Reading G_’s post, I remembered my experience two years ago attending the same “Slough 101” workshop. I’m pleased to see that it has become seemingly more interactive and popular than when I went. My experience consisted of arriving, finding that the door was locked, being let in the back, then sitting alone at a table with the two speakers who showed me a presentation on a small laptop in front of us.
As personal (and honestly awkward) as that experience was, I’m glad that I did it. I believe that deep understanding has to be the basis of action, and these acts of going and learning about an issue and what is being done about it are extremely important.
I was struck by Kristy’s anecdote of seeking evidence to show her friends and family members to prove that her vegetarianism was making a difference. The action of trying to find a measurable impact of her vegetarianism was doing just that: seeking a deeper understanding of the issue and the actions that are being done to “solve” it.
I think that to fully understand the issue, it is important to engage in conversation with all sides. I challenge Kristy and the other members of her group to think about the impacts of vegetarianism on other players. How does this impact farmers who raise their animals in objectively more moral ways (more space, healthier feeding techniques, etc)? How does someone eating a vegetarian diet impact the restaurant industry, supermarkets, meat packaging plants, truck drivers, etc? How many players can you think of that are involved with the meat industry? A great tool, if you haven’t used it before, is Cmap, which can help you create a web of players and draw connections between them.
Kristy asks, “What actions can we participate in that will effectively put an end to the problems caused by the meat industry?” I challenge you to think about any benefits of the meat industry. While this may seem counterproductive (you know the bad things they do! You want to fix this problem!), it is worthwhile to look at it from your family’s perspective and from the perspective of the meat industry itself. We did something similar last week in my education class: during a debate about Teach for America, half of the class had to imagine themselves as supporters of the program, and the other half had to take the position of someone against the program. In reality, our entire class is entirely opposed to the program (ask me why, and I’ll tell you). However, having to imagine ourselves as people involved with the program was extremely helpful in creating stronger arguments and opinions reflecting what we really believed. What might be preventing your family from joining you in a vegetarian lifestyle? Is it financial? Moral? Something else? Why does the meat industry do so well? How would they respond to your arguments?
I look forward to engaging further with Kristy, G_, and the other 160 students as they move forward with their solutions projects.