Some Impact Man

Just watched"No Impact Man" on Netflix and feeling like I need to respond. For the last month we have given up meat for Lent. Maybe it's because we still allow ourselves fish, or because we didn't eat meat that often to begin with but I don't feel like it's such a great loss. I don't miss cooking with it or eating it. In fact there were times where I often felt guilty for consuming meat.

I think of the impact that meat consumption has on our planet:

- Rainforests are depleted to make grazing grounds for cattle. This is a catastrophic and irreversable loss.

- Cornfields are devoted entirely to feed for chickens.

- Most meat comes wrapped in plastic

- Cattle produce the largest amount of methane in the world.

I am not so naive that I think that my actions can have a global impact, but it makes me feel better about what we're doing when I consider it on a grander scale.

So what is the next step? Once Easter is here we will go back to having the occasional burger or chicken soup. I don't think I could convince Jarod to keep up the diet. Over the summer there are many more possibilities for eco practices.

I plan on being more aggressive with the things that we already have in place. The composting will continue, as well as the use of the clothesline, and shopping locally at the market.

In the future I would like to try a vegetarian diet again, see how long i can go without going to Wal-Mart, and use cloth diapers for my baby's second year. I have also been intrigued by the use of homemade cleaning products (baking soda, castile soap, borax, and vinegar) and observing how this effects our budget and our trash output.