It’s world vegan day, the day after the 7 billionth baby was born. Coincidence? I think not! It is a fact that a vegan human takes up about half the carbon footprint of a carnivorous one. It’s also a well documented fact that animal food production uses the majority of water and grain food on the planet. Animal food production creates just over 16 percent of greenhouse gasses—That is more than the planes, trains and automobiles combined.
So you see little 7Billy (my name for this child) can very well be the straw that breaks the camels back, so to speak. I believe we are approaching the tipping point in society. The once uncharted hemp road to a plant based diet was once weird and cultish, but today it’s filled with brightly colored healthy supermarkets stocked with organic produce and “fake” cheeses (hey whatever works).
But outside of my little vegan bubble is a whole of people world who only know one thing: meat = food. I was stuck on the road for 10 hours in the blizzard in upstate New York on Saturday. We were on a shoot and I had the foresight to pack two lunches because I knew it was gonna be a long day. However, the rest of the guys I was with just eat what is available. We finally got off the road and went to a McDonald’s, and it was like a refugee camp. All the drivers came to the only place they knew– the golden arches. There was a line wrapped around the store, and people stuffing Big Macs in their mouths with a look of relief and safety. A Why Vegan pamphlet was not going to do anything but get me shot and put on a grill here, so I just watched. No thought of how the cow was treated, or how the chicken was caged; just hungry people eating the only thing they knew.
I can’t blame people for doing what they know, but I can challenge people to learn something new. Because change happens on the one, I am going to speak directly to 7Billy’s parents—it’s up to you to start educating now. 7Billy needs to understand that his (I assume it’s a boy because I’m sexist) food choice is now directly affecting our quality of life on all levels, atmospheric, ethical, and biologically.
So I wanted to approach this from the “it takes a village” prospective; how do we get little 7Blly to think about food in a different way? I have outlined my top three ways. Please choose one you think will be the most effective, or leave me another suggestion in the comment box.
A. Feed him awesome food as he grows up as a bright alert vegan baby, and let him know about the responsibility he has to the rest of his world family (7Billy01m, 7Billy02 etc.)
B. Clockwork orange method of forcing him to watch Meet your Meat, Food Inc, Forks Over knives and Vegucated over and over again while Lady Gaga plays in the background –Ale Alejandro!
C. A guy dressed as a Monsanto GM seed pinches him repeatedly until he grows a fear and hatred of all GMO foods?
Let me know your thoughts!
–Ayinde
