More of the Same
Filed Under (Ramblings... and sometimes rants) by maida on 26-08-2008
Tagged Under : I've got rants in my pants
I signed up for an weekly environmental e-newsletter. This is one of the stories featured this week. It’s nothing that we didn’t already know, but still worth reading if you get the chance. Basically, reducing or eliminating meat from your diet significantly decreases your environmental footprint.
Here is another story about how animal agriculture creates more greenhouse gases than transportation does. Also not anything new to us, but maybe you need to read about it a few more times in a few more places before it sinks in.
While I would love for the world to go vegan or at least vegetarian, I’m not dumb. I know it’s not going to happen. BUT, I do think it’s possible for everyone to make informed decisions about what they put into their bodies and what they feed their children. It sickens me to go to the park to see kids eating meat that has been fed arsenic, pumped full of hormones and antibiotics, and then sprayed down with pesticides. They wash down their poisonous meat with poisonous milk. Sick!
Not only does this impact our health, it impacts our environment. I, for one, would like to have a place to live in the near future. I would also like for my kids and my kids’ kids’ kids to have a place to live. If we don’t start making informed decisions about everything we do in our daily routine, we won’t have that option. Start small– eliminate meat from one meal a week, then move on to two when you are comfortable with that; turn off the light when you leave the room; turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth. Little things add up. It’s not as hard as you think.
And on to something somewhat related to this post, but sort of not, how do you feel about eating irradiated spinach and lettuce? Irradiating food is nothing new. Check out this table that I got from the CDC:
|
Approval Year
|
Food
|
Dose
|
Purpose
|
| 1963 | Wheat flour | 0.2-0.5 kGy | Control of mold |
| 1964 | White potatoes | 0.05-0.15 kGy | Inhibit sprouting |
| 1986 | Pork | 0.3-1.0 kGy | Kill Trichina parasites |
| 1986 | Fruit and vegetables | 1.0 kGy | Insect control, increase shelf life |
| 1986 | Herbs and spices | 30 kGy | Sterilization |
| 1990 – FDA | Poultry | 3 kGy | Bacterial pathogen reduction |
| 1992 – USDA | Poultry | 1.5-3.0 kGy | Bacterial pathogen reduction |
| 1997 – FDA | Meat | 4.5 kGy | Bacterial pathogen reduction |
| 1999 – USDA (pending) | Meat | 4.5 kGy | Bacterial pathogen reduction |
I can’t imagine that blasting food with radiation is more beneficial than it is harmful. I’ve eaten plenty of spinach and lettuce in my day without any illness. In fact, I’ve had food poisoning twice in my life and both times were from meat, I’m pretty sure. The bottom line is, nothing is safe. Buy local. Buy organic.
