Jonathan Brun

The Path of the (Quasi) Vegetarian

The concept of vegetarianism has always appealed to me. Like many to-do items, I have procrastinated, but it is now clear that (Quasi) vegetarianism makes sense on three massive fronts: Personal Health, Environmental Degradation and Morality. The word “quasi” is not used as an escape root, but rather a warning. In my attempt to move towards a flesh (all animals – including fish) free diet, the most challenging thing has been the inconvience of it all. When you are at friends, a French restaurant or a seaside town – the options are limited. Even the Dalai Lama (Buddhists are vegetarians though not vegans) admits that when offered meat he accepts to avoid waste, I agree.

I try not to preach an evangelical vegetarianism, where I scorn carnivores, but rather to educate people around me to the potential benefits. Just as I think smoking is bad for you, it seems meat consumption is also detrimental to your physical, mental and moral health.

People must make their own decisions, but the corporations who control and mass market food have activly deceived the public with regards to the personal and societal costs of eating a meat rich diet. Below are a few ideas on why we should avoid (too much) meat.

Health Implications

It is very, very, very, established that eating red meat and other meat in excess is bad for you. Notice how young girls and boys are hitting puberty earlier? Scientists agree that it’s linked to the hormone injected chicken nuggets in their happy meal. Need I cite heart attack rates in the West? The list is long and deep, but eat more fruits, vegetables, and a little organic meat and you will live longer and better – guaranteed.

A solid TED Talk on the general reason for eating less meat – by a well-known chef.

Environmental

If we assume that everyone is in agreement on the current situation: global warming, the non-sustainable exploitation of resources and the rising cost of food, then we can also agree that too much meat is being grown and consumed. The UN warns that the oceans’ will hold little more than jellyfish by 2050. Chew on that!

Here is a very scary report on the largest porc producer in the United States. Another interesting article on the rising cost of meat from the International Herald Tribune and another one on the discrepancy between your government sanctioned diet and farm subsidies.

Meat is a tremendously inefficient way of getting protein: imagine everyone showering in Evian water, hunting polar bears and driving hummers. Not the best use of resources you say?

Morality

This one is probably the toughest sell. But ask yourself this: do you regularly kill, clean and cook an animal? If so, you are in the very small minority of the developed world.

I think everyone can agree that factory farming is wrong. Therefore, eating meat from a factory farm is wrong, yes? Vegetarianism is a form of protest against the exploitation of animals (see great article here).

Religion, the moral compass for many, is fairly clear on this issue. The ten commandments (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) state, “Thou Shall not Kill” – it does not say “Thou Shall not Kill Humans”, it says “Thou Shall not Kill”. Buddhism is even clearer and preaches not harming sentient beings. We should do as little harm as possible to others implying leaving our fellow animals to their pastures.

If only schoolchildren were taken on a hunt. Buying chicken breasts at the supermarket is not the same thing as taking a live chicken in your hands, ringing it’s neck, and turning it into dinner. I have nothing against hunters, in fact I support them, they are often ardent conservationists and have a great respect for nature.

If we all touched the source of our food – perhaps we would choose a different way.

Peka Kucha Update

At the Pecha Kucha night back in March, I presented the importance of graphical representation of data in the medical and philanthropic world (in under 7 minutes). At the time, I could not find the actual graphic that influenced Bill and Melinda Gates to give their fortune to preventable disease in Africa so I recreated it based on a description.

I finally came across the original graphic from the New York Times:

Source:

http://backspace.com/notes/2008/04/water-table.php

Mass Media

Mass media has degenerated beyond the point of recognition. However, let us not romanticize the days of Ed Murrow, Bob Woodward, Vietnam protests and true investigative journalism. The trend of reduction and popularism started long ago – our situation today was probably inevitable. With more competition for people’s time, television has been forced to emulsify their broadcasts to sound bites and rhetorical questions. Arriving at a point where, “The no. 1 issue for voters this year, again, is bullshit”. Of course, what is mentioned above is not news to anyone reading this, nor is it a recent phenomenon.

In 1962, Newton Minnow, then chair of the FCC, gave an amazing speach entitled “Television is a vast wasteland.” Even 55 years ago, the trend of putting the bottom line before the truth was apparent. At what point do a sufficient number of people stand up and demand real news, real analysis and real dialogue?

As outlined in Chomsky’s “Manufacturing Consent”, media driven by advertisement will always be a self-censored entity. Newspapers will not print too many stories that run against the grain, simply because they need to retain their advertisement revenues. A fringe population knows what bullshit looks like, tastes like and smells like; but the general voting population are too busy with kids, work and life to care about things that are 3 degrees of separation from them. They want Britney.

The inflection point where the masses see the emperor naked will always arrive when the situation has worsened so considerably that it can no longer be ignored. The general apathy towards abuses of power by corporations and politicians is ignored by most people because We Have it Good, Real Good.

Anti-slavery crusader Frederick Douglass succinctly stated, “Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them.”

Though modern propaganda was born with Napoleon’s conquests and scientifically improved by the Nazis; our modern society of scientists and marketers that have put the nail in the proverbial coffin. Corporations know their interest lies with the satisfied client and so bookstores carry more liberal books than ever before with more negative analysis of Bush than ever thought possible, yet so little change.

With the availability of information, the illusion of discussion has been created. Yet, people “debate” between democrat and republican when they should argue between right and wrong. During the infamous appearance of John Stewart on the CNN show Crossfire, he ripped apart both hosts of Crossfire for their practice of duping the public into thinking that a real debate is occurring. In reality, the media argues over how to cook the steak and not whether the steak should be cooked at all.

The ultimate risk, as described by Aldous Huxley in “A Brave New World” is a semi-totalitarian system, where we suckle on the teat of the beast we have bred. As stated by Edward R Murrow: “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” We must not permit our opulence to cloud our judgment of what is good and worthwhile information.

Shocked into Action

A large part of the laziness can be attributed to cheap oil, free water and abundant natural resources. People and their economies change only when the price point forces them to. Oil at 100$ has led many Americans to look at their SUVs in a new light. However, it is going to take much more than fuel efficient SUVs to turn the situation around.

Green technology may be a large part of the solution to America’s current economic woes. An interesting article in Harper’s outlined the possibility of America pumping tons of cash into green tech to boost the economy to compensate for the recent collapse of the housing bubble. Massive investment in clean technology would allow America to create knowledge intensive jobs and reduce their dependance on foreign oil.

America could launch a new “space race” towards sustainability. It would mobilize a population and place them at the center of the world stage. The original space race started with the shocking launch of the soviet satellite, Sputnik and led to a massive push towards technology and unimaginable dreams, it was a time when anything seemed possible. The offshoots of that effort created much of today’s economy – computers, networks, and modern day communication. We shall see if McCain, Obama or Clinton can launch a country towards sustainability as JFK launched the world towards the moon.

Casualties of Stupidity

Sad, but good article on the dead children of Palestine in the year 5767

Also came across an article about a beautiful draft dodger in Israel. Despite what we see on the news, less wars are ocuring, and when they do, they are small. More and more people are seeing the futility of war.

No good wars, No just wars, just shades of gray wars. Every conflict can be prevented. Spare me the stupid argument of the appeasement of Hitler. In my view, WWI and WWII are essentially the same war with an interlude of technological development. If the treaty of Versailles (1919) had been properly formulated (I am not referring to reparations), WWII could have been avoided. (See Margeret MacMillans Book – The peacemakers 1919)

The wars (since 1948) in Israel did not cause serious casualties (on either side – as a percentage of the population) and are unlikely to re-occur. Though Israel bombing Syria and Lebanon is not particularly promising.

War, what is it good for? (Except stealing, appropriating and putting countries in their place)