QotD: Happy Earth Day

What do you do EVERY day to take care of the earth's environment? What could you do more of?

I eat a 99.9% vegan diet.  That .1% takes into account weird binders (usually egg) or things that I'm not aware of when I eat out.  Or if I eat something with refined sugar that's been bleached with animal bones and I'm not aware of it.  

Now some folks may be curious as to how this benefits the environment.  Eating lower on the trophic level uses less energy, which is less of a strain on the environment.  Basically, eating a vegetable/fruit/grain/legume takes less energy than eating a slice of cow that has been fed said vegetable/fruit/grain/legume, and in some cases, other animals (which cows should never eat).  This fact really struck me one day during an ecology class in college.  It was the first time I considered becoming a vegetarian.  

In addition, cows produce a lot of methane gas when they fart.  Methane is a pollutant.  By not consuming cow or cow products, I'm eliminating that contribution.  I'm not saying that if everyone adopted a vegan diet that cows should or would become extinct.  We just surely wouldn't need nearly as many of them.

But what about the process of getting all of my bunny rabbit food?  Doesn't it need to be trucked/flown in from other parts of the globe?  Isn't that just as polluting as carting chickens or other animals in from other parts of the globe?  Well yes and no.  While I do try to buy all of my produce locally from the Sunday farmer's market and Whole Foods, sometimes, it's damn near impossible to get everything you want or need locally.  Bananas just do not grow here, no matter how much I want them to.  However, (and this is just my theory; I'm not sure what the case is in reality) more bananas can be transported per vehicle than can be cows/chickens/pigs/whatever other animals you eat.  Plus, they don't need to be processed in any way before they get to the store.  That eliminates an extra stop and extra packaging.

As for improvement, I could definitely improve on my re-using habits.  I still tend to drink bottled water at work, and while I recycle the bottles, I should really just get an aluminum re-usable bottle.  And at home, I don't always recycle because it's not necessarily convenient.  Tonight, when I go home, I'll probably have a root beer.  The bottle will probably get thrown away.  Or not...because now that I've typed that, I will feel immensely guilty if I throw it away.