Jonathan Evatt Online

Bellying up to environmentalism

By James E. McWilliams
Monday, November 16, 2009

I gave a talk in South Texas recently on the environmental virtues of a vegetarian diet. As you might imagine, the reception was chilly. In fact, the only applause came during the Q&A period when a member of the audience said that my lecture made him want to go out and eat even more meat. "Plus," he added, "what I eat is my business -- it's personal."

I've been writing about food and agriculture for more than a decade. Until that evening, however, I'd never actively thought about this most basic culinary question: Is eating personal?
We know more than we've ever known about the innards of the global food system. We understand that food can both nourish and kill. We know that its production can both destroy and enhance our environment. We know that farming touches every aspect of our lives -- the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil we need.

So it's hard to avoid concluding that eating cannot be personal. What I eat influences you. What you eat influences me. Our diets are deeply, intimately and necessarily political.

For the ordinary person the necessity of spiritual practice is rarely, if ever, obvious. For instance, I’ve often heard people question why meditation is important and then justify to themselves that it’s not. Similarly, to many people the importance of getting physical exercise seems unimportant, and they too justify to themselves why they are just fine without it (we’ll take a look at that second example, for it will make both scenarios clearer). What is the importance of spiritual practice? Is spiritual practice important?