New Year's Resolution

I came across a reference to the paper Livestock's Long Shadow. While I haven't read all of it (390 pages), I have read a summary and understand the key findings. Here is the opening statement:

"Livestock activities have significant impact on virtually all aspects of the environment, including air and climate change, land and soil, water and biodiversity. The impact may be direct, through grazing for example, or indirect, such as the expansion of soybean production for feed replacing forests in South America."

Livestock production is ahead of automobiles in its contribution to global warming!

What can we do about this? On a personal level, we can:

• Reduce or eliminate our consumption of eggs, meat and dairy. The less demand, the less supply needed.
• Support programs that seek to miminize environmental impact of livestock production. Unfortunately, such programs will require government intervention. Why? Because free market mechanics have not made it happen. Profitability above all pushes companies to hold little regard for the downstream effects of their actions. I enjoy eating eggs, meat and poultry (and to a lesser extent, dairy), and would rather feel good that they are produced in an environmentally safe method rather than give them up totally.
• Limit our procreation to replacement levels and support programs to provide birth control globally. This is a gross simplification, as there are many factors involved in controlling population growth, such as education, status of women in the society and employment opportunities.

I consider myself an OKsteward of the environment. I recycle, I drive my car very little, try not to consume too much energy, limit my intake of processed foods and have not replaced myself with any children. Side note: when I was 16 I had already made the decision not to have children, and at the time it was driven by the overpopulation of the Planet--look what's happened in 34 years!

In my mind, living a life of personal integrity includes limiting personal consumption at all levels. So my 2007 New Year's resolution is to do a better job of it. I have spent the last 2-3 years trying to simplify my life and possessions. I need to do better. I need to reduce my intake of eggs, meat and dairy, but I need to be careful not to replace the protein with fish species that are being decimated world-wide.

This article states that in 2002 (and I assume the numbers would be about the same today), the consumption of red meat, poultry and fish per capita in the US was 200 pounds. That's almost 9 oz. of those protein sources per day.

How much protein do I need per day? According to Monique Ryan in her book Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition, an endurance athlete in "heavy training" requires .5-.75 grams protein per pound of body weight. I'll use the high end of the range, since I am frequently closer to "very intense training." .75 x 112 = 84 grams, which is 2.96 ounces. It's time for me to get a bit better about monitoring my intake, since I'm pretty sure I am getting more protein than I need.

So in 2007, I am going to, on most days, limit my protein intake to only what I need. Which means I will need to replace calories with carbs, which is not a bad thing, as long as they come from whole foods, particularly fruits and vegetables. But even there, my objective is to reduce my intake of processed foods. I've done a fairly good job of that already, but I can do better.

Every little bit helps this Planet!