The Hamburger Amendment

While reading over my previous posts, and scolding myself for not being better about keeping up with my blog, I'm watching some stupid commercial on TV about getting people from third world countries to taste a Whopper vs. a Big Mac to see if the "Whopper Virgins" can actually tell us which tastes better. It reminds me that the hardest thing to face when it comes to being greener is changing culture or habits. People generally aren't eager to make a lot of major changes all at once. People get used to the way things are and change can be annoying, difficult, threatening, even scary. But the Whopper commercial should remind us of how toxic our culture can actually be; we just shouldn't be trying to convert millions, no billions, of other people to our diet of Whoppers and or Big Macs (not to mention flying and driving all over the world to make one commercial). It's just wrong.

But why is it wrong tinhart? Well, some may say it is cultural empiricism, others may say it is spreading an unhealthy way of eating to people who may have an intrinsically healthier diet (by virtue of their eating more simply, more sustainably than Americans tend to eat). The latter of those two would likely be, in my eyes, the bigger version of wrongness here. Let me be honest, I don't think there is anything wrong with hamburgers, or eating meat, or fast food restaurants. Burger King was my favorite fast food restaurant (and Taco Bell) when I was about 8 years old. I don't advocate a ban on all fast food or meat eating. But the fact is, our planetary ecosystems would collapse rapidly if everyone started eating the way we do. We simply can't support enough cows to make burgers for 6.5 billion people.

Somewhere in the U.S. Constitution there must be a clause about our god given right to eat hamburgers... or at least that is what I think after watching the Burger King 'documentary' about their taste test world tour. Seriously people, you don't have to stop eating meat or fast food, but we can't eat nearly as much as we do. If America wanted to solve both its green house gas emission problems, some of its health care problems, and address a number of other issues (not solve per se), we should reduce our consumption of meat, red meat in particular, by about 50 - 75%, immediately. If we drastically reduced the number of cows we eat, and reduced the amount of meat we eat in general, it would probably have a bigger environmental impact than if every passenger car in the U.S. were instantly turned into a hybrid (I have no specific research to back this up mind you, just years of reading about the environmental impacts of the beef industry). It would result in a healthier diet, and an increased level of general health in this country (relieving strain on the health care industry) and so on.

So if you want to make a small dent in the problem, put down the burger (or at least make it a turkey burger, or better yet, a veggie burger). Save the red meat for special occasions (if you must), or at least not more than once a week. Eat nothing but plants at least a couple times a week, more if you dare. When you do eat meat, favor the other types, especially poultry or perhaps venison should you be a hunter. It is a lot better for you.

Anyway, I know this is all kind of sanctimonious to some people, (some who I call my friends). People don't like change, and people don't generally like to be told what to do, or what is right or wrong. I have clearly indicated that I think the WAY we, as Americans, eat so much red meat and so much fast food is problematic, because it is not sustainable. If we don't revise the way we do things to be more sustainable, we'll perish... maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in 100 years. But eventually, either we will change or we will cease to be. Americans have a resolute faith in their own direct control over the world we live in, that our destiny is in our hands... and I think that is very true (not the only truth mind you, but I believe it is very much true). However, we aren't alone. Even if the rest of the world does not prevent us from stepping down from our perch at the top of the food chain, the planet/mother nature will eventually do this. We either start changing now, while we can have a relatively easy/painless time of change, or we can wait until it gets really bad, very difficult, and much much more horrible a situation. I say, if we really do believe our destiny is in our own hands... we have no time to waste. Make change happen, now. Make things better by doing it yourself first.