Occasionally, I see letters to the editor in the Evansville Courier & Press from a man who feels meat-eaters are the real source of our energy and environmental problems. I have read that there are environmental issues with chicken farms, for instance, because they sometimes foster e-coli. Yet, I had never read much on the energy implications of being a meat-eater until I saw an article in the latest Newsweek. The article is entitled, "Easy to be Green," and it discusses small changes that we can all make to conserve energy and be more eco-conscious. One recommendation, espoused by the Union of Concerned Scientists, is for each meat-eating person to have a meat-free day once a week. I'm sure the animals spared (or at least spared temporarily) would appreciate it. The reason given by this organization is that meat production consumes tremendous energy and natural resources. In fact, it takes 16 pounds of grain to make one pound of beef. Apparently, if each of us consumed less meat, we'd save a lot of energy. The article doesn't say whether this is strictly a beef thing, or whether this energy savings would be true if we ate less chicken, as well.

In terms of seafood, I can see the energy savings we might have if we followed Newsweek's second recommendation, which is to buy locally. This saves fuel in transporting the fish across the country. The only problem is that in Indiana and many other states, it is not safe to consume locally caught fish due to the high mercury content. For this reason, I always feel better buying fish from Alaska or the Pacific. This is obviously not energy-efficient, but short of not buying fish, it doesn't leave people in Indiana much in the way of options if they want to eat fish. If we want to better the environment through our practices with eating fish, we need to improve conditions such that locally caught fish are safe to eat. This means drastically decreasing emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants, as these plants deposit a great deal of mercury which ends up in our waterways.