The Meat-Guzzler

Mark Bittman, author of the NYTimes’ 10-year old Minimalist cooking column and a recently published vegetarian cookbook, though not himself a vegetarian, has written an excellent article detailing the costs to the environment of the modern, high-meat consuming diet.

Perhaps the best hope for change lies in consumers’ becoming aware of the true costs of industrial meat production. “When you look at environmental problems in the U.S.,” says Professor Eshel, “nearly all of them have their source in food production and in particular meat production. And factory farming is ‘optimal’ only as long as degrading waterways is free. If dumping this stuff becomes costly — even if it simply carries a non-zero price tag — the entire structure of food production will change dramatically.”

I’ve been mostly vegetarian (plus fish, dairy and eggs) for about a year now.

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