Bans LotMON Eating lower on the food chain An answer for the damage done by animal agriculture and salmon aquaculture Trevor Doré ediRor eat and potatoes are North American staples. The traditional meat-centric diet is engrained in our culture and our society. We are raised to think that a meal isn’t complete without meat. There is even an entire holiday centred on its consumption. Everyday, we are bombarded with information about food from various different interest groups. It seems that there is always some new product to tantalize our taste buds or some new fad diet. Really, decisions about food are very personal and complex. Some people simply shove whatever they can down their throat provided it looks edible. Others meticulously pick through every square inch of their dinner plate in order to insure that they aren’t about to eat something that they might not like. Some base their food decisions on getting the most amount food for 14 the least amount of money, while others are willing to go the extra distance and spend the extra cash to get exactly what they want. Some are concerned about the environmental impact of their food options and others could care less. Often, we don’t give much thought to our food choices. A lot of food production happens behind closed doors. A finished product is delivered to us amongst the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives. We don’t often stop to question its origin or its impact for that matter. However, the fact is that our food options have a substantial impact on society and the environment. I recently read a stat in Jonathan Safaran Foer’s book Eating Animals that described the findings of a University of Chicago Study. The study found that “our food choices contribute at least as much as our transportation choices to global warming.” Now that’s huge! Much of the food we consume on a regular basis undergoes some form of processing. Whether it’s a complete value-added transformation or simply packaging and shipping. Almost all of the meat that we consume is the product of a factory operation. Briefly, the goal of these operations is to produce the most amount of meat, in the shortest amount of time, within the least amount of space. In order to achieve this, massive amounts of antibiotics are used and disease is rampant. Enabling the rapid growth of these animals requires massive resource inputs. The amount of energy that goes into one unit of meat could be used to feed multiple others. Not to mention, meat production also produces massive amounts of waste. So for those who are aware of the impacts of their food and care to do something about it, what are the options? Like every other category of food, the options are seemingly endless. Certified organic, local and free trade are some well- known environmentally and socially responsible food options. While these options have their respective benefits, eating lower on the food chain carries significant weight. Eating lower on the food chain essentially refers to plant-based food. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not implying that everyone should turn vegetarian. Like I said before, food options are very personal and this is simply unrealistic if not impossible. The problem is the ideology of meat and potatoes has people consuming meat at every meal. Eating lower on the food chain reduces resource consumption and waste production—a win-win situation in terms of social and environmental impacts. If we all ate one vegetarian meal a day, the impact would be massive. With an ever-increasing global population, sustaining current levels of consumption will no doubt have horrendous consequences. One way to reduce your personal impact is to eat lower on the food chain. While individual choice to change your eating habit is very personal, it can also have enormous global impacts.