Another in the series of posts of what we do in our home that is, or isn't, sustainable or otherwise earth friendly.

I've been off red meat for at least a decade, which at the time was more pointed toward easy weight loss, rather than any consideration of sustainability. I saw a friend drop perhaps 20-30 pounds without trying, strictly as the result, he said, of marrying a vegetarian who did all the cooking. I was also influenced by my sister-in-law, Beverly, and her daughters, who are vegetarians.

I have continued to come in close contact with other vegetarians and vegans, including Georgie's brother, Doug, and his family. And last weekend, we visited our good friends up in downeast Maine, and learned that Chuck had gone vegetarian, in the footsteps of his wife Katrina, an intense and passionate animal rights booster.

I may not get there with them — I like butter and cheese too much — but if I do, my reason will be the environment. Even as I've continued to eat animal products, I've become convinced that industrial meat production — the warehousing of chickens, the confinement of young beef for veal, the killing floors, lice-ridden fish farms, and the ever-more-creative uses of offal — is among the most evil conspiracies of mankind.

Then there is the methane produced by all the animals brought into being just to feed humans. Many people conflate carbon dioxide with greenhouse gases, but the fact is that the latter is a broader term. Methane is, by volume, far smaller than carbon dioxide, but it is 23 times more potent as a danger to the atmosphere. If we just ate the grains that we feed to the animals, cutting out the middleman, we'd reduce climate warming substantially.

Then, still, is the vast acreage that has been, and is still being, cleared to sustain the meat industry, both for grazing and for agriculture, or more likely, monoculture, which has its own sustainability issues. As we cut down forests, we lose nature's outstanding carbon sinks, the trees.

For the moment, I still eat fish and fowl, and occasionally bacon — with gusto — when it's served in a restaurant. Georgie, meanwhile, has been known to order a steak rarely, and usually loves it, but she's pretty much unable/unwilling to eat chicken or the non-beef/non-pork sausages we've been getting. Under her influence, I've been learning how to cook tofu, seitan, tempeh, and veggie sausage, though I'm not a quarter of the cook I am with the animal products I've been cooking with for 35 years.

Yesterday, I stopped in yet again for a repast at Veggie Planet, the vegetarian restaurant we love in Harvard Square. This time, though, on the way out, I asked them if they'd be willing to have an unpaid intern — me — and amid the rush of lunch hour, the answer was probably not, but I can be in touch if I want. They also suggested a couple of places I might take classes.

Veganism seems an undertaking too daunting, still, but vegetarianism seems potentially, possibly, doable, and learning how to gain the variety I get from duck, turkey, chicken, fish, and shellfish would be one major step toward what is clearly a good goal for the common good.