Plants have got it going on. They can't sing, throw a ball, or write novels (that we know of) -- but by evolutionary design they are wired to nourish us. Like no other living thing on Earth.
Flexitarians recognize the soundness of the reasoning around leaving meat behind … and quite reasonably dread a life devoid of bacon. But they are willing to try. Flexitarianism is — yes —a philosophy. It embodies the imperfect but unstoppable human energy that will tackle what we can change today, and work diligently at longer-term repairs that will redefine tomorrow.
Dump 20,000 calories worth of water-soaked feed into a cow and what do you get? 2000 calories of food energy. That lousy 10% return means your steak is a calorically lame sponge into which you’ve poured a couple thousand gallons of scarce H2O, among other things. This disastrous return would ulcerize an investment banker.
Postwar scientific breakthroughs ushered in a new age of farming innovation just when the bombed-out, starving world needed it most. Today, those practices we set in motion to feed the world are destroying the agricultural future of food.
