Yes, human beings are at the top of the food chain, giving them the freedom to consume anything and everything below them. But, just because of our high status, does that mean it is safe to indulge in every lower organism? Well, quite frankly no.
Health Benefits
The logistical reasons behind eating lower on the food chain are simple: it is better for both your health and for the health of the environment. Let’s look at a piece of steak for an example. The cow that this meat came from survived off of grain and roughage. The grain that farmers fed it were most likely grown with chemicals and treated with pesticides. To keep the animal healthy, it was probably given antibiotics, and to get the most bank for their buck, given growth hormones. So, within that one piece of steak on your plate is not only the muscle fibers from the cow, but also the chemicals, pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones that have accumulated within its body over the course of its lifetime. As disturbing as it is to think of all of the toxins that Americans are ingesting, there are ways to lower your intake levels.
Meat with a Side of Meat
There is nothing more American than a McDonald’s hamburger, having a backyard barbeque with your family in the summer, or indulging in a bowl of wings while watching Monday Night football. However, despite all of the social ties that we have with meat, it is important to begin to break through these ties in exchange for accepting new social norms.
If Americans can change their perception with what is thought to be an acceptable food source, than there are a world of opportunities to tap into within the food industry. What are now considered to be unsociably acceptable foods, such as sardines, anchovies, and insects, all have the potential to be the start of a hot new food trend. Not only are these animals low on the food chain and low in toxins, but they are also in abundance and use up less energy.
Environmental Benefits
One of the biggest negatives with animal production is the amount of resources that it uses and waste that it produces. According to a 2010 report, “Livestock in a Changing Landscape,” the livestock sector is responsible for about 18 percent of greenhouse emissions around the world, largely due to the overwhelming level of methane gas produced by cows. The Daily Green reported that 70 percent of grains grown are being fed to animals that become food sources, rather than staying in their natural form and being used directly for human consumption.
Cutting down on energy consumption even goes for plants. Rather than buying a bag of frozen broccoli, a can of corn, or precut vegetables, go natural and buy these vegetables directly from the farm. Processing vegetables and packaging them into cans or plastic bags in a factory is just as wasteful and harmful to the environment as is commercially producing meat for human consumption.
Sustainability
It is becoming a trend to now see companies boasting that they are sustainable. While this is a good practice for businesses to uphold, sustainability can only be successfully achieved if people look beyond the environment and start looking directly at their plates. Rather than having all of your protein come from animal meat, consider eating beans, or a lower chain food like sardines. It is small changes like these that can add up to even greater changes for society in the long run.