Environmental Practice Proposal

[Sara Plampin]

For my Environmental Practice, I will become a vegetarian. This means eating no meat at all, which is a change for me because I probably eat meat an average of two meals a day. I will still eat dairy products and eggs, because they are necessary for protein and difficult to avoid, but I will attempt to limit this consumption to organic milk and cage-free eggs. To do this I will have to do some research to determine which milk and egg brands are considered most environmentally friendly, and why.

I believe this practice will help the environment because it takes money away from the meat industry, and thus encourages the better treatment of animals. Because I believe that animals, including cows and chickens, have their own intrinsic value, I disagree with the way the food industry treats these animals. Therefore, by not eating meat, and obtaining animal byproducts from companies that treat their animals humanely, I will be giving my money to the businesses that I support and denying those businesses that I don’t. This will encourage change in the way the food industry is run, which, if enough people eventually adopt these practices, will prevent unnecessary animal suffering. Herding and grazing of cattle is also bad for the natural environment, because it causes natural vegetation to be replaced with plants that cows can feed off of. If this industry receives less support, it will have to raise fewer cattle and thus limit harm to the natural ecosystems.

To track my progress, I will keep a daily journal. At the end of each day I will record all the foods I have eaten that day, making explicit notice of organic versus non-organic animal byproducts, and meat products consumed, if any. I will then write a couple paragraphs evaluating my progress, my successes with the project and what I have found difficult, and how I think the changes I have made are impacting the environment. Because such a drastic change in diet can cause health issues as well, I will be careful to evaluate how I am feeling each day, and how I can make efforts to make myself feel healthier the next day based on what I consume. I will also research the effects of vegetarianism on the environment (i.e. how many chickens saved per week, or how much money I would have spent on meat).

At the end of the project, I will type up my journal entries and include some of the more significant thoughts, feelings, and changes on a poster. I will also include pictures and charts evaluating how vegetarianism and eating organic animal byproducts impact the meat industry when performed on a large scale. I can include information about how others view vegetarians as people and vegetarianism as a practice as well.