Hello NBN since we last talked I have become an ethical vegetarian. I’m here today to talk to you all about being a vegetarian (and no, I’m not trying to pressure you to become a vegetarian) why, how, and the difficulties I have faced since making the big decision to break up with all my favorite foods. IF YOU DON’T LIKE OPINIONS CLICK AWAY NOW BECAUSE THIS IS MINE.

WHY?

I have taken several courses in environmental and  animal ethics philosophy for my minor. In every single course I had well constructed arguments for why being a vegetarian was the single most dumb thing in the world and why everyone should get over themselves and eat meat and blah blah blah. I was so pro-meat-eating that I never even really gave vegetarian arguments a chance. That is, until I watched several documentaries that gave me a new perspective about how factory farming was affecting something that I really did care about – the world. (We only have one of those you know…)

Farming practices didn’t bother me because I grew up in the 4-H and the FFA. I had an understanding from the time I was little that we raise animals to be big and healthy – and then they get sent off to be slaughtered. We watch the slaughter videos from the time we’re about nine-years-old here in the south so I was unfazed by the graphic nature of the “vegetarian/vegan propaganda” that each new ethics class presented to me. In fact, I would watch these videos and promptly eat a burger on my way home.

The video that changed it all had to be Cowspiracy. (Which is a video aimed towards vegan-ism however I am definitely not there in my journey so please vegans of the world… Be kind while I eat my eggs/cheese and figure out when/if I’ll stop that.) The cheese-ball title had me rolling my eyes before it even started. (I think I even ignored the first five minutes of it to play Monster Busters on my phone.) Then they discussed the amount of pollution caused by factory farming and my fingers went from swiping away at monsters on my iPhone screen to neatly folded on my desk. These people had my attention.

For me personally I come from a family that has jobs deeply rooted in the fossil fuel/natural gas industries. I have a dad and step-mom hauling coal on trains and a step-dad in the oil industry. Their jobs are criticized HEAVILY and DAILY at my university for contributing to the pollution of the world. (Yeah… Okay… So do you every time you get into your car but you still buy gas now don’t you?) SO for Cowspiracy to blame MORE pollution on the factory farming industry than my family was a big deal. Factory farming accounts for more pollution than all transportation combined WORLDWIDE according to Cowspiracy. That means more than every plane, train, and car over this big blue planet. According to this documentary the only reason that this fact is so ignored and why most companies that are trying to stop pollution from the oil industries and such instead of all the actual relevant sources of pollution is… They are bought and paid for by big farming companies to keep their mouths shut.

Even without fossil fuels, we will exceed our 565 gigatonnes CO2e limit by 2030, all from raising animals.

Oppenlander, Richard A. Food Choice and Sustainability: Why Buying Local, Eating Less Meat, and Taking Baby Steps Won’t Work. . Minneapolis, MN : Langdon Street, 2013. Print.

Source: calculation is based on http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6294 analyses that 51% of GHG are attributed to animal ag.

I was overjoyed! HOORAY! FINALLY A DOCUMENTARY THAT DOESN’T HATE MY FAMILY’S LIVELIHOOD! Then suddenly… I wasn’t. Factory farming practices causing THAT MUCH pollution was not okay and I was not okay with it and that was not okay right? Right. Then because I was so heavily impacted and so charged to actually make a change I… I went home and had a burger. For the next several months I went home and had a burger, I had chicken, I had bacon, I HAD IT ALL.

Then one day in my Ethics class a very nice vegan girl told the class why she was vegan, “Once you know better you have to do better.”

And because I love our planet and I wasn’t very well going to stop driving any time soon… I quit eating meat.

HOW?

This was the hardest transition ever. I have no other vegetarian friends, I can no longer just pick anything I want off of the dollar menu, and (the cherry to top off the hell pie) my love affair with bacon, sausage, and burgers was officially over.

Every time I walked up to order I would groan because I couldn’t get “the usual”. I would be hit with a pang of sadness knowing that half of the menu at most places was off-limits for me. I WOULD DROWN IN MY SORROWS BECAUSE IN THIS CRUEL WORLD VEGETARIAN OPTION MEANS SALAD!!! I am not a rabbit. I do not want lettuce for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Until it wasn’t the hardest thing ever. I decided that I love black bean tacos, potatoes, steamed veggies, black bean burgers, humus, and black bean subs/pita. Quite apparently science has come so far that people are pretty good at making things that are not meat taste a lot like meat and I am forever indebted to these people.

I guess the real how is just: I remembered to deprive myself of meaty goodness in the interest of protecting our planet until I eventually found vegetarian foods that I loved a lot.

DIFFICULTIES?

Well let me talk you through a scenario…

Most people in your life will try but fail to hide the look of disgust on their face when they ask, “WHY don’t you eat meat though?”.

Most people will try even harder and yet fail even harder to hide the look of annoyance on their face when you tell them that it’s because pollution from factory farms accounts for more pollution than all transportation combined.

Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation.   [i]

Fao.org. Spotlight: Livestock impacts on the environment.

After that they will not hide any of the mean looks when they say, “You’re only one person so why do you think you can change anything?”

(By the way: Because there are a lot of us “one persons” walking around not eating meat and making a change together. Feel free to join us.)

These people are probably placing their insecurity about not wanting to make such a large sacrifice in order to better the world onto you. I suggest doing what we do best here at NBN and kill them with kindness.

It really does bother people that in order to make a change in the world you have to make a big lifestyle change. That sometimes means giving up convenience and can tend to make people very uncomfortable. Take me for example, I single-handedly talked two dear friends out of being vegetarian because I was insecure about not wanting to make such a big change in my life… It made me feel like a bad person! It shouldn’t. You should celebrate the people that are willing to change for the planet you live on. I celebrate vegans for being able to take an extra step that I just can’t seem to take. I’m not insecure about it anymore. I have focused that energy into celebrating the people that can. You should too.

(NOTE: This will happen until every person in your life has heard your entire spiel unless a few of them need to hear it a few times to understand that you’re seriously not going to be eating meat.)

PERSONAL BENEFITS

For me, personally, I have been getting the best sleep of my life. I spend less time asleep during the day and less time awake at night. I don’t rely on afternoon naps anymore and find that where usually I would need a coffee at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., and 3 p.m., I really only need the one in the morning. I feel more focused in my classes and after a FULL really great vegetarian meal my hunger stays away longer.

I might just be sleeping better knowing that I am a part of minimizing harm to the world but who knows.

Please email me with any questions at: NothingButNealie@yahoo.com

Feel free to comment below.

And until next time…

XOXO,

NBNealie