My mom is at a nutrition conference this week. At a presentation on sustainable food she was told it takes 20 calories worth of fossil fuel to produce just one calorie worth of beef.Four hours later I was at Texas Roadhouse.
Me: Did you know it takes 20 times the amount of fossil fuels to produce this kind of meat?
Dave: Yes. And the protein ratio for the vegetation consumed by cattle is 10:1. So if we just ate all the vegetables they eat we'd get 10 times the protein anyway.
Me: Wow. We really should try to eat more healthy. It's not just better for us but better for the environment.
Dave: Yup.
(Pause. We both dig into some tasty barbecue.)
Me: Hey, are you still hungry?? I am. Want some more ribs?
Dave: Sure!
One day I'll go green. But it definitely wasn't last night. Last night it was all about the burgundy colored barbecue sauce. Yum!
10 comments:
I can't decide if I hope we all decide to live healthy, sustainable, class-less lifestyles that will allow us to live peacefully amongst humanity and in harmony with nature--or if I just want us to all die off and let the dolphins take over.
. . .Sometimes I think the dolphins would do a better job.
I think I might get along with you Kristen. Woot for the dolphins.
DOLPHINS!!!!
Our stomachs are not equipped to digest the same proteins from vegetables that cows do (such as grass). Therefore, God gave us animals to get our protein. Yes, most of us eat too much meat (I'm admittingly guilty) but let's remember, its part of God's plan :-)
Kristen and Di -- Your comments totally make me think of Douglas Adams' "Hitchhikers" series. Especially the book where dolphins take over the world ... or is it the rats who take over the world and the dolphins who fly? Huh. It's been awhile.
Sierra -- I definitely don't advocate eating grass. That could get awkward. And I'm glad there's meat to enjoy instead of constant salad! But that's not really the point ... the point is the way we eat as Americans is totally unsustainable and I know it but don't do much about it. I just keep eating out instead of growing a garden or cooking from scratch and limiting meat intake to a few times a week or any of the other million things we all could do. Which is sad because we have no God-given right to destroy the earth with our glutenous habits. Hopefully one day there's a solution so I can eat at Texas Roadhouse without simultaneously depleting the oil reserves I need to commute to work and heat my home. Because I really, really like ribs. But I also like having a planet to live on.
That's why I mostly eat pork.
Get this for balance Brookey-Brooke...Last night I shopped at the local farmers market with my canvas bag, and today I am going to In n Out for lunch...wanna come??
To quote Alex: Since its the plants that clean the atmosphere and as its the cows that are responsible for the amount of methane in the air, im eating the problem your eating the solution, so to you I say "Tofu is murder".
Miranda -- I just may have to put that quote up in vinyl!!
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