Meatless Mondays

The oil spill is just too depressing to talk about. Even when you know that such disasters are not just possible but INEVITABLE, the reality still hits so hard.

So, let's talk about something cheery for a change (BTW, how can people watch the world around them and still feel ok about having children?).

Apparently, the Meatless Mondays movement is gaining some steam!



Just today, Mario Batali, impeccable chef-extraordinaire from Iron Chef fame, announced that his restaurants will be participating in Meatless Mondays, cutting all meat from their Monday menus.

This is great news for a few reasons. First, it shows the movement is gaining some steam Second, Batali is sure to attract some publicity. Finally, it illustrates that you do not have to be a complete vegan or even an animal rights extremist to see the value of reducing our meat intake. Batali is definitely known to love him some meat.

Why does this make me so happy? Well, it is some good news in a veritable sea of bad.

Why is Meatless Mondays good news?
For our fitness--America suffers from an extreme obesity crisis, fueled by an over-eating of fatty meat.
For our health--every study I read says that the best way you can maintain good health is by eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables.
For disease prevention--swine flu, bird flu, mad cow, the spread of food poisoning, how many more signs do we need that our meet eating is spreading disease?
For starving people the world over--it takes 8 pounds of grain to make one pound of beef. If we simply stopped eating beef, we could feed the entire world with that grain.
For health care costs--Red meat is a major contributer to cancer, which is one of the major reasons for our spiraling health care costs.
For our environment--factory produced meat leads to massive disposal of chemicals in our water, tons of wasted energy, erosion of soil, clear cutting of forests, and other stark environmental costs.
For animal rights--The treatment of animals in factory farms is something that no caring person should ever support.

Here's picture proof for that last one:



The reasons for cutting meat consumption jump off the page. The facts must be faced.

But RH, that seemed depressing, too? Why did this story make you happy?

Why? Cause if a famous chef can do it in his restaurant, anyone can. Stop with the manly-man excuses and the "I'm the top of the food chain" crap. Stop with the excuses. When faced rationally, there is only one decision. We can all do this. Easily. And it will help us and the world around us immensely. Unlike the problems of corporate corruption, climate change, bank bailouts, election reform, a sensationalist news media, and massive oil spills, there is something we can do as individuals. Just cut back your meat consumption. Start with Meatless Mondays. Be the change you want to see in the world. Then, maybe, just maybe, we can start to talk about these other issues (and, for me, start to think again about having kids).