Why do environmentalists avoid the meat issue?

• Author: Baker, Julianna
• Position: From Readers - Letter to the Editor

I am writing to thank you for your excellent article, "Meat: Now, It's Not Personal!" I rarely, if ever, see this issue adequately addressed in environmental publications and by environmental organizations. I'm assuming that publications and organizations avoid this topic because they don't want to make their readers and members who do eat meat uncomfortable.

As you point out in the article, eating meat is "behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future ..." People who care about the environment need to look beyond low-flow shower heads and hybrid cars and examine the personal choice that has the most far-reaching effect on the environment--their diet. I believe, as do many other environmentalists, that one...