Yes you can

... don't worry, the post-title has nothing to do with Obama ... more on him next week though, for sure ;-)

I don't often mention that I'm vegetarian - don't actually think I've ever done a post on it before in the couple of years I've been keeping this blog?

But ... I do feel compelled to mention a really first-class article by George Monbiot in Tuesday's Guardian, that I've just caught up on. Please read it.

Monbiot basically outlines the principle reason why I became vegetarian back in June 1993, when I moved to Edinburgh from Stoke! ... and it had little to due with cruelty to animals, but was mainly down to land-use. Or, I should say, mis-use.

As regular readers will know, I have mentioned my serious concerns about unsustainable population-growth in several blog posts before - here for example (and the links therein) - and it is the combination of the absolute facts about population-growth; and the equally undeniable truths on volumes of land required for meat production as opposed to conventional agriculture; that led me on 1st June 1993 to the conclusion that if I could, I should stop eating meat.

... now, some blog-readers will know this, others may not, but it is a standing joke amongst friends, family and work-colleagues that I am (in essence) a one-man walking dustbin when it comes to food ... and it really is more than a joke, as its actually true! Its always been true - long-prior to 1993 and still now.

I eat the most enormous amount of food (in my defence, I am nearly 6ft 5in tall and weigh around 17-stone) but I have never once in the last 15-years had any problem in sustaining my voracious appetite without resorting to meat. Its not been difficult, I've never regretted it, and my main-point is ... if such a one-man human dustbin as I undoubtedly am can do it, anyone can.

So go on, have a read at Monbiot's article ... check out those links on population-growth and give 'going veggie' some consideration ... if a self-confessed 'gannet' like me can do it, just maybe so can you?

In terms of achieving a positive, collective environmental (not to mention a positive, personal health!) impact, its probably the single biggest step most of us can make ... and, its easy to do.