In June of 2010 Mother Earth News published an article by Lierre Keith entitled “The Truth About Vegetarianism”. In his article Keith intends to expose some of the problems that agriculture poses to Earth’s inhabitants. Keith presents an image of what he believes is an ideal food system. In doing so, he claims that vegetarianism is not a legitimate solution to the problems he exposes. When Keith states:
I now believe these longings – for compassion, for sustainability, for an equitable distribution of resources – are not served by the philosophy or practice of vegetarianism. (Keith, 2010)
He is questioning what many believe to be the underlying principles of vegetarianism. Using current knowledge of our food systems and many of Keith’s own ideas, it will be shown that vegetarianism is crucial step towards Keith’s notion of a sustainable, compassionate and equitable food system.
Keith (2010) asserts that his foremost concern with modern livestock agriculture practices is our inclination to feed grain to as many animals as possible even when it is not included in their natural diets. This idea is justified; however the alternative solution he provides is questionable. Keith (2010) claims, “The logic of the land tells us to eat the animals that eat the tough cellulose that survives here,” referring to deer and cows that graze in our forest and grasslands. This is only appropriate for those who live in the country surrounded by wilderness areas where animals occur in abundance. However, he states himself that “We live in urban environments – in the last whisper of forests” (Keith, 2010). What sort of edible wildlife (besides humans) can sustain its self in our cities? Surely, there are not enough deer in the forests to sustain the large portion of our population that lives in urban areas. A more plausible solution to this issue of sustainability would be to significantly decrease the amount of meat we consume. Currently the ecological footprint of a person eating meat once a day (2.8 hectares) is 14 times that of a vegetarian (0.2 hectares) (Muller). By instead relying on vegetable based proteins we will be able to significantly decrease our ecological footprints. Than, perhaps, Keith’s idea of living off the animals that naturally occur in our wilderness areas could be a sustainable option. However a transition to vegetarianism or partial vegetarianism will be a crucial first step to implementing any truly sustainable solutions to our current problems with agriculture.
Keith’s tone suggests, firstly, that in order to truly consider compassion we must look past the obvious injustices, past the factory farms and inhumane farming methods, and instead to the wrongs being committed against our ecosystems. Secondly, he suggests that vegetarianism does not go far enough to encompass this broader version of compassion but instead, “leaves us uneasy, silent and immobilized when the culprit is wheat and the victim is prairie.”(Keith 2010). Instilled in Keith’s tone is a deep longing for the rebirth of these destroyed ecosystems. Keith claims that vegetarianism is an insufficient means to accomplishing restoration, however he fails to provide any legitimate evidence for this accusation, nor does he present an alternative plan. In an unsupported statement Keith (2010) claims, “Agriculture is the most destructive thing humans have done to the planet, and more of the same won’t save us.” In order to restore the ecosystems destroyed by agriculture we must first decrease the land we require to produce food and, in this way, Keith is correct in saying we need to reduce our dependence on agriculture. However, he is incorrect in speculating that a transition towards vegetarianism will cause an increase in agriculture when, in fact, the opposite is true. The ecological footprint statistic mentioned earlier is one proof of this. Similarly, returning to Keith’s statement that, “the culprit is wheat and the victim is the prairie”, it can be shown that perhaps vegetarianism does not render us ‘immobilized’. Currently 77% of Canadian cereal production is used to feed livestock (Leckie, 2004). Thus, limiting our meat consumption would significantly decrease the amount of land needed to support our food systems. It is, of course unreasonable to believe reduction of agriculture alone can completely restore our ecosystems but we can start by providing the land needed for ecosystems to rebuild themselves. If Keith’s visions of a restored, diverse world are to be realized then he must recognize that in order to accomplish this we must first ensure our food systems do not rely on such a resource intensive staple.
Keith (2010) states that in order to develop a sustainable food system where the distribution of resources is equal we must, “be willing to examine the power relations behind the foundation myth [agriculture] of our culture.” If we do this, an interesting trend can be observed. Firstly, the power in our food systems belongs to those who are affluent in society and there is a very noticeable trend between a person’s affluence and their diet, that is people with more money eat more meat. This trend is apparent almost everywhere in the world and creates a problem when resources become depleted by resource intensive foods like meat and dairy. When this happens, supplies decrease, prices increase and the wealthy begin to bid food away from the poor (A Well-fed World). Accordingly, this favors an increase in demand for meat and dairy products, which increasingly contribute to the resource problem. In turn, grain supplies in poor countries are becoming ever more diverted to livestock. China, for example, has seen a five fold increase in grain consumption by livestock since 1978 (Leckie 2004). So how do we make distribution of resources equitable? We need to increase the supply of available resources by simplifying our diets. Reducing the consumption of resource intensive meat and dairy products and replacing them with sustainable plant proteins will reduce the scarcity of resources and promote equitable distribution.
Keith’s vision of a sustainable, compassionate and equitable food system is undoubtedly one we should strive to produce in our future. However, his reasoning lacks crucial steps necessary to achieve this vision and his questioning of vegetarianism will only slow our progress towards this future. It is becoming increasingly evident that in order to sustain our world we will need to shift towards a very similar food system. Simplifying our diets and decreasing our reliance on resource intensive foods like meat and dairy will ensure sufficient food resources and intact wilderness areas for our futures.
Works Cited
"Hunger: Scarcity vs. Distribution." A Well-fed World. 9 November 2010
Keith, Lierre. “The Truth About Vegetarianism.” Mother Earth News 2010 June/July: 30-35.
Leckie, Stephen. "How Meat-centred Eating Patterns Affect Food Security and the Environment." 1 November 2004. International Development Research Centre. 9 November 2010
Muller, Robert. “Calculating Ecological Footprint Components, and Easy Ways to Reduce Your Impact on Earth.” FantasticFarms.com. 2010 9-November
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