Happy Belated Earth Day

Okay, so I’m a week late.  I tend to treat Earth Day much like birthdays: something best celebrated in moderation every day, not just at a whiz-bang party once a  year.  The truth is I haven’t been very good at either model when it comes to Mother Earth, though not for lack of good intentions.  It’s kind of like when my Uncle teases me he’s going to enroll me in Telephone 101.  It’s not that I don’t want to call, I just kinda…get busy with other things.

Photo courtesy of John Haslam

Then I read another fabulous interview in The Sun magazine with Alex Steffen, author of the bestselling book Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century.  I haven’t read the book yet (I’ve, uhh, been too busy for that too apparently) but the interview did spur me to action, which is exactly what I think Steffen would want. 

Earth Pact 2010: Become A Vegcurious (also known as a Flexitarian).  Ever since one of my favorite authors, Jonathan Safran Foer, released his book Eating Animals, I’ve taken a hard look at the environmental impacts of my eating, not to mention the moral issues that eating meat presents an animal lover such as myself.  The article on being “vegcurious” referenced above says, “meat production has increased by 500 percent since 1950 to keep up with the American appetite for chicken, lamb, pork and beef.”  And I’m here to admit, I’ve been part of the problem, although I think Smashburger has some owning up to do too.

In a New Yorker review of Foer’s book, a comparison is made to Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma.  In the article, Pollan is described as an advocate of the “free range” movement, saying

[..]it’s too late for people to start worrying about eating animals. The problem with factory-farmed meat isn’t the meat; it’s the factory. The solution is to return animals to the sorts of places where they can graze and root and fly—or at least flap around—before being dispatched.

Foer disagrees, saying there simply isn’t enough “free range” to accommodate America’s carnivorous appetite.  Thus the apparent impasse: either one becomes a strict vegetarian/vegan or irreparably harms the earth.  Unless, of course, one considers the “radical” idea of becoming a flexitarian, someone who focuses on a vegetarian diet while allowing for occasional meat consumption.  What if everyone who wanted to eat meat just ate a lot less of it?  What if meat became more of a treat than a staple?  (Okay, turns out the idea isn’t very radical.  This guy got there at least a year before I did.)

I’m trying it.  I’m slowly incorporating vegetarian meals into our dinner line-up, since that’s where the idea of meat is most ingrained.  So far, it hasn’t been nearly as hard as I thought it would be, mainly because all the recipes I’ve tried have been just as delicious as their meat counterparts.  For example, try this Three-Bean Vegetarian Chili, which replaced the bean and sausage soup we used to make.  Or this woodsy Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms and Mascarpone.  To really round out things out, add Chipotle Bean Burritos and you’ve managed to fill half the week with terrific vegetarian options.

It may not be a solution, but it’s a start toward sustainability and compassion.  Making an Earth-pact that I’m actually in the process of pursing makes this the most successful Earth Day to date–even if I was a week late.  And as Steffen warns, the Earth won’t wait forever.

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