Kristy Lee asks some really good questions in her post Vegetarianism: Environmental Action?. She acknowledges the struggle environmentalists have with the effectiveness of individual action versus governmental action. For me, this post acknowledged some great questions about how to go about finding a solution to an environmental problem, as well as pushed me to question my individual ‘solutions’ or actions. I completely agree with Kristy’s belief that doing the responsible thing as an individual, such as being a vegetarian, is good for personal morals and values. Individual action seems obvious for the mitigation of meat production, especially when many of the environmental and ethical facts about meat production indicate that it can be extremely detrimental. However, as Kristy mentions, sometimes the issue of the matter should not be put on the individual or the consumer but government and industry. Maybe the solution for the meat industry doesn’t lie in how many pounds of meat each consumer eats, but on how the meat industry conducts its business.
The component of this post that really pushed me was the fact that I am not a vegetarian. I am well aware of the detrimental effects of large production meat consumption. I could back up my non-vegetarianism by telling you that I eat as much local meat as I can afford and that I choose the veggie option when I am not sure about how the meat was raised or produced, but the fact is I eat meat. So how do we assess the best “solution” to a problem such as the meat industry’s detrimental effects on the health of ecosystems, animals, and humans? Can we ever say it will be fixed with individual action, even if there are people like me who won’t be a vegetarian even though they know the effects?
Kristy ends with the question, “what actions can we participate in that will effectively put an end to the problems caused by the meat industry?”. For starters, I think we need to ask the tough questions like the ones that Kristy is asking. Her post made me think about my moral values and ethics, which I think is the beginning place for individual action. Can I say that I will become a vegetarian tomorrow because of her post? No. But it has opened my eyes to a possible “solution” and made me assess the overall effectiveness that solution would have for myself as well as the greater whole. It also has made me think about my relationship to meat in different places in the world. Eating meat in Italy was a whole different experience than eating meat in America. This brings up the issue that even if we can find a “solution” for meat production in Portland, that “solution” may not work at all in other cities in the U.S., let alone worldwide.
I think it’s important that we keep asking the questions about who should be in action in the solution. These questions help us understand the actors and their roles in the problem as well as the effectiveness of one strategy to another.