It is not one thing or the other

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A common polemical technique seeks to undercut someone's idea by describing what it's not. Here's an example:

By asking Americans to stop eating meat on Monday this insidious effort drives the extreme vegan agenda forward with a reasonable sounding request. “Just one day a week,” is their message, “and you are doing your part to save the planet and improve your own health.” No need to work up a sweat at the gym, go for a run or walk around the block. No need to conserve water usage in your own home (the average American household uses 400+ gallons of water per day) or reduce, reuse and recycle the 670,000 tons of trash we produce every day in the United States (84% of which could be recycled, including food scraps, paper, cardboard, cans, and bottles). All you have to do is give up your hamburger or steak one day a week.

No one argues that going meatless on Mondays is going to solve the problems of the world.

No. one.

The question is whether it moves us closer to health — personal, environmental, and otherwise — or further away from it. The writer, Daren Williams of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, does also address that question, which instantly qualifies him as a more credible source than many Big Food/Big Ag blowhards, but not before he deals this twaddle.

Yes, Mr. Williams, people will *also* benefit from working up a sweat at the gym or walking around the block. Yes, Mr. Williams, the average American uses water profligately and we'll all be better off if each of us changes. Yes, Mr. Williams, recycling and efficiency are not only good but smart, and it would be foolish to argue against them.

But if everyone reformed in those ways, Meatless Monday might still be a good idea. I think it is a good idea now. Animal agriculture is a huge contributor of the world's greenhouse gas problem. It's a huge expender of fossil fuels. It takes far more grain to produce a meal that contains animal products than if we just ate the grain ourselves. Industrial agriculture relies heavily on growth hormones and antibiotics which then enter our bodies. 

One of the great, misapprehended effects of making a concious change — such as resolving to go meatless one day a week — is that one's outlook changes and other changes are inspired. That's why, when I was asked which "green" change was the most important one, I always answered, "the first one," because you couldn't know where it would lead. That's how it was for me.

You never know, Mr. Williams: Going meatless on Mondays might inspire people to conserve water, or take other actions toward personal health.

Just for the record, I don't do meatless Mondays, and I'm not a vegetarian, never mind an "extreme vegan." But I used to pound the beef, and the chicken, and the shellfish, and the sea bass, and now I just eat less animal agriculture. Most days, I choose plant-based protein, which is not without its faults (it's heavily processed, for one) but still seems a better choice, for me.

No one action is going to fix the huge, multifaceted problems we humans have created for ourselves, but to fault an idea because it doesn't solve everything is intellectually dishonest and very much a part of the huge, multifaceted problems we have created for ourselves.

Oh, and: Don't think you're fooling anyone. You talk about broad-based good, but it is obvious that you speak out in defense of Beef-ful Mondays because you are paid to represent people who profit by selling more beef. While "the other side" is talking about global, societal, personal health, you're trying to sell more beef. Fine, you got a job to do, but please, enough with the pretend-principles crap.

 


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