Savvy Vegetarian Blog

news and opinion on vegetarian diet and nutrition, vegetarian lifestyle, green living, and environment

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Fri, 19 Jun 2009

Serving Up Eco-Foodie Alternatives With Mark Bittman, Jim Motavalli, AAEM, Dara Colwell

During the last week I came across these four excellent articles through Twitter. I've been busier than usual, so saved them up to post all at once. That seemed like a brilliant solution to my time crunch, since they're all variations on the theme of living and eating green.

1. Excellent video of Mark Bittman, talking about What's Wrong With What We Eat. Mark Bittman is a cool guy, a great speaker, and wrote a wonderful cookbook "How To Cook Everything Vegetarian" - quite a feat for a non-vegetarian. And that's the one thing that spoils his lovely speech. It's mind boggling that anybody knowing what he does can continue to say "I'm not a vegetarian". It would be so admirable if this hugely influential guy had stood up and said, "Here are all the reasons why I don't eat meat, and why you shouldn't eat meat." Instead he cops out by saying, "... everybody should eat 50% less meat." But ignore my petty bitching. The Bittman video is memorable and well worth watching.

2. Meat Is The Slavery Of Our Time: Author Jim Motavalli is a senior writer at E/The Environmental Magazine and blogs for the Mother Nature Network. Here's an excerpt from his thoughtful and thought-provoking article:

"In the way that slavery, once a broad social norm, later became an unthinkable crime, we can expect to see a similar shift once meat-eating disappears from our planet. Perhaps, some day, the very idea of eating animal flesh will seem as remote as the idea of owning humans does now. So if you're a carnivore, enjoy now -- before the inevitable vegetarian revolution begins."

3. The American Academy Of Environmental Medicine Calls For Immediate Moratorium On Genetically Modified Foods

Citing several animal studies, the AAEM concludes "there is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects" and that "GM foods pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health." The AAEM provides research and education in the recognition, treatment and prevention of illnesses induced by exposures to biological and chemical agents encountered in air, food and water.

4. Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for Oil by Dara Colwell, a freelance writer from Amsterdam. This article appears on AlterNet. Industrial hemp and it's diverse applications is a green topic which deserves wide spread public exposure. Here are a few quotes from the article:

"Every man-made fiber we wear, sit on, cook with, drive in, are by-products of the petroleum industry - all of which could be replaced by hemp."

"In 2007, because so many farmers north and south of the border switched to growing industrial corn, the price of corn flour in Mexico skyrocketed 400 percent, sending rioters into the streets. People need to eat and to do so, they have to be able to afford food, which begs the question: How green is ethanol when it deprives folk of basic food?"

"To blindly scapegoat and ignore hemp is backward thinking. At this point, we need to be forward thinking."

Another article by Dara Colwell about industrial hemp

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