Would simply knowing how much we individually consume be enough to change the way we act? On the next Your Call we welcome Mathis Wackernagel, the executive director of the Global Footprint Network. Based in Oakland, but working around the world, the Global Footprint Network helps governments monitor how much nature we have, how much we use, and who uses what as closely as they monitor the stock market. Could ecological budgets and resource bank accounts make sustainable living more than a dream? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar and you.
Guests: Mathis Wackernagel in San Francisco
Executive Director Global Footprint Network and co-creator of the concept of the Ecological Footprint.
Click to Listen: The Global Footprint
I heard a bit of this and there were some good ideas presented by you and callers. However, I must take issue with you about "not eating meat" to reduce global impact. I know that you didn't want to get into the health issues but you and your guest slyly alluded to it. I had been a vegetarian then vegan for a combined five years (for "health" reasons) and found I ruined by body--I became anemic, harmed my digestion, and contributed to my current morbid hypothyroidism because of it. I have found that I need to eat fresh meat and fish to maintain a healthy body and metabolism and actually produce antibodies (allergic reactions) to most grains, beans. Meat and fish are the most efficient means to get protein for some people. The problem lies in consuming too much of it. This over-consumption attitude is THE basic problem with global impact. This is based on a profit-motivated society that urges us to buy more and more because of planned obsolescence, entrenched outdated methods and interests, and clever marketing to create new niches for useless stuff. Please leave out the high-handed, self-righteous attitude and educate yourself thoroughly before you make generalized statements that affect the basic health of people. By not doing so, only weakens any stance you wish to take and makes one discount anything you have to say.
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