, then change the subject.

You’ll be smart and famous – Well, maybe not famous, but at least you’ll be in good company. Alicia Silverstone, Kristen Bell, and Alanis Morisette are among the many celebs who’ve sworn off meat. A recent study also shows that vegetarians are smarter and have higher IQs than their flesh-eating counterparts, although the jury’s still out on just how valid the results are.

You might turn your pets into vegetarians, too – Once you find the meatless method is very much to your liking, you may end up deciding to take Fluffy and Fido along for the ride. Whether you choose environmentally-responsible pet food or simply look for ways to green your pets’ environment, it’s quite possible you’ll find your new lifestyle impacts your pooch in the same positive ways it’s impacting yours.

The dinner parties you throw will still be awesome – A quick whirl through your library’s cookbook aisle or a 10-minute search on the Internet yields a huge batch of recipes that are so insanely good, your guests will never miss the meat. If you need instant ideas, here are 7 finger licking good recipes for meat eaters to get you started.

Your beauty routine might get caught up in the action – Once you cut meat from your diet, you may start looking for other ways to devoid your life of animal products. From organic deodorant and dental products to bath and body scrubs, your bathroom is a great place to start.

Your food budget might go down a little – The key to enjoying a vegetarian diet is to mix it up and keep things interesting. You don’t want to live on brown rice and broccoli, so try a wide variety of foods you’ve ignored in the past (daikon, anyone?) to see what grabs you. Buying what’s already in season is key to keeping costs down. Also be sure to invest in herbs, spices, and condiments to jazz up your meals and tease your tastebuds. The good news is, the upfront cost of stocking your larder (which evens out over the first few weeks) is nothing compared to the money you can save not buying those expensive cuts of meat.

You will learn to love your kitchen gadgets – Expect your pressure, slow, and rice cookers to become your best friends. If they’ve been collecting dust in the lower recesses of your kitchen cabinet, now’s the time to haul them out and put them to work. Vegetarian soups and chilis are out of this world when simmered on low all day, and you can cook your beans in a fraction of the time with a good pressure cooker. Make your rice cooker do double duty – use it to steam vegetables and make cakes.

Image: The Bitten Word

The post So, You Want to Be a Vegetarian: 9 Things to Know appeared first on EcoSalon.

The Third Wave Green concept we’ve introduced at EcoSalon means taking a hard look at the environmental movement’s sacred truths and considering whether or not they exclude diversity of thought and, most important, hold up to scrutiny. Not always an easy or comfortable task.

Deconstruction – or probing an argument’s veracity by exposing even its most counterintuitive contradictions – allows ideas to evolve and survive over time. This approach is invaluable to creating a “sustainable” Green movement – one that can withstand the most savage attacks by short-term-focused corporate interests (and their legislative, cultural and media puppets), as well as the defeating apathy of a green-weary populace. We’re starting with 10 common green assumptions many of us subscribe to, and asking: should we?

1. Assumption: Vegetarianism and veganism are pro-planet

Reality? There’s a monocrop where that rainforest used to be

It’s true that consuming less meat is a sound way to help lessen your carbon footprint; but like most assumptions, the underlying truth is more complex. A hamburger may be worse than a Hummer (or so the oft-repeated refrain goes), but the mock-meat-processed-from-a-monocrop-in-Myanmar style of vegetarianism is no golden nugget of eco goodness. Better to eat ethically-produced meat on rare occasions as flexitarians do than abstain from the steak but make heavily processed (and unhealthy) faux meats a cornerstone of your diet. Further complicating things, there are numerous studies showing that what’s really sustainable is efficiency, and in some cases, that means meat production over other types of product manufacture – even vegetables. And then of course, there’s the fact that even a truck driving, Big Mac chomping “Average Joe” has a lighter carbon footprint, on balance, than a green-leaning parent raising American offspring.

2. Assumption: Vegan fashion is good; fur is murder

Reality? Dressing up the truth and let’s talk leather

A world without fur makes sense to many. But is wearing leather any different? How many advocates for banning fur eat meat or don leather shoes or coats? Is killing an animal for its hide ever okay? If so, when? Can someone who does still be Green? Fur is viscerally offensive to many – but by that same token, shouldn’t we recoil at all the boots made for walking? Further, how exactly did vegan get lumped in with green fashion when many vegan products are made of toxic synthetics derived from fossil fuels? If a plastic (vegan) jacket is really better for the planet than a wool one, let’s ask if it’s because it is truly more sustainable in terms of the resources required to make it. Or is it just more efficient today, in our current context of an ultimately unsustainable, but temporarily efficient and cheap, system?

3. Assumption: Environmental protection is the key to our survival

Reality? Go GINK (Green Inclinations, No Kids) or go home

Or: It’s not the hamburgers and Hummers, stupid, it’s the kids. While the Green movement focuses on wildlife habitats, pollution and greenhouse gas reductions, and other ways to save the planet, are its efforts moot if it fails on the population challenge? It’s easy to create a epic battle in our minds that pits us against our helpless environment. But might the real battle not involve the environment at all? Perhaps George Carlin was right when he said that if we get to be too irritating, “the planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas.” Might our existence be merely a tick on the planet’s back and if we don’t tread a lot more lightly – i.e., multiply ourselves in a sustainable way – we don’t stand a chance with our to-date agreeable host, environmentalism or no environmentalism.

4. Assumption: Globalization hurts the little guy

Reality? Globalization helps the little guy

Those bandanna-masked guys on the street breaking the windows of Starbucks and Nike shops got their stories straight, right? If they’re anti-The Man, they must be green. Consider for moment what proponents of free trade and globalization are saying: global economic growth, job creation, lowers prices for consumers, capital and technology infusion into poor countries, giving them development opportunity. How about a more transparent global business infrastructure that could promote human rights? Sound like some pretty green motivations? Maybe throwing stones first and asking questions later isn’t such a great idea.

5. Assumption: Locavore, Locavore, Locavore

Reality? Eat global.

Green food comes from where it comes from. If a “place” is highly specialized to make a food in an efficient, healthy and earth-friendly way, might it be better to buy from that source rather than buying the local resource-intensive butter from down the street? We tend to assume that environmentally friendly is somehow akin to being homespun or even quaint, but might our journey here be contingent on creating our own efficiencies, using our ubiquitousness to lessen the load on Spaceship Earth?

6. Assumption: Recycling. Of course.

Reality? Follow the money – and the resource suck

Companies profiting from the practice won’t tell you, and few will acknowledge that recycling is expensive, generates pollutants and is in itself a resource drain. Are there better ways to think about what we do with our used goods and trash – like worrying less about what we do with what we consume and more about simply consuming less? After all, there’s an answer to the taking out the trash problem: Stop making so much trash. This possible truth says forget the red herring cry of “recycle” and tell all who would listen: reduce!

7. Assumption: Organic. Always. Period.

Reality? Caution: Mad Men at work

In some grocery store aisles it’s common now see more “official” organic foods than the evil and bad “non-organics” that we’ve consumed since the invention of, well, the invention. As one stands gazing at organic pop tarts, one might well ask two simple questions: First, what does organic mean? Second, even if I do get a functional answer to question 1, can I believe what I’m reading on the box? Then, as one leaves the store with a couple hundred dollars’ worth of organic stuff, a really big question should loom large: Has this facet of the Green movement been hopelessly co-opted by broad definitions, false advertising and “greenwashing.” Also part of this Organic deconstruction: What about the war on pesticides? How well does that fit in with global health and nutrition efforts? Would the elimination of such chemicals, called for some organic adherents, make us healthier – or cause global famine?

8. Assumption: The green stuff is the good stuff!

Reality? All stuff is stuff

From high-tech to the gadgets designed to make you life more ecologically friendly, we’re bombarded with claims – many truthful – that the stuff we buy, from mining to manufacturing to fulfillment processes, is Green as grass. But what does that mean? More stuff is just that, and even the “greenest” of it requires raw materials, transportation and other resources dedicated to get that product into your hands – before it’s dumped when you’re done with it. Does buying Green help as much as not buying at all?

Of course, others have taken on some of environmentalism’s “sacred cows,” as Wired magazine did when it took a look a issues specific to global warming, including:

9. Assumption: No nukes is good nukes

Reality? An inevitable option

A surprising number of the ecologically friendly are advocating what they say is clean, green, safe and inevitable. Is the Green tent big enough for these folks who say this fossil fuel alternative is the right way to go?

10: Assumption: Made in China, made by the devil

Reality? A big green ally

The Russians were coming. So were the Japanese. And now, enter the Chinese bogeyman. The fact is there are green-reputable manufacturers in China, and many expect the massive global player to be a leader in green tech and practices going forward. Could the new evil empire be a source of progress rather than just soot?

Some controversy for your environmentally focused brain? This is good. We pose such “alternate realities” not to come down on one side or another of any of these important issues, but rather to point to the eyes-wide-open self examination that must be absorbed into the movement at large if it is to escape the margins and permeate our thinking on a truly meaningful level.

Third Wave Green means not being afraid to question the norms and approach environmentalism from a variety of viewpoints. What are yours?

Special thanks to Sara Ost for contributing to this article.

Images: squacco, gfpeck, Tomorrow Never Knows

The post Third Wave Green: A Cold Hard Look at 10 Sacred Cows appeared first on EcoSalon.

Hahn Niman became a vegetarian in college but later married rancher Bill Niman. She is the author of the book Righteous Porkchop, which discusses the differences between small-scale, environmentally responsible animal husbandry and factory farming. Though she believes that eating meat can be ethically and environmentally defensible, she chooses to remain a vegetarian.

Lyman is a former large-scale rancher whose come-to-vegan moment came in the form of a near-fatal spinal tumor that doctors told him was caused by the chemicals used in farming. His conversion and the publication of his book, Mad Cowboy, got him on Oprah and got Oprah into trouble with the Cattlemen’s Beef Association when she mentioned in the interview that the news about Mad Cow Disease might just put her off her hamburgers. EcoSalon attended the debate which was sponsored by Earth Island Journal and moderated by Ari Durfel, founder of Gather Restaurant (also known as the guy who kept his trash in his living room for a year.)

The first question was: What are the environmental reasons to be vegetarian?

Predictably, both participants agree that factory farming is absolutely the worst thing for the environment, as well as for human and animal health. But they answer the question differently. Both experts touch on meat production as a major cause of global warming. Lyman focuses on the term humane meat, asking if killing can be humane and asserting that the only reason we eat meat is because we have an addiction to fat.

Hahn Niman focuses on the facts behind meat production and global warming, citing the often quoted statistic that 18 percent of global warming gasses come from meat production. But, she asserts, “nearly half this from deforestation in developing world and very little of that meat is going to USA. In the USA we are not deforesting at all for meat production.” Hahn Niman goes on to say that livestock production, when done correctly, can actually build soils and contribute to reforestation while also providing valuable fertilizer for agriculture.

“Both of you agree large scale CAFO farming is not okay. Is there a certain scale that you could be comfortable with? Or is general livestock across board wrong?

Acknowledging briefly that of course there is a way to farm better, Lyman stays focused on individual consumer actions rather than farming practices, asserting that there is no way a person can live in an urban area like Berkeley, eat meat and benefit the environment. “Unless you’re willing to raise and kill own meat, no way can you have anything but a negative effect”.

Hahn Niman makes the point that talking about avoiding meat is a false choice because all food production contributes to global warming through carbon, methane, and nitrous oxide omissions. She also mentions that certain non-meat items have a larger carbon footprint than certain meat items. Hahn Niman then reverts to Niman Ranch talking points, asserting that at Niman Ranch, 99 percent of diet is naturally growing/occurring grains and grasses produced by the sun without irrigation feed, or chemicals. When animals eat this basically free food, they become nutritious food for humans. She adds that 85 percent of land in the USA isn’t suitable to row farming of grains and vegetables and ends with the question, “If it’s not meat, what is the appropriate use of land for best impact?”

The next question focused on the ethics of eating meat.

The fact that Hahn Niman is a vegetarian who believes meat eating is a personal and ethical choice puts her in an interesting position and illustrates how stickily personal questions of ethics can be. She raises animals and bonds with them. She is a rancher who has no ethical problem with killing animals, but evidently has a personal problem with it. Perhaps she just doesn’t like meat, but she never says so. She does say that she believes the human body has evolved to eat meat and that our brains developed because of it. She emphasizes that as animals, we are part of the system of living, dying, and regenerating.

Lyman takes issue with Hahn Niman’s assertion that we evolved to eat meat, saying that we were designed to be herbivores and that animals have feelings and the capacity for love. He says if we don’t have to eat animals to survive, how can we kill them? Are we willing to do it ourselves, or would we rather have someone else do it? He says that eating animals is just feeding our addiction and it is wrong.

Hahn Niman vehemently disagrees that human beings evolved to be herbivores, adding that raising animals for food doesn’t mean you don’t care or don’t think animals have feelings. She says death by humane slaughter is better than violent or slow death in the wild (a bit of red herring, if you ask me). For her, the biggest question is how the meat is produced and the answer is that an omnivorous diet can be sustainable.

The moderator asks Howard, whether or not we were designed to eat meat, do we have to eat meat?

Howard throws out his own red herring, saying, “If we’re true omnivores why aren’t we eating our cats and dogs?” Then he says he supports small-scale farms doing it better but does not think animals are necessary for his survival, though he’s not convinced everyone has to become a vegan.

Hahn Niman counters that omnivore doesn’t mean you eat everything. “We make choices. But studies show omnivorous diet gives you survival and immune advantages – just avoiding meat as a category when some things are worse than meat for the environment is not a reasonable response.”

During the audience question period both speakers had an opportunity to offer real-world tips on how to eat better for the environment and also a perspective about why the factory-farming model exists in the first place.

Hahn Niman says to minimize footprint, you should get dairy and meat from grass-fed sources. Such foods have a lower footprint, are healthier, tastier, and are almost never fed drugs. Unprocessed, fresh, whole foods close to harvest are always good choices, as is eating seasonally. “Applying all these values to all of what you eat, whether meat, vegan or vegetarian, is going to be more environmentally sound and healthier.”

Lyman says the best thing a person can do is to spend some time thinking about what you actually like and what you actually want to eat for your life. Do research, start with small steps. Try Meatless Monday. “Look at issue honestly and ask what you are truly able and willing to do. And ask what you must do for posterity.”

One member of the audience asks: “How on earth could we farm enough meat sustainably to actually make it mainstream for world? Could we convert animal agriculture entirely to pasture?”

Hahn Niman says yes; “You could absolutely do that if western cultures reduced consumption modestly. I’m a huge advocate of reduced meat consumption – I support meatless Monday. But abolishing totally is not a good idea.”

Lyman says, “If we wanted to talk about viability of doing things right, we have to price it according to the value of inputs going in. We would have to remove those subsidies [going to CAFO producers]. We would have people driving up to McDonald’s and having to pay eight dollars for a burger. Niman isn’t available everywhere and isn’t affordable for most. And Niman can’t make enough profit to expand. People with the gold are gaming the system. It is rigged.”

What do you think? Can you be an environmentalist and eat any meat, even “sustainably raised” meat?

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Image: Laurel Fan

The post Can You Be an Environmentalist and Still Eat Meat? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Cheese is my weakness. Camembert and cheddar, stilton and swiss, mozzarella and mascarpone, gouda and goat’s cheese, feta and fresh quark – I love them all. And while it may not be great for my waistline or as environmentally pure as organic lentils, at least I can eat it knowing that it’s a more eco-friendly choice than, say, tucking into a juicy slab of steak. Or can I?

My vegetarian friends certainly seem to think so – many of them seem to subsist on cheese. Trust me, I can understand why – it’s an easy source of protein, calcium, vitamin B12 and other nutrients that omnivores typically get from meat. It’s easier than boiling up lentils from scratch and, let’s face it, for most people cheese just plain tastes good.

These same vegetarians might feel confident, or even a little smug, that they are making good dietary and green lifestyle choices. After all, going vegetarian is better for your health, the welfare of animals and the environment. Isn’t it?

Maybe not. Actually, cheese is pretty much just as bad as meat on all counts. Here’s why.

1. Animals die.

You are drinking the milk of the cow rather than eating its flesh, but all the same animals die. Maybe you already know that most cheese is made with animal rennet and you take care to buy vegetarian cheese. Sorry, but you’re not off the hook!

How do you think the mother cow (or sheep or goat) gets milk? She has babies and since after six months her milk production declines, she needs to keep having babies. What do you think happens to the bull calves? They get killed. And since dairy cattle and beef cattle are generally different breeds and there’s little value in raising the male offspring of dairy cows for meat, this happens when they are still babies.

Often, the calves are slaughtered immediately or just left to die, then added to the farm’s compost heap. Otherwise they may be raised for veal, which is usually a cruel process where they are kept in a confinement in semi-darkness and denied proper food, so their flesh stays white.

However, there are varieties of veal that are more humanely raised, allowing the calves to stay with their mothers and eat grass. Surely the ethically consistent position is either to cut out meat and dairy, or to eat the “humane” veal along with your dairy? Oh and by the way, mama cow will likely only live until she is five to seven years old – instead of the 20 years that is her natural lifespan.

2. Animal cruelty.

Most EcoSalon readers will be familiar with concentrated animal feedlot operations or CAFOs. These factory farms are not just prevalent in the rearing of meat animals but in the dairy industry, as well. The book The Ethics of What We Eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason cites a Cornell University Study predicting the number of dairy farms in the United States to decline from 105,000 in 2000 to 16,000 in 2020, while the number of cows per farm and the total milk production both increase.

Many cows are confined to a single stall where they are fed and milked for a single year and if they do get to move outside, it’s usually on a dirt lot rather than on pasture.

The modern dairy cow produces three times more milk than its counterpart from 50 years ago, as a result of breeding, and many cows in the United States are injected with bovine somatotrophin (BST), a genetically engineered growth hormone banned in Canada and the European Union. This boosts milk production by 10% but the site of the injection can become swollen and tender and the injections can increase problems with mastitis, a painful udder infection that affects one in six dairy cows in the US.

The natural lifespan of a cow is 20 years but most dairy cows are killed between five and seven years because they cannot withstand the unnaturally high rate of milk production. By “killed”, I don’t mean euthanised – the process of dealing with “downed” animals involves dragging and winching them by the hoof with a tractor and taking them to a truck to deliver it to the slaughterhouse.

3.  Cheese has a huge environmental impact.

Slate had a great article on the environmental impact of cheese, just before Christmas. The truth is that rearing dairy cows or goats is a carbon-intensive process – and for some reason, sheep are even worse. They need to be fed and most dairy cattle are not exclusively grass fed, so that requires grain to be grown and shipped in. If they are kept in CAFOs, there is a huge manure problem that can pollute local waterways. (If the untreated waste doesn’t go directly into streams and rivers, it’s sprayed onto fields through an irrigation system, but often in quantities too great for the soil to absorb, and then in heavy rain it runs off into the creeks).

According to a local environmental group in Michigan, Lake Erie’s new “dead zone” is linked to runoff from livestock waste. Finally, there’s a problem that sounds like a joke but really isn’t – dairy animals are ruminants that fart and burp a lot of greenhouse gases, specifically methane. Scientists are working on reducing this problem by improving the diets of cattle, but it’s a long haul. All this is just to get the milk – to get cheese, it requires further processing and storage at just the right temperature.

4. Cheese isn’t healthy.

I know many people who go vegetarian – or simply cut out red meat – for health reasons. Yet they eat cheese. This makes no sense to me. In what universe is cheese a health food? I want to move there!

I’ve looked up the nutritional statistics on Fitday.com and generic cheese is 27% fat. A whopping 62% of that is saturated fat, while only 22% is protein. Admittedly you do get a decent serving of calcium with your fat, but there are 84 calories and a heart-stopping 20mg of cholesterol in just one slice.

By contrast, a typical cut of beef compares favourably with 26% protein and 20% fat, of which just 39% is saturated fat. You don’t get so much calcium, but that’s more than compensated for by the fact that 20% of your meal is iron, something many women lack. There is also less cholesterol in beef than cheese.

So pound for pound, beef is healthier than most cheese. Unless of course, you are eating low fat cottage cheese, in which case it’s only 1% fat and 12% protein. But then you could be eating healthier meats as well – lean cuts of beef or lamb, low-fat poultry and fish with healthy oils.

All this is not to make anyone feel guilty. But I do think there is little point in going vegetarian and then making up the shortfall with cheese. Sure, you can eat organic dairy in moderation from small family farms with good environmental and animal welfare practices – such as Straus Family Creamery in Northern California – but you can do the same thing for meat. I know plenty of ethically minded omnivores who eat meat and dairy in moderation and source both with equal care.

I believe if you are going to cut out meat, you need to fully embrace cooking with and eating beans and lentils. There are some great recipes – I am a meat-reducing omnivore myself but one of my favourite all-time recipes is vegan – a Lebanese eggplant moussaka with chickpeas that comes to me via Nigella Lawson.

Free-range and organic eggs are another good source of protein in moderation as well, though caged eggs still account for 98% of US egg production. (In Europe it’s a different story – sales of free-range eggs were due to hit two billion eggs a year in 2009 in the UK, exceeding battery egg sales in value terms, while from next year eggs from battery hens will no longer be sold in German supermarkets). You may want to check out Vanessa’s post on how much protein the human body actually needs.

Images: Joi, fklv, smoodysarah, orinzebest, TheBusyBrain

The post Think Cheese Is More Eco + Humane Than Meat? Think Again appeared first on EcoSalon.

Well, not so much.

PETA Steals First Lady When She’s Not Looking (January 2010)

Want to be endorsed by a celebrity? Now you can, with the all-new PETA marketing technique “Shameless Theft (TM)”. If your work is in a good cause and you like the idea of, say, First Lady Michelle Obama giving it the thumbs-up, simply steal her image and slap it wherever you please. When a fuss arises, clarify that you’re “honoring” your target by featuring their image (while furthering your own aims without prior permission). Oh, and when you finally back down in a show of “good faith,” be sure to point the finger at someone else. It’s the adult thing to do.

Incidentally, this entire post is personally endorsed by those huge blue aliens in James Cameron’s Avatar. No, really.

KFC vs. PETA: Flaming Silly to Monumentally Daft (January 2010)

As we’ve noted before, there’s nothing that PETA enjoys more than the smell of roasting Kentucky Fried Chicken – the company, that is. Their latest attempts to haul this fast food corporation over the coals? Firstly, PETA wants Indianapolis fire trucks to sign an advertising deal, the same way the fire department has with the finger-lickin’ folk – and secondly, a 5.5 foot tall statue of a gory chicken on crutches, artfully monikered “KFC Cripples Chickens”.

In both cases, local officials denied the requests, citing inappropriate context and legislation and, in the former case, the fact that “advertising on a fire truck could even lead motorists to believe a truck heading for an emergency was just performing a stunt.” Quite.

Lydia Guevara Picks Up Carrot And Keeps On Shooting (June 2009)

Did you know Che Guevara’s granddaughter is vegetarian? Before mid-2009, neither did PETA, but once they twigged they wasted no time in divesting her of most of her clothes, daubing her with camouflage paint and hanging a bandolier of carrots round her neck. “Join the vegetarian revolution” ran the accompanying tagline. Self-proclaimed nonviolent PETA associating itself with bloody Cuban guerrilla warfare? In the fight for animal rights, it seems the first casualty is your own core principles.

Sorry Old Boy, A Machine Could Do Your Job (November 2009)

Poor old Uga VII. The latest in the line of beloved bulldog mascots of the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia) recently passed away, leaving his post temporarily open – and PETA leapt in with the suggestion of a robotic substitute. It’s a fact that bulldogs (originally bred to fight) are so famous for their health problems that the Kennel Club recently voted to change the pedigree standards to breed out its congenital ailments.

That’s PETA’s reasoning for the switcheroo (and we’re sure virtual pet makers Nintendo and Bandai are cheering them on). But why not encourage the University to seek a mascot from America’s brimming animal rescue shelters, guys? Our tails aren’t wagging.

PETA’s Unhappiest Side: Children Yet Again Considered Fair Game (August 2009)

Oh, PETA. However endearingly barmy your antics sometimes are…sometimes you’re just plain frightening. If the image of a throat-cut clown hung upside-down wasn’t graphic enough, PETA members have also been handing out “Unhappy Meals” to visitors of a McDonald’s in Albany, New York, comprising of a t-shirt (“McCruelty”) inside an imitation burger box spattered with fake blood. All this, to children.

Don’t Toy With Your Food: Flinging Fishmongers Catch It From PETA  (June 2009)

Wander through Seattle Pike Place Market at the right time, and you’ll see flying fish. The market’s fishmongers are famous for their sure-handed fish flinging skills, and are consequently much in demand as a dazzling spectacle for hire. When the American Veterinary Medical Association employed them for a motivational conference demonstration, PETA ticked them off in a letter that raged “it’s cruel enough to eat fish, but it literally adds insult to injury to use them as toys for silly stunts.” (Except they didn’t really mean “fish” there).

PETA are fed up to the gills with dead creatures being gruesomely displayed in public. So hey, what about living ones?

Your Name – It’s A Sin (April 2009)

British electronic music duo Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, better known as the Pet Shop Boys, are currently enjoying a revival of their iconic ’80s sounds. But what’s this? “Pet Shop”? Yes, you guessed it: PETA want them to relabel themselves the Rescue Shelter Boys.

If this attempt had been successful, perhaps rock legend Meat Loaf would now be called “Vegetable Terrine” – but thankfully Tennant and Lowe turned PETA down while graciously agreeing that the request “raises an issue worth thinking about” (and we tend to agree).

By no means are all of PETA’s actions founded on shock tactics, infringements on human dignity and general negativity. We like a lot of what PETA stands for – yet we wish it would grow up a little, because what it could do is surely too important to be ruined by what it actually does. That’s our view. What’s yours?

Images: sabianmaggy, ccharmon, mikebaird, sqeakymarmot, Mrs Logic, EatMeDaily, JasonDeRusha,

The post Oh for PETA’s Sake: 7 (More) Crazy Stunts appeared first on EcoSalon.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) does not see fit to extend the same moral courtesy to human animals, specifically the female kind. In the organization’s latest sexist campaign for vegetarianism, an overweight woman in a bikini is faced with the emboldened slogan: “Save the Whales”. Beneath the words runs a helpful tagline: “Lose the blubber: go vegetarian.”

Come on gals, take a joke. What’s a little fat-shaming in pursuit of a good time?

There’s no shortage of adjectives (or profanities) that come to mind to describe such a mean-spirited billboard. And if you can get through the confusion of it – don’t be a whale! wait, save the whales! don’t be a whale so we can save the whales! whales are great, except you, blubber butt! – it’s also very telling.

A friend of mine, John Haslett, is a professional adventurer and author of the sea memoir, Voyage of the Manteno. In the book, he writes about the behavior of people in survival situations – that is, people under extreme stress. An inevitable few will rapidly decline into paranoia and eventual insanity. Some – many more than you would think, observes Haslett – simply give up. Some rise to the challenge, while others become childish or cheat. I think we can figure out which part of the life raft we’d find PETA hugging.

With admirably relentless energy, PETA has managed to jump from the margins of activism and enjoys frequent mainstream media attention. To the dismay of many vegetarians, when Newkirk speaks, people do listen. A group like PETA has just as much potential to wear at our social fabric as any loudmouth pundit. These are not just crazy tactics; PETA’s stunts are part of a carefully-woven, and unfortunate, strategy. Deliberately divisive, PETA is antisocial in a wide cultural sense. Desperate to win, they resort to the ridiculous and alienate those whom they hope to convert. What a dark, lonely world these small-minded people inhabit! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want anyone this stressed out trying to advocate for anything except another cocktail.

The woman who is concerned with social and environmental justice should be quick to leave PETA to the spiral it’s so enthusiastically sliding down. Sociologists explain that it’s common for oppressed groups to target each other as they jockey for autonomy. PETA abusing using women as a tool to achieve their goals is just one more example in a long history of horizontal violence. Not very original, is it? One can easily imagine that in the hive-mind of PETA headquarters, there is only room for the conflict view of reality: it’s either women for animals or women over animals. I guess PETA can’t conceive of women and animals, or at least not for the blubbery among us!

Any position worth defending can be done with integrity. If you have to take a cheap shot to score a point, you don’t belong in the game. Or put another way, when the end justifies the means, the means become the end.

Recommended reading on this topic: Feministing, Deceiver, Jezebel, Huffington Post, The Frisky, DoubleX

The post Peta’s Fail Whale appeared first on EcoSalon.

It’s increasingly difficult to decide what to eat these days. Between factory farming, overfishing, mercury contamination, and issues with soy production, it’s frustrating to figure out how to feed your body in a way that will keep it healthy, without hurting the planet.

It’s a given that we should all be eating lots of fresh, organic, responsibly-produced fruits and vegetables, that we should stay away from processed food and fast food, and that we should eat a varied, balanced diet with healthy fats and sufficient protein. The protein is where the equation gets sticky and we start to see a wide diversity of opinion.

Not all experts agree on how much protein a body needs. One thing is certain, though – most meat-eating Americans get more than enough protein. A typical steak or burger is 6 to 8 ounces, and that’s just one meal. Most experts say a body needs only 1.75-2.5 ounces of protein per day.

When trying to get enough protein, vegetarians have it a little tougher, but a balanced and varied diet can ensure plenty of protein easily enough. A cup of yogurt contains about 12 grams or .43 ounces of protein, 2 eggs, about the same. A half-cup of nuts will get you around a quarter of an ounce of protein or less. Beans weigh in similarly to nuts. A half-cup of tofu will provide almost 3/4 of an ounce of protein. If you’re a vegetarian, you should try to eat something that contains protein at every meal and combine grains and vegetables with nuts and beans. For vegans, it’s not impossible to get all the protein you need from combinations of legumes, nuts, grains and vegetables.

To learn out how much protein you need, here is a handy calculator to figure out protein requirements by body weight.

I don’t think there are hard and fast rules, though. Every body is different and you should listen to yours. Heed your cravings (as long as they are healthy ones). Pay attention to how your body, mood, and energy level responds to the foods you eat. If you’re bodybuilding, working out a lot, or pregnant, you’ll probably need more protein. And keep in mind that our bodies change over time. Some people can be vegan or vegetarian for life and be healthy, full of energy and fully satisfied. Others find that they feel well for a few years and then desire meat again, noticing that they feel better when they eat it. Remember, we evolved as omnivores and there’s no one healthy diet right for everyone.

Once you’ve figured out how much protein to eat, what type of protein should you eat? Here’s a run-down with pros and cons of each one, as well as tips for making sure you get enough protein if you don’t eat animal products.

Meat from Ruminant Animals: This includes beef, lamb and goat.

CAFOs (or concentrated animal feeding operations) are a real problem for the environment and the animals that live in them. Runaway waste problems, air pollution and non-therapeutic use of antibiotics (and the resultant strains of superbugs), are just a few of the problems. The solution would seem to be to avoid factory-farmed meat in favor of grass-fed and grass-finished meat from smaller farms. There is evidence that such meat is healthier (containing higher levels of Omega-3s and micronutrients), it certainly tastes better, and most people feel better eating it. But, for the environment, eaters should know that ruminant animals emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas; and that meat production is inherently inefficient because it takes many pounds of plant matter to produce one pound of meat.

While the above is true, farms that combine livestock and vegetable crops can be nourishing to the environment because the animal waste provides fertilizer for the crops that feed both animals and people, reducing the need for petroleum based fertilizers. Also, pastured animals raised responsibly on land that is well suited for livestock can help sequester carbon.

The problem is one of scale and cost. Animals raised this way cannot be raised in large quantities and as quickly as the mass market requires, which raises the cost of meat. I think that proper portioning can take care of this problem. If I only need 2 ounces of protein a day, it’s conceivable that maybe only 2-6 ounces a week might come from a ruminant animal. Not only can I easily afford that much meat, but I’m lowering my impact on the environment by eating a proper portion. (While being fully aware that plenty of people in this country do not even have this luxury, but that’s another post.)

Pork:

Pork production comes with all the same factory-farming issues of ruminant animal production. Pigs are raised in very crowded and cruel conditions and hog farms are a huge source of waste. Pigs are slightly better for the environment strictly from a global warming standpoint because they are not ruminant animals.  My advice for meat eaters is to eat all meat, including pork and poultry, very sparingly and to only buy from small-scale, responsible producers who don’t administer antibiotics, use gestation crates, or crop tails. Pastured pork, like pastured beef, lamb, or goat, is best.

Chicken and Turkey:

Oh, the styrofoam chicken breast. Large-scale chicken and turkey production is problematic for some of the same reasons as above-though slightly better from an environmental standpoint. Poultry converts feed into edible tissue faster and more efficiently than large livestock, requiring fewer resources to produce. Also, chickens and turkeys are not ruminants so they don’t emit methane. When buying, know that free-range is a term that can mean next to nothing, as it simply requires the birds have “access” to the outdoors. Look for fully pasture-raised poultry, which can usually only be found directly from local farmers, or through a CSA, meat buying club, or farmers’ market.

Dairy Products:

Dairy products come from animals, so if you care how those animals were raised, you should buy certified organic dairy from animals raised on pasture. Go easy though, because dairy animals emit methane, so  you don’t get an environmental pass for eating dairy instead of meat. And if you eat dairy but not meat for reasons of animal cruelty you need to know that dairy animals are often treated no better than animals raised for meat and they don’t get to retire to Florida, if you get my meaning.

Eggs:

Eggs are a great and economical source of protein and super versatile and easy to cook. I buy pastured eggs, which can cost anywhere from $6-$8 a dozen. That might sound expensive, but good quality eggs provide a lot of nutritional bang for the buck. Conscientious vegetarians should know that eggs carry the same cruelty baggage as dairy products. I like to buy the big stewing chickens from a farmer at my market who slaughters his spent, pasture raised laying hens and sells them frozen. They’re not too expensive and I can make great soup with them. It makes me feel better than thinking about those poor chickens being ground up for animal feed or fertilizer.

Fish:

We’re told by medical professionals to eat more fish for the heart-healthy Omega-3s it contains, but the whole subject of fish is like opening up a can of worms. Instead, I suggest opening up a can of sardines. Seriously, they’re eco-friendly because they’re low on the food chain, abundant, and don’t result in by-catch or harm to the ocean floor. They’re also chock-full of those coveted Omega-3s. To see how truly delicious they can be, try them fresh if they’re available in your local area. They can be daunting to clean, but here are some instructions I wrote for my personal blog. Some fishmongers will even clean them for you. In addition to the problems of overfishing and aquaculture, many fish that are higher on the food chain are known to contain high levels of contaminants that can be harmful to your health. Plenty has been written here on EcoSalon about eating seafood sustainably (see here, here, and here.)

Soy:

Plenty of vegetarians think that eating soy instead of meat makes their environmental footprint smaller. This is not necessarily true. Depending on how or where it’s done, soy production can be very hard on both the environment and the people in soy-producing countries. And there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that soy products (especially highly processed soy products) are not as healthy as we’ve been told. I treat soy the way I treat meat. I eat it once in a while in small quantities and stay away from highly-processed soy products. Fermented soy products like miso and tempeh are healthiest.

Combining vegetarian forms of protein:

Some people think that animal products are the only foods that contain a full complement of amino acids to provide the body with complete protein requirements. It used to be widely recommended that vegetarians and vegans practice careful food combining at each meal to ensure proper protein requirements. This view has largely gone by the wayside with most experts recommending that vegetarians and vegans eat a wide variety of different fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds every day for optimum health.  Here’s an article that summarizes the basics on amino acids and tells which foods provide complementary proteins.

All of this is an extremely long way of saying what Michael Pollan so famously summarized in very few words: “Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.” I’d just add don’t worry so much about the quantity or type of the protein you eat as you do its quality and how it was produced.

Images: fotoosvanrobin, [puamelia], fotoosvanrobin, Tambako the Jaguar, Pink Sherbet, the trial, norwichnuts, steffenz

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

The post How Much Protein Does a Body Need, and What Types Are Healthy for You & the Environment? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Everyone has heard the factoid about cow farts: The methane from cattle passing gas is apparently a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. (Though apparently cattle burps are an even bigger problem).

It sounds like something you’d see on Snopes but it’s actually true. And believe it or not, scientists are trying to fix it by tinkering with the animals’ diets. Even if cattle eat a natural diet of grass – which applies to so few modern farmed cattle anyway – apparently there’s a lot they can do by introducing new grasses and clovers.

Reducing meat or cutting it out altogether is one of the most effective ways you can tackle global warming, not just because of the flatulence but also because of the energy and land needed to grow animal feed.

However, if you are looking for a red meat fix with a (relatively) clear conscience, proponents want you to try kangaroo. The iconic Australian marsupials might be cute but they are also popular eating – a lean red meat not wholly unlike venison.

Now there’s another reason to eat them – apparently, kangaroos have a far more genteel digestive system so that flatulence problem does not arise. They’re reared on the land, rather than intensively farmed. Their soft paws do not damage the land and cause erosion, which can be a problem with hard-hooved animals such as cattle, especially in Australia.

Importing meat from the other side of the world is never going to be a green solution and I’m not sure if kangaroo farming would work in other countries without such vast land resources. But if you’re in Australia, you might want to consider buying kangaroo meat for yourself or as pet food.

Not everyone agrees that eating kangaroo is a good idea. Maybe it’s not the whole answer, but it’s certainly worth thinking creatively about how we can break the meat habit or get our fix in more environmentally benign ways.

Image: Mr. Imperial

The post Kangaroo: the Other Red Meat? appeared first on EcoSalon.