31 Days as a Vegetarian, 28 Days (and counting) as a Vegan…
October 2nd, 200831 Days as a Vegetarian, 28 Days (and counting) as a Vegan
By Kelley
Ugh, OMG, I’m dying, gimme a hamburger, I’m starvin’ over here…weak, so weak, must eat animal flesh…bacon, cheese…
Just kidding.
Some of you already know that I was a Vegetarian for 3 years when I was younger (I recently remembered that it was the movie City Slickers which convinced me) …unfortunately I let society (and my own selfish wants) get to me and became an animal eater again (looking back on it…an unfortunate decision). So the past 59 days really have not been that bad. I have to admit that once you make your mind up about something like this, sticking to it is very easy (at least it has been for me)…except for one slip up which was a result of the incompetence of a local Italian restaurant. I seldom have any cravings and when I do I just simply nip it in the bud by telling myself it is not an option…that food is not in my diet anymore (same thing I had to do when I quit smoking). Yes, I had a love affair with a certain BLT at a certain local watering hole but…it’s dead to me now, literally…it’s dead, pig flesh, dead. The cravings vanished with the relationship. The same can be said for my love of ham, pepperoni, turkey clubs and most recently, ice cream and cheese. See ya later alligators!
I’m not sad, I’m not grieving for the loss…in fact, in a strange sadistic way I feel powerful, I feel like I am in control, I am calling the shots. I am getting an odd pleasure from restricting myself…it feels good. Seriously. I suppose that sort of thing could be bad, say if I was anorexic but I’m not (been there, done that) and the pleasure I receive from restricting my diet mainly stems from the fact that I feel like I am making an important decision, a humane and empathetic nod towards animals in general, not to mention the environment. Sure I also derive pleasure from knowing that I am (mostly) eating healthier and I am not being loaded down with saturated fats and cholesterol. But mainly the satisfaction comes from the feeling that I am being truer to myself.
I am a huge animal lover. Anyone who really knows me should know this about me…I have a very big soft spot in my heart for animals of all sorts, and not only animals but birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, even insects (okay, I don’t love insects but I feel they have just as much right to be alive as me). I break for anything that is on or crossing the road, I try to save mice from my cats, I don’t kill spiders or ants (okay I do admit that occasionally I put out ant poison when they come in the house and get into the cat food and recyclables), flies..Mi casa es su casa basically. I truly feel that we humans have invaded this land and I would be a an egotistic fool to try to keep the natural habitants from living as they normally would. Deer, sure it pisses me off that they eat off the trees we are trying to grow…but it’s their land as much as it is ours. If I really really had a problem with it, there are safe, environmentally, humane ways to deal with it..but it just doesn’t rile me up enough. I feel terribly sad when I see a dead animal along the road, even if it is an opossum and especially if it is a cat. I love bears (could care less that they have the potential to maul me) and I would love to see a mountain lion. A few years ago I saw a porcupine waddling down the road and I just thought it was the cutest and neatest thing…I would hug it if I could. If I could, I would take in every stray cat that came across our patio and I would end up the crazy old cat lady with 50 cats. This is me, this is who I am, who I’ve been all my life. I love animals, all of them…and eating them just doesn’t seem right to me, it hasn’t seemed right to me for a long time (probably starting when I was a little girl and got to witness the horrifying event that was my parents slaughtering chickens). And the more I thought about, the more mature I became and the more I sought out and read about factory farms…it all just clicked. Sure cows, pigs and chickens are not cute and cudly like cats or dogs, but to me this does not give me the right to eat them. They are life, sentient beings who have thoughts (perhaps not language based thoughts), feelings, sadness, pain and most of all they fear. Fear, terror, pain…imagine for a moment (please just indulge me)…the absolute fear and terror an animal goes through just before and while it’s being slaughtered…and then the pain, some being skinned while still alive. Being skinned, scalded or sliced open while still alive! It’s outrageous! I can’t justify it and I can’t continue to wear blinders and supress my true feelings on this devastating matter.
I apoagize for that digression, hopefully you are still with me. I have been trying to look at the good side of vegetarian/vegan eating. I am constantly thinking to myself how much healthier my diet has become…how most (if not all) of the food I am unable to eat was really stuff I should not be eating anyway (if I want to eat a healthy diet that is). I mean, we all know how bad bacon is and pepperoni, cheese…full of saturated fat. Hamburger, hot dogs (weird I don’t even miss hot dogs, and I used to love them!), butter…all bad for your health. When I think about all the money I’ve been putting into my body via vitamin & mineral supplements (serioulsy, you should see our cupboard…it is overflowing), then think about some of the foods I had been eating…it just doesn’t make sense. We had been eating pretty healthy especially in the past year or 2…we’ve nearly entirely switched to 100% whole grain bread items, added more fresh fruits and veggies to our diet, fish, and only ate bad snack foods at get togethers (well, except for the occasional ice cream or potato chip splurge). So we were doing all of this in an effort to get healthier and loose weight yet we were still eating meat and dairy…which is not healthy for you. No it’s not. Really.
Okay, this is probably where some may argue about needing to get adequate protien and calcium. I respect that concern but it’s not really a valid concern. It would be if I was not eating a healthy diet filled with a variety of good foods, but I am. I have done some research and have found that most Americans eat twice as much protein as they actually need on a daily basis. This likely is referring to the meat and potatoes people who eat steak and chicken that is 3 times bigger than the suggested serving, people that eat meat daily, several servings a day. (Why is America so fat?) I can eat the suggested amount (50.4 grams) of protein per day by eating such things as: 1 bagel (9 grams) w/ peanut butter (8), 2 slices whole wheat bread (5), 2 cups cooked broccoli (8), 2 TBSP almonds (4), 1 cup pinto beans (refried) (14), 1 banana (2). This equals 50 grams of protien. Not a single meat or dairy product to be found. And calcium, lets see. It’s recommended that a person my age should get 1000 mgs of calcium per day. I’ll see if I can find the amounts of calcium in the items I just listed, same serving sizes: whole wheat bagel (104 mgs), whole wheat bread (100), broccoli (124), almonds (70), pinto beans (refried) (79), banana (8). A total of 485 mgs. So I can add 1 cup raw spinich (30), 1 cup leaf lettuce (13), 1/2 cup raw carrots (21), 1 cup soymilk (300), 8 ozs orange juice (300) for an additional 664 mgs, a total of 1149. Ta Da. In your face non-believers! ;)  These are things that I eat regularly, sure not everyday, but this was just to give an example and to inform others that proper protein & calcium intake is quite easy to acheive on a vegan diet.
Once again, I digressed. I am finding that I don’t miss the meat so much as I miss the dishes that it’s in. For example, as a vegetarian, I would be happy to eat any pasta dish with out meat…it’s not the meat that I crave it’s the pasta and marinara sauce, I would be perfectly happy eating cheese lasagna, no meat required. Same with Chinese or Mexican food Gimme some nicely seasoned stir fry veggies and rice or a bean & cheese burrito…. Meat is not a necessity. Now, as a vegan, it is a bit trickier…a bit of a pain in the ass if you will. Technically I can’t say that I terribly miss cheese yet, or eggs for that matter…I don’t like milk and had been using soy milk for years now (except for cooking) but I feel that living as a vegan long term will be much harder to adjust to. I want so badly to not want, not have cravings for dairy…but there are so many items out there that are made with dairy… I’ve become much more diligent at reading ingredient labels and have noticed that milk, milk products (such as whey) are in practically everything!!! And recently I noticed that the sunflower seeds I had been eating contain gelatin…freakin gelatin! The label does not say whether it is vegetable or bovine (it should say!) but I have stopped eating them anyway (a big F-U to Plantar’s). I was at the store the other day and I got a serious craving for powdered donuts…turns out there is milk & eggs in the ones I looked at, didn’t know this before. Meh, who needs donuts anyway? (Why is America fat?) I had a craving for a grilled cheese sandwhch yesterday but it passed and I’m glad I did’nt succomb to Garrett’s insistence that we must go out for luch (to our favorite water hole) so I could support the fact that they had a grilled cheese as the special for lunch (it’s not on their daily menu. As a vegetarian, I wished that it was). Overall, I can say that my cravings have been very minimal, and like I said, as soon as a craving starts (say for pizza, my all-time favorite food) I just nix it out of my mind and give myself a mental pat on my back for being true to myself and the animals I care about.
To leave you with one last thought, I love this quote:Â “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” ~Gandhi
The end.
You should be giving yourself a pat on the back. And Garrett should be less of a pusher on certain things.
I agree with some of your thoughts about animals, although I do not agree with them all. Your comment about your driving behavior for instance. Its ok to respect a squirrels life, but putting yourself at risk & others on the road not to squish Bullwinkle’s side kick? I disagree.
I love dogs and I love cats. I love hamburgers and I love pizza.
I don’t like dogs that smell like skunks. I hate cats that piss in my house.
I too witnessed a chicken wondering around with a head, but I still like eggs for breakfest and boneless skinless chicken breast is one of my favorites.
I am happy that you have made a choice with your life and are following through with it. You are a strong person to do so. I will pat you on the back, right after you finish your drink!
The ckicken, it wondered headless…
I don’t understand why everyone thinks that breaking for animals automatically puts your life (or others) at risk. It’s no more harmful than driving too fast or while distracted, or after a few beers. Typically what happens is that I see the animal in advance and I let my foot off the gas, sometimes I do actually have to break a little, sometimes I have to break harder, sometimes, I nearly come to a dead stop….usually this happens very slowly and only on two lane roads (driving to work or into town). Now, if someone is behind me, tailgating me, then perhaps I run the risk of them hitting me…which would be their fault anyway for tailgating and not paying close enough attention to my break lights.
I rarely ever swerve to avoid hitting an animal. I have and I know that it is dangerous but I must point out once again that these actions tend to only occur on 2 lane roads, traveling less than 45 miles per hr. So it’s not very likely that I’m going to throw the car into a 360 as a result of a gentle swerve. And I obviously don’t swerve into oncoming traffic, not yet anyway. ;)
I’ve hit animals before, a cat, a deer, a skunk (?), birds…and when it happens I am flooded with sadness and guilt (especially when I hit that cat). I don’t like feeling that way so I try to avoid it at all costs.
Thanks for your other comments, I appreciate them!
And please don’t worry everyone, I am not looking down my nose at any of you for enjoying your death-burgers…but I do hope that maybe some of you will be open to the idea that eating meat (and/or dairy products) is not a necessity to live a happy and healthy life.
Good post, Kelley. I am not a big meat eater either and sometimes prefer all of th vegetarian options that you mentioned. They are delicious! I admire and respect your reasons and point of view on the harsh treatment of animals. I think that you are very strong in sticking to your convictions without slamming us death-eaters too badly.
Vegetarian does seem like an eventual option- (or maybe just fish and chicken, sorry) but I cannot see myself ever going vegan. I just love cheese, eggs and dairy way too much!
Oh, BTW, DO NOT hug porcupines Kelley!!! No matter how cute they are. : )
Your descriptions of ideal conditions for braking for critters if fine. I too would brake for a animal if I had time to evaluate my surrouding and situation.
However, these do no alway present themselves.
I fear that you may create (or already have) a reaction that will not always be safe for you (or others). I recall a time I was with someone (we’ll call them the ex) and we were coming home from who knows where and a deer ran out in front of us while we were just taking a exit ramp. Her reaction was dangerous, risky, and foolish. We ended missing the deer, in the other lane of the ramp, facing on coming traffic. After about a half hour of her sobbing uncontrollably, we were able to resume.
To me, this was unacceptable. If I were driving, Bambi would have had to go.
I would never compare braking to animals to driving after too many beers. I think there is a difference. However, both of them are decisions to make by the driver.
Just be safe, you won’t always have time to evaluate the situation. Pick K before you pick the bird!
I respect your choice, but cannot see myself not eating meat at least on a semi regular basis. There was a period in my younger days when I hardly ate meat at all, but found that I wasn’t satisfied completely after a meal, or satisfied for very long afterward.
Now don’t get me wrong, I do like a good salad, especially before my main meal, and sometimes as my meal. Fruits, nuts, and vegetables I love to eat as a snack, but I do not consider them a meal by themselves.
Perhaps some day, Melissa and I will adjust our diet towards a more vegetarian menu, but I don’t know that we’d ever completely give up meat.
Keep up the good eating habits!
Eating no meat does take some getting used to…mostly it is overcoming the mentality that you “need” to eat meat to be healthy or that a meal “needs” to have some for of meat in it to be considered balanced. It’s just not so. It seems to be a hang-up which most of us find hard to overcome. The agriculture industry has beaten it into our heads for years and years and years. They have lied to us, tricked us into believing these things so that they can continue to make money slaughtering countless animals, pumping them full of antibiotics and growth hormones so they can live in overcrowded factory farms, so they can grow faster and be slaughtered before they’re even a year old. It’s sick. It’s greed. Mo money, mo money.
Even if you think that you just can’t give up eating meat, I still highly recommend this book:
http://www.foodrevolution.org/
I know that most people would just rather put blinders on and just pretend it isn’t happening. I was one of them, I know how it is, it’s so much easier to just ignore it and go on as you were…it’s so much easier to do nothing (and tastier you might add). But, as GI Joe used to say, “Knowing is half the battle.” The other half is what you choose to do with that knowledge.
That book will educate you about what you are putting in your body and it will make you think about where you are putting your dollars. We vote with our dollars…we need to stop voting for these factory farms and start voting for healthy & humane alternatives.
Garrett, would you care to share your feelings about what you are learning from this book?
This is a very complicated topic. I was considering creating a new blog post, but since Kelley gave me an opening here I’ll make this brief.
First off, I’m torn between a practical “animals are animals, humans are animals, animals are meat, therefor humans are meat” and “I shouldn’t eat things that have a face”. Part of me is terribly brutal, the part that does not consider there is any holy spirit or godly essence within the human, we’re just a relatively bright, clever and devious animal. Part of me thinks that while might makes right, might should not make right. IF that all makes sense…it means that part of me thinks that as long as you aren’t cruel or inhumane about it, eating animals and human euthanasia are perfectly acceptable.
That said, eating animals worked great for people when they only lived 30 years: not long enough for the bad effects to make a difference. We ate steak every night (if we could get it!) and died after a short, tough life, before the cancer that was brewing in our bodies could make a difference. Evolutionarily it works great.
Now that we want to live a healthy and vital life to 70 and beyond, those choices that our bodies are primed for are working against us. From a health perspective, eating meat even just once a week (as I usually do these days) is still so much worse for you versus a vegan diet that it isn’t funny. Hell, even a vegetarian diet versus a vegan diet, the difference is stark:
Pack a day smoker = regular meat eater
Second hand smoke = vegetarian
No exposure = vegan
…would be a good way to look at it, roughly, from a cancer & health impact standpoint.
Hell, worse than the natural “bad effects” of meat and dairy like the saturated fats and cholesterol, every time I eat meat now, I think of dioxin. Dioxin is so toxic that it is like mercury: there is no safe exposure level, and is created and released willy-nilly by corporations who only look at the bottom line. Americans get 93% of their dioxin exposure from meat & dairy products, as it is fat soluble and concentrates up the food chain. http://www.ejnet.org/dioxin/ and http://pubs.acs.org/hotartcl/tcaw/00/jul/cooke.html for more info about dioxins.
So, I am buffeted by information, but like you say, knowing is half the battle. I think I enjoy meat more now that it is scarce. We never really ate a lot of meat to begin with, but even small amounts are so much worse (for so many reasons, not just dioxin) than none at all. Like Todd says, I don’t think I’ll ever entirely abstain, but by choosing to make smarter choices, I’m doing both myself and the world a great favor.
It’s a great “ride” in the right direction.
One wave at a time, one person at a time.
Ride the wave, the wave of change.
Great post Kelley, I was really wondering how it was for you being vegan! I don’t know if you remember, but about 6 years ago I was basically vegetarian (remember when we would only eat halal meat, so when we couldn’t find halal meat– too bad!) and I did miss meat. Not all the time, but I definitely had cravings for it! But I know I wouldn’t be able to be vegan! I would miss so many different kinds of food! Good for you that you have the strength to do what you believe in.
About the slaughtering issue, it concerns us (Majed and I) as well, we don’t like to think about animals being cut apart while they are still alive, and actually, in Islam, you aren’t supposed to let an animal see other animals being slaughtered, it’s considered cruel.
I have been thinking for a while that I should cut down my meat consumption, not just for health reasons, but for environmental reasons, and you guys are always a good example for me!
This book Kelley is making me read called “The Food Revolution”…it gives me another reason to want to move to Europe: factory farms in the United States are some of the most brutal and efficient in the world, with what amounts to zero supervision or accountability. In parts of Europe, they’ve outlawed a lot of the factory farming practices which are the most egregious, and the result are healthier products and vastly lower cases of food-borne diseases. Oh, and the animals aren’t forced to live covered in the shit that rains down from the animals in the cages above until the day they die…and so on and so on…
Reading about cows being slaughtered alive, where they figure if only five out of every hundred aren’t ’stunned’ and still conscious, that is “acceptable”, and the solution of adding a second stunner would have an imperceptible impact (as in, only an accountant would notice the additional $0.0001 per pound of meat that the stunner would add to the price)…makes me ashamed of the United States.
Kelley and I have had some, ahem, discussions about this, my viewpoint is that we want to reward baby steps and slow improvement with our money, we are voting with our purchasing habits. If you can find a source that is an ‘actual’ farm and not a factory, you should pay the premium for that product as it helps support an actual person, not some faceless megacorporation.
I also think that people like her who are taking the giant leap are also doing good, as they are pushing forward the boundaries of what it means to be human.
So, I’m going to wind down my meat consumption unless I can find a humane alternative. Hell, I bought some Egg Beaters a day or two ago and the thought of millions of chickens being crammed into a ConAgra cage little larger than a shoebox for their whole life, being considered not an animal but instead a piece of equipment in a factory…well, let’s just say my purchasing habits are going to be significantly different in the future, the more I read and know…
I have a full blog post in me about this, it’ll have to wait for some future time though…
Thanks Jessica, I appreciate your comments! I do remember when you guys didn’t eat much meat when you couldn’t find halal meat. (What has changed?)
I thought that I would miss too many foods but really I have to say that I don’t. Whenever a craving comes to mind I just squash it with the thoughts of animals being tortured just so I can have something that I think that I can’t live without, or something that tastes good (at the expense of living, sentient beings). I know that sounds depressing but it really isn’t. To me, having pride in myself about the choices I am making and knowing that I am not supporting an industry which tortures billions of animals gives me enough zest to continue living like I feel I should…living in a manner which actually aligns to my feelings and beliefs.
I honestly have to say that I do not feel that I am being deprived of anything. There are so many other non-animal food choices out there and you can always prepare favorite meals sans meat and still get enjoyment out of eating. Now if you are a huge meat eater or eat a lot of eggs or cheese this would be a much harder transformation. (I loved cheese, many times I considered cheese my “meat” and I loaded my salads and tacos with it, ate cubes of it as a snack, etc….I mistakenly thought that my life may not be worth living without cheese…especially pizza, toasted cheese sandwiches, mozzarella sticks, etc. Turns out I was terribly mistaken.)
I hate to sound like I am being preachy but I really think it is a very important issue which should be examined by everyone who thinks they cannot possibly live without meat. If nothing else, think of it in terms of an environmental issue..this way of factory farming cannot be sustained. It is terribly harmful to the environment. Not only that but because there is so much demand for meat in first world countries, it is literally starving third world countries… All the grain which is being produced to fatten up cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, geese, etc could be used to feed millions of poor people. We are literally causing starvation around the world all because we have been lied to and because we are programmed to be meat eaters. Perhaps in hunter gatherer days, eating meat was necessary but this day and age it is not. It is a want not a need.
Oh and I just recently read about the nasty journey sheep (used for wool production) take on ships from Australia to the middle east to be slaughtered for meat, throats slit and left to bleed to death. Very sad.
Okay I am done preaching. I’m sorry but I do feel very strongly about this issue and it is one that has tortured me for years…but now that I am actually living more honest with myself I suddenly feel this overpowering urge to share my thoughts. Please just bear with me everyone. ;)
Sometimes I feel like a wondering headless chicken.
I agree wholeheartedly that animals should be treated humanely at all times. That being said, I also feel that it is not morally wrong to eat meat. I think it is just part of the circle of life. Currently, my mom does all the grocery shopping for the household but after I’m out of here, I’d like to buy my meat at farms. It’s healthier for me, healthier for the animals, and doesn’t support the megacorporations. I eat red meat maybe 2 or 3 times a month but I eat chicken and tuna fairly often. I went for 2 years without red meat and I did miss it. And I grew to hate chicken for a while. I would find it much easier to be a vegetarian than a vegan. It would make me cry to give up ice cream.
I want to hug porcupines too.
On a side note (but also health related), my smoking is way down. When I lived with Kim, we were each smoking a pack a day. Now I am smoking a pack every 3 days.
It is really surprising to me, nearly everyone agrees that animals should be treated humanely, and yet there are no regulations preventing a farm animal from being literally skinned alive, nor regulations against abuse and cruelty.
Things a kid would go to jail for (torturing a cat, for example, by poking its eyes out or sodomizing it with a stick) are perfectly legal when done by the employee working with livestock. There simply are zero protections for the animal in the industry, they are legally considered a tool or a machine.
No one gives a fuck if you beat the shit out of your cordless drill, and legally no one gives a fuck if you literally beat the shit out of a farm animal.
Before reading my rant, please know that this is NOT directed at anyone in particular.
For a long time I have felt bad for eating meat and it has troubled me to the point where I just feel sick thinking about it, all the billions of creatures that die to satisfy the human appetite….especially when it’s not necessary to survive (may it was back in the olden days, but NOT now).
For as long as I can remember, I have felt that I am no more important to this world than anything else, even an ant. (Ants are important so don’t laugh or think it’s silly). And after studying Buddhism I have a deeper belief that this is so. Just because humans are smart and are at the top of the food chain does NOT mean that we have the right to exploit, abuse, murder anything which lies below us. It’s sick. The way we think, the greed, the insatiable appetites…the lies and excuses we tell ourselves. It’s all propaganda and we’ve been force fed so much bullshit about what “we” need, what we deserve, how we are better, or more important.
How fucking important will we be when all the honeybees die off? How fucking important will the human race be when it self destructs to the point of no return. Yea, we’re so fucking smart, we are so fucking on top of the world, at the top of the food chain…eating our way into starvation, annihilation, mass murdering helpless creatures to fill out fat bellies all the while starving 3rd world countries who would thrive if they could only eat as good as our grain fed agriculture.
It’s completely sick and I no long want to be a part of it. I don’t want to put myself on a pedestal just because I am smarter than the other creatures who live on this planet. They are smart too and they all serve a purpose, and most important…they deserve respect. How can we not give the same when we ask the same?
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!
Whew, I feel a tiny bit better now that I got that out.
It’s not that there aren’t laws against the abuse of factory farm animals…they just are not adhered to. And big business is not in favor of adjusting their business because of the all-fucking-mighty dollar. People are not willing to make kinder choices because of said dollar, or because of laziness, or because they don’t know any better.
Something has to give. And since we humans are the “smart ones”…it would only seem appropriate that we step up.
http://www.animallaw.info/articles/ddusicacl.htm#IIA
In general, the individual state laws protecting farm animals are stated as allowing “customary practices”: if everyone does it, then it is legal, regardless of however cruel and unusual the practice may be.
It is illegal to fight dogs, but it is perfectly legal to slowly hack a living cow to pieces on an assembly line. One people call an outrage, the other people call dinner.
I’m looking forward to finding more ’slow food’, locally grown and processed foods. I can’t help but imagine that a small, family owned and operated meat processor is going to take more care and humane pride in their job than some illegal who is making $20 a day in some slaughterhouse (like in Fast Food Nation).
As far as the ‘holier than thou’ aspect that gives man providence over all of god’s creatures, I agree…man has no special place in existence. We’re simply a clever animal who has advanced to the point where we can ponder moral issues like this. We have no right to take another creatures life, be it human or any other kind of creature.
The only thing that (you would think) could keep us in check is the fear of the collapse of our society…luckily for us (lucky from the standpoint that it allows us to sleep at night), we’ve proven to be AMAZINGLY short sighted OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER again throughout history. So we don’t see the man behind the curtain, we don’t worry about tomorrow, we don’t think about the future…so, no “keeping in check”.
Seriously, I think the only thing that is going to rein us in will be a substantial and severe collapse. It won’t be until after “it doesn’t work anymore” that society in general will reconsider the foolishness of feeding the vast majority of our food to animals for meat, losing 80% of it in the process. Not until people are starving wholesale that THAT little bit of absurdity will come home to roost. Starvation is something that happens to poor people in Africa, we don’t need to worry about aquifers or soil quality or pollination or fertilizer runoff or pesticide pollution or deforestation or overpopulation or sustainability…
Those are someone else’s problems. Someone who is “not me here-and-now”. Me of tomorrow maybe…fuck him though, I don’t care about him, I only care about me here-and-now…
Very well said Garrett.
I encourage everyone to read this book:
Collapse: How Societies Chose to Fail or Succeed
by Jared Diamond
Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Fail-Succeed/dp/0670033375