Super Eco

Photo credit: flem007_uk on Flickr,com

I'm a meat-eater. In many eco-circles, this makes me a bad person. According to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization  it also makes me a polluter—18% of greenhouse gases come from animal agriculture.

Here are some other depressing figures for us omnivores:

• 70% of deforested Amazon rainforest is used to raise cattle
• 60% of agriculture in the American mid-west is used to feed livestock
• 20% of fossil fuel use in the US goes towards food processing
• One pound of feedlot-beef creates 8 pounds of carbon dioxide

Of course I could give up animal products, or at least meat, but that's not going to happen. I've tried it before and it just doesn't work. My body does not work as a vegetarian—to get enough protein to stay functioning I just need to eat too much food.

So, what can I do instead?

To start, I buy locally. I live in Spain and all the meat I purchase comes from within Spain. Plus, many of the small butcher shops in my city get their meats directly from local farms. That cuts out on transportation-related pollution and means that I'm not directly contributing to the deforestation of other parts of the planet.

I buy organic whenever possible. Grass-fed cattle require half as much fossil fuel to raise plus they're not pumped full of antibiotics, growth hormones nor fed on animal products. Reading about the horrid conditions for most pigs in Spain, I've cut out pork products, unless I can confirm what I'm buying is certified organic.

Life is a series of choices and we are all responsible for the consequences of those choices. Not everyone has to go vegan, but if like me you decide to keep eating meat, do so responsibly and stay informed.