Making connections

The amazing political blog Down With Tyranny just put up a great post on meat-eating and its environmental impact.  The post mentions Thom Hartmann, a truly genius writer and radio talk show host.  I have not read his latest book mentioned here, but I did read The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, What Would Jefferson Do?, and The Prophet’s Way, and they each had a huge impact on my thinking.  Apparently, in the new book Thom says (quite accurately), “A sudden and worldwide shift to vegetarianism… would have more impact on global warming than if every jet plane and car in the world were to fall silent forever.”

Down With Tyranny also mentions Cheri Shankar’s recent Huffpo post on the same subject.

And they mention us!  Howie Klein, the writer, saw a test screening of the film:

“Last year my friend Phil took me to the screening of a groundbreaking movie that is mostly filmed, Bold Native; they’re still working on it. I still haven’t gotten it out of my mind.”

Thom, Cheri, and Howie are right on the money.  The negative environmental impact of raising and killing animals for food is immense.  Furthermore, the industrialized manner of dealing with living beings influences our psyche and spirit in a way that encourages us to tolerate abuse and violence against human beings as well.

When you commoditize a living being’s body, you will end up treating that living being poorly – we see it not only in non-human animals that we consider food, but also in human beings in the “health care” system and the military industrial complex.  These things are related, just as meat-eating is related to environmental degradation.

One of the big failings of the progressive movement right now is the unwillingness to make connections between the single cause you care about and the other causes that don’t seem to directly affect you – or in this case may even force you to change your lifestyle.  It is a real wake-up call for people who soapbox about the environment to accept the hamburger or steak or turkey sandwich on their plate is doing more harm than the hummer or unrecycled bottle they’re criticizing someone else for.  But it’s a wake-up call who’s time has come.

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