I became a vegetarian when I was three. Clearly, at this age, the intention for refraining from consuming meat was not due to the multitude of environmental issues that surround the industry. Instead, my three year brain determined that by eating this animal, I would be causing it harm, and I had absolutely no intention of doing so. As I grew older, and continued down the path of vegetarianism, I continually learned new factoids that presented vegetarianism as the solution for the ethical environmental problems that encompass the meat industry today.
Although my starting point may have had a more basic intention in mind, the basis of my choice of vegetarianism has remained consistent. The intention that I have carried with me since the age of three is that I do not want any animals to be harmed by humans ever. And I am fully aware that this is an impossible task, however, I jump at the chance to decrease inhumane animal abuse whenever and where ever I can. Easily, this can be seen as the core reasoning behind my vegetarian consumer choice. However, I am realizing that the act of being a vegetarian may not have the desired or intended effects that I had previously imagined.
The intention behind my solutions project for ENVS-160 is to delve deeper into the subject of vegetarianism, through the viewpoint of the ethical maltreatment of animals within the meat industry, in order to gain a more realistic understanding of vegetarianism and its effects. For the majority of my life, I have criticized people who deliberately choose to consume meat, even when I try to describe to them where their food had come from. I could never really understand the choice to consume meat, although as I matured, I began to try harder to respect the choices of other people more on this subject matter. My group is creating a documentary, of sorts, that will contain the beliefs and ideas surrounding the subject of vegetarianism situated on the Lewis and Clark campus. The intended outcome is to understand, on a more personal level, the beliefs behind what people choose to eat. By interviewing my roommate, Marlene, I have already gained a new and interesting perspective to remember when considering the “solution” of vegetarianism. Marlene stated that it is hard for her to refrain from consuming meat, especially when she is at home, because food that contains meat is a very important part of her culture. By cutting out meat, she said she would feel like she was giving up a part of herself, and a part of her culture.
I had never considered this to be a preventative factor to becoming vegetarian, but it makes complete sense. This is exactly the type of perspective that I intend to learn from creating a documentary surrounding the thoughts and beliefs of Lewis and Clark students on the subject of vegetarianism. Hopefully this newfound knowledge surrounding the subject will allow me to come up with a creative solution for an ethical environmental issue that I am passionate about.