Our theme for the month of February is “plants.”
I don’t eat plants. As in, I solely eat animal products (mostly beef and butter). I know it’s not a popular thing—to say I am against eating plant foods. The burgeoning industry of plant-based foods claims that eating tofu and weird meat substitutes will save the planet. I lead a carnivore lifestyle primarily for health reasons, but also because I don’t believe the wholesale myth of animals bad and plants good. Part of this claim is that eating animals hurts the environment more than eating plants. But there’s not much worse for the (American) environment than the farming methods necessary to support the almond milk lattes and vegetable burgers that people have been told will give them the moral high ground.
Let me preface by saying I know there’s a lot that needs to be fixed in the animal food industry. I generally source my meat from local-to-me farms and steer clear of those gross tubes of ground beef at places like Kroger and Walmart. But as one veteran carnivore puts it, “Save the human. Eat meat.” We can try saving the planet while also saving the human from obesity and diabetes and all these other things that are a result of the processed food-centric culture we see today.
Monocropping has become a critical tool as more people shift towards plant-based diets. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, monocropping is pretty much what it sounds like—growing one crop over and over again. Industrial farms all around the world have begun operating under this principle of crop specialisation, focusing all their resources to perfect the efficient and mass delivery of single crops like beans and corn. On the surface, this sounds great because it provides cheap(er) food and simplifies farming as farming now only has one goal.
According to a local farmer, Michigan apparently used to be one of the most biodiverse states. Many people think of California when it comes to biodiversity because that’s where we get all of our year-round fruit. But I question how sustainable it will be as the soil experiences nutrient loss and heightened levels of herbicides and pesticides, which affect water and air quality (here’s looking at you, Monsanto), and the natural land’s biodiversity is razed to make way for commercial crops as far as the eye can see. Land becomes more susceptible to erosion, and the soil loses all of its nutrients because of the lack of polyculture and not being allowed to even lie fallow. Erosion, deforestation, and other methods to clear land for crops destroys the homeland of wild animals and insects alike. Acres of the same crops are susceptible to the same diseases and issues, meaning a whole farm can be compromised by a single problem. The complex list of problems goes on.
California is certainly able to grow a great many different kinds of crops, but soil isn’t meant to be used over and over again for the same exact thing. I understand mass farming is keeping up with mass demand, but it’s depressing to realise that it isn’t healthy or sustainable in the long run. (And that’s not even getting into the water problems the American West continues to face with no reprieve.) In short, here’s another reason to support your local farmers, whether at farmer’s markets or Craigslist ad. It is critical to support and advocate for regenerative farming and polyculture if we truly believe in restoring the earth’s biodiversity and its environment. And I don’t mean to say it’s easily attainable—I don’t know all the right mechanisms to make the right things happen and I am not an expert in these issues—but it’s something most people are ignorant of but really shouldn’t be. (And here I’ll note that monoculturing can refer to the mass cattle farms, too, as they’re also a single species occupying vast swaths of land. It also needs to be addressed, but the elimination of meat is not the answer.)
I don’t believe plant-based diets will help save the earth but encouraging what should be the natural biodiversity of plants will.
But with the loss of seed varieties the world over, humanity also stands to lose knowledge of itself—the rich cultural diversity of the past, as well as the hopeful prosperity of future generations.
from Seeds of Resistance exhibition at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, 2021.
Photo: Eat Pomegranate Photography.
YES! Biodiversity is the key–more options and variety, not less. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I keep turning this essay over in my mind. Definitely has made me think. Thanks for writing it.