People tend to look at the idea of “making a difference” from one of two different sides. Either it’s “I’m just one person, what difference can I make?” or it’s “Every vote counts.” The former is of course just a defeatist mindset talking; it’s become of more and more crucial importance for each of us to take the time to educate ourselves on all the different “elections” that are out there, so to speak, the ones in which we vote every day. When more and more individuals become aware of their options and the small ways in which a single person can contribute I have no doubt that the votes with inevitably start to pile up in favor of issues like environmental conservation, awareness and sustainability.
Is Our Food Killing Us?
One amazingly simple way to help make a difference has to do-as many seem to these days-with the food that you eat. In this country, the main considerations when dealing with food have evolved from simply “whether or not there’s enough of it.” (In fact, as in the case of genetically modified corn, sometimes there’s too much.) Now we must consider the methods of production, whether or not they’re sustainable, what types of energy are being used, and how much unnecessary shipping is taking place resulting in wasted fuel and tons upon tons of harmful emissions.
Vegetarianism – At Least Once in a While
This isn’t even about “whether or not to eat organic food” as you might expect. That’s always good, but for those people who can’t or won’t there are smaller, subtler ways that still have a positive impact. According to some people’s research, the beef industry is actually a great contributor to environmental decline than the use of automobiles, which is a little mind boggling. When you factor in all the energy spent housing, feeding, slaughtering and shipping cows, in addition to all the energy spent planting, harvesting and shipping the corn that they eat (which, as we know, fosters the presence of harmful E. coli in their stomachs – really struck out on that one, Agriculture Industry.) And that’s just beef.
The bottom line is that eating a non-meat based meal, and even better avoiding anything meat altogether, as little as one day a week is going to start adding up to a lot of savings for you and also the environment. When you tally up the results with the other couple million people who are doing it, now you’ve got a measurable reduction in the demand for meat products which is inevitably going to yield a reduction in supply. It’s one of the most fundamental business practices we as humans known: the law of supply and demand.
The Choice is Yours
We tend to think that we as individuals are essentially powerless, and yet in a society and world that increasingly revolves around consumerism we actually have enormous power. Our greatest weakness is in the lack of cohesion. If, for example, a large number of people in a certain city, region or even state coordinated somehow, via the internet or something like it, and all resolved to eat vegetarian one night a week and really stick with it, the meat industry for that area would be able to chart the reduced demand, and proportionally reduce the amount of meat produced and shipped to that area.
Every little thing counts, and it’s high time we start taking responsibility for the things we do rather than releasing ourselves personally from blame with the blanket phrase “it won’t make a difference” and essentially sweeping the challenges facing humanity under the rug. Well, space under the rug is starting to run out – and what will we do once it does?
This article is part of the ongoing series entitled “Make a Difference” which discusses a variety of small, easy changes you can apply to your life for personal, environmental and global betterment. Act now, and make a difference.