The Environmental Vocabulary Ought To Include “Vegan”
The environmental movement is missing something: veganism.
After all, going vegan is better for the environment than driving a hybrid. (source)
For example, this article talks about the language of going green and lists all these terms below with definitions:
- 100-mile diet
- Alternative energy
- Biodegradable
- Biodiesel
- Biomimicry
- Carbon emissions
- Carbon footprint
- Carbon neutral
- Carbon sequestration
- Carbon offsets
- Climate change
- Community-supported agriculture (CSA)
- Compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL)
- Compostable
- Corporate social responsibility
- Cradle to cradle
- Downcycled
- E-waste
- Energy efficient
- Energy Star
- Fair trade
- Freegan
- Geothermal energy
- Gray water
- Greenhouse effect
- Greenwashing
- Global warming
- Guerilla gardening
- Hybrid car
- Hydroelectric
- Hypermiling
- LEED
- Locavore
- LOHAS
- Negawatt
- Nuclear energy
- Off-gas
- Off grid/off the grid
- Organic
- Phantom power
- Pre-consumer
- Post-consumer
- Recycling
- Slow food
- Solar power
- Socially responsible investing
- Sustainable
- Triple bottom line
- Upcycled
- Wind power
But the article doesn’t list veganism. Why?
Is it because so many people already know what vegan means and how it relates to environmentalism? Is it because they all understand already that a vegan diet is much more energy efficient and better for the environment than a nonvegan diet? Veganism is green.
Or is it because veganism is associated more with animal rights and welfare than with environmentalism? Is it because many people ignore the inconvenient truth that factory farming (aka intensive animal agriculture) is dangerous for human health and the environment.
Whatever the reason, the language of going green ought to include the behavior of being vegan. Call it whatever you want, just stop eating animals.
Seriously, this always drives me nuts too. Why do people not get this??
~ Recent blog post: Updates/More Info on 2 Previous Posts at http://creaturetalk.wordpress.com ~
This appeals to the inherent contradiction in this movement: Global warming, for example, demands a response, and therefore alterations in our lifestyles and policies are insisted upon; however, when confronted with the single most important transition we can make to affect change on this front, it doesn’t even deserve a mention. The answer for this, I believe, is derived from the false premise that what we eat is “private,” with all the assumptions wrapped-up in that term. Another answer may be pure selfishness: I will go only so far to combat environmental degradation. Both response undercut their own premises, which makes their prescriptions less effective.
~ Recent blog post: A "gestalt shift" at http://www.not-quiteright.net/tvg ~
Alex, I think you might be on to something with this “private” defense. Many people do think that veg*nism is a private, personal choice. Clearly, eating is no more private than driving, showering, or flushing the toilet. Yet people react much more strongly to the suggestion to go vegan than they do to the suggestion to reduce their oil and water consumption. Meat-eaters who don’t want to stop killing and eating animals will use any excuse they can think of.
I have a different take:
If what you eat is “private” - and I used to think so “private” that it should be done alone. (For me, this was a subconscious acknowledgement to the suppressed guilt attached to eating flesh). Now I openly, acknowledge this shame is valid. I believe eating animals should be done behind closed doors. You don’t see murder or pedophilia or rape openly condoned in the streets, after all - do you?
For people to continue this shameful and disgusting act it would require that they get their animal parts and pieces wrapped in brown “butcher” paper, acquired from some hidden, underground (illegal) source of course. There would be no billboards or commercials suggesting such a “private” act as flesh eating. No bbq events dedicated to the ritual of consuming burned legs, thighs & breasts, no golden arches, no neon lit steakhouses, no singing “hotdogs” or “case ready” meats.
And maybe if such a world existed I could finally sit comfortably in any and all restaurants without watching parts of my friends being chomped on - inevitably ruining my wholesome and compassionate meal….
I agree - eating is a “private matter” when it involves the enslavement, torture and murder of innocent beings….. Oh yeah, and all the while causing catastrophic harm to the environment too.