Being Vegetarian: Start Small and Change the World

Written by Petrina Danardatu

Photographed by Kimberly Curry

On New Year’s Day of 2016, I set a goal to restrict my diet and eat vegetarian for the entire year. This goal originally began to test the limits of my self-control: could I really change a large part of my diet cold turkey? (Pun intended.) 

It turns out that I could do it, and have been doing it ever since. It’s now been just a little over four years that I’ve been a vegetarian, and I don’t plan on going back. As you may notice my original motivations behind becoming a vegetarian were not environmental. This is fair for you to question, as it was, I admit, not the noblest of beginnings. 

However, let me be clear, the longer I was the vegetarian, the more research I read, and the more my motivations for remaining vegetarian became environmental. Allow me to elaborate on the things that I learned about eating a vegetarian diet that inspired me to stay the course; and how those things inspire me still.  

The first thing to start with is explicitly communicating that climate change is happening, and happening fast.There’s no disputing that. In measuring CO2 and other greenhouse gases (i.e. water vapor, methane) in the atmosphere and trapped in ice since the beginning in the 1950s, we find that their levels are increasing higher than anything we've seen in nearly a million years.

 As we would expect with rising greenhouse gas emissions, we find that the air, sea and land are all warming. In effect, ice is melting causing sea levels to rise. This is just to name some of the evidence that has been gathered in support of the past and present occurrence of global climate change. 

A Time Magazine article, citing a research article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) describes the health, environmental, and economic benefits of restrictive diets. 

The study showed how livestock alone account for more than 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions. A vegan or vegetarian diet could cut those emissions by 70% and 63%, respectively. The study also showed how the benefits of changing dietary patterns changed from region to region. 

Regions such as East Asia, Latin America and Western high-income countries tended to benefit from reduced red meat consumption. Other regions such as South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will benefit the most from increased fruit and vegetable intake. Such detail could help policymakers propose more specialized and therefore attractive policies to incite change. 

Moreover, changing dietary patterns could also save approximately $1 trillion annually by preventing health care costs and lost productivity. That figure can rise to as much as $30 trillion annually when also considering the economic value of lost lives; in other words, those who never realize their economic potential due to death before entering the workforce. This is not including the economic benefits of avoiding costs caused by the aftermath of extreme weather events that could result from climate change.

Knowing all of this was encouraging for me to continue my diet, because it made me feel like I was contributing to something bigger than myself — the safety and wellness of our planet and the people living on it. 

In the (relatively short) time that I have been a vegetarian, I have noticed a few changes; namely, in the way that my vegetarianism is received by others both in social settings and in restaurants. 

When I first started out, I remember there being a lot more judgement and teasing from my peers about being vegetarian. I was too shy and even embarrassed to speak too openly about it. Whether these reactions were a reflection of the less open-minded and social conscious about environmentally-friendly choice or a picture of the immaturity of freshmen in high school is hard to say. Though, I’m sure it’s a little bit of both. 

Nowadays, I tell people casually, usually when we get a meal together, and get basically no reaction. To me, this is a good reaction. It shows how common it’s becoming, how it’s being normalized it is, how the word or concept no longer invokes cringe or anger. 

When eating out at restaurants back in 2016, I would often ask the waitstaff if they could alter any of their dishes, for the lack of already-vegetarian options on their menus. I was often made to feel like a burden, and I often did. 

As time went on, however, I noticed restaurants providing many more intentional and diverse vegetarian options. This restored my faith that eating out could be fun and easy to do even / especially with my non-vegetarian counterparts.   

Of course I say all of this, knowing very well that my personal experience doesn’t go to represent everyone’s experiences, and as a person who commonly seeks and finds herself in very environmentally-conscious spaces. 

My end goal here is not to impose my vegetarianism on everyone I meet or everyone who reads this. I do not judge people because they do not want to eat a full vegetarian or vegan diet or don’t do so all of the time. I have not been entirely perfect in my diet — sometimes accidentally, sometimes intentionally. I must admit that gummy candy, which are in fact often times not vegetarian, is my biggest vice. 

This is not to say that I don’t also commend the people who are willing to compromise and sacrifice for the sake of the environment. However, these sacrifices can also come in smaller packages, with little decisions that are made every day. 

I’m proud of the people who are trying to reduce their red meat consumption to only once a week. I’m proud of the people who are trying to incorporate alternative milks into their diet. I’m proud of people who are concerned about where their food is coming from, opting for locally-sourced and organic products when they can. 

Whoever says, “one person isn’t going to change anything,” is overtly mistaken. The most important thing to know is that your efforts—both in dietary decisions and generally in every day actions such as bringing your own bag for groceries and taking public transportation—are small moments but important ones. Know that when you choose to sacrifice what you want for what the environment needs is not going unnoticed or unappreciated.