first of april: green goal

I must admit: I have quasi failed at my March goal.  I haven't purchased any green cleaning supplies.  However, I also haven't done much cleaning at all (whoops?), so I haven't had to purchase any green cleaning supplies.  I'm going ahead with a new April Green Goal anyway, because I should.

And April's Green Goal is...drumroll please....to purposefully eat vegetarian at least two days of the week AND to try to buy my meat from local sources as much as possible.  I was inspired to do this when I happened upon a horrible video about how meat is produced.  The practices at some big farms/slaughter houses are despicable and I don't want to support them.  You can see the video here if you like.  Warning: it's quite disturbing, so don't watch it if, say, you're already sensitive to animal cruelty or are about to eat chicken salad for lunch.

polluted runoff

The video promotes veganism.  I don't have any desire to give up meat completely.  Nor could I survive without cheese.  Seriously.  But I do understand that much of the way we produce our meat is bad for us, the animals, and the environment.  One way to get around the animal cruelty problem is to buy meat from local farms where you know the animals are treated properly.  When Dan and I bought meat from the Aldermere Farm in Rockport it was a bit more expensive than at the grocery store.  At first, I was nervous that I would feel weird eating the meat, knowing it had come from the cute "oreo cookie cows," but I actually felt good about knowing exactly where the meat had come from.

Belted Galloways at Aldermere Farm

So why not just buy local meat instead of trying to eat vegetarian?  Well, I read somewhere (really wish I could remember where) that giving up meat completely one day a week is actually better for the environment than eating only local meat for a much longer period of time.   For more information on the environmental reasons not to eat meat, go here.  I really love vegetables, so I'm sure this wont be very hard for me. 

colorful vegetable platter

When vegetables look this delicious, who wouldn't want to eat them?  The only problem is going to be heading to Kansas City, arguably the best place in the world to get barbeque.  Mmmm...I can taste the brisket and pulled pork already.  Haha, uh-oh.