Eat like you care

With the annual arrival Saturday of the Great American Meatout, when ordinary citizens are encouraged to go without meat for a day (for environmental reasons along with others), a few veg-oriented items worth noting:

* The concept of going even one day without meat is so dangerous that there's a huge uproar in Michigan, where the governor's pro forma proclamation naming Saturday 'Meatout Day' has ignited a firestorm of foot-stomping, as livestock producers deem it "unconscionable and an insensitive slap in the face." Will Gov. Granholm back down and tell Michigan residents to stick with their 365-day meat plan? Stay tuned.

* Defensive meat-eaters like to say to animal advocates, "You care more about animals than you do about people." It's nonsensical on its face, since people are animals, but more than that, eating meat is easily waaayyyyy more harmful to people- collectively and individually - than eating plants, and not just because animal agriculture is destroying the planet. Here's an op-ed I wrote for today's Daily News listing just a few of the ways this is true: Apparently, people who continue to eat meat don't care about animals or people.

* And Earth to Philly's Taiwan correspondent, Nikka Landau - who just happens to be Signe Wilkinson's daughter - details a "Go Veg, Save the Planet" campaign making inroads into some of the most intractable meat-based traditional areas of Taiwan. Once they get those people to see the light, maybe they could move on to Michigan!

Comments

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 6:05 PM, 03/18/2010

That burger really looks delicious!!!!

— birds

1 comments

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Earth to Philly is a weblog focusing on earth-conscious technology, trends and ideas, from a Daily News perspective. We look at the "green" aspects of your home, business, food, transportation, style, policy, gadgets and artwork. If you have a Philly-related story, Click here to let us know about it!

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Look for Jenice Armstrong to supply tips on green living as well as occasional columns on the subject of Green. She also blogs at Hey Jen.

Becky Batcha stays tuned for the here-and-now practical side of conservation, alternative energy, organic foods, etc. - stuff you can do at home now. Plus odds and ends.

Laurie Conrad recycles from her ever-growing e-mailbag to pass along the latest travel deals, fashion statements, household strategies, gadgets, cool local events and other nuggets of interest to those who appreciate a clean, green world.

Vance Lehmkuhl looks at topics like eco-conscious eating, public transportation and fuel-efficient driving from his perspective as a vegetarian, a daily SEPTA bus rider and a hybrid driver, as well as noting the occasional wacky trend or product. Contact Vance with your 'green' news.

Ronnie Polaneczky sees the green movement through the eyes of her 12-year-old daughter, who calls her on every scrap of paper or glass bottle that Ronnie neglects to toss into the house recycling bins. Ronnie will blog about new or unexpected ways to go green. She also blogs at So, What Happened Was...

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Jonathan Takiff will be blogging mainly about consumer electronics - those things that we love to use and that suck too much energy. He'll spotlight green-conscious gizmos made in a responsible fashion, both in terms of materials used and the energy it takes to run them.

Signe Wilkinson draws the comic strip Family Tree, which follows the Tree family as they try to live green in the face of nattering neighbors, plastic-wrapped consumer products, and the primal teenage urge to spend vast quantities of money on hair care products of dubious organic quality.

In addition to these updates from our newsroom bloggers, watch for an occasional feature, Dumpster Diver Dispatches, from Philadelphia's original "green" community of artists, the Dumpster Divers. You'll learn about creative ways to reuse and recycle while you reduce, and about the artists who are making little masterpieces from what others throw out.