Promoting Food Mindfulness

            I’d originally posted this off-blog on a date when I would have posted on this bimonthly blog, but a friend pointed out that I was limited and dated in my definition of “culture.”  So, here it is on A Cultural Mix.

            If  “the unexamined life is not worth living,” as famously coined by Socrates, then living an examined life certainly takes more time and effort.  Years ago, I'd gone through the cost-benefit analysis for cotton versus disposable diapers (water use versus landfill availability).  I've finally found a place that would accept our #5 plastics for recycling.  I have not purchased our way out (aka, carbon off-setting) of our recent flight across the country (see Verlyn Klinkenborg's piece on it [New York Times, 6/24/08]).   As a long-time vegetarian, I’m excited to learn about two long, scholarly articles about combating global warming with your choice of food.  Christopher L. Weber and H. Scott Matthews in the journal, Environmental Science and Technology, and Gidon Eshel and Pamela A. Martins in Earth Interactions have used scientific analyses to show how a diet devoid or low in animal protein factors into this new realm of environmental calculations.  In summary, the choice of food matters more than the choice to eat locally sourced food.  Thanks to Mental Masala’s blog, The Ethicurean, for bringing my attention to these scientific articles and for coming up with the term, “food mindfulness."