ESSENTIAL QUESTION: HOW HAS THE CONSUMPTION OF MEAT CONTRIBUTED TO GLOBAL WARMING?

DRAFT COPY -

A Thought on Global Warming

A teacher can take a topic as vast as “Global Warming” in myriad creative directions. Thus, we placed our project in a zone cloaked by ignorance; few people really know the drastically severe and direct correlation between the meat industry and global warming. With our students, we embarked on a challenging research endeavor to encourage them to explore realms they otherwise thought were innocuous. Who knew eating an archetypal American food such as the beloved hamburger could be so devastating to the environment? Not too many of our students did know before the start of the project. Nevertheless, at this juncture, many of these young, bright minds who took our challenge are now more informed, socially-aware citizens because of their own research and discovery.

 One of the biggest concerns at the beginning of our project was if it preached it’s own agenda: that vegetarianism or veganism are better lifestyle choices. We were quickly assuaged after many students read Mark Bittman’s powerful article “Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler” (New York Times, January 2008). Although he works to uncover the truth about the harmful nature of the meat industry’s impact on the environment, the New York Times, stipulates at the end of his article that “Mark Bittman, who writes the Minimalist column in the Dining In and Dining Out sections, is the author of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, which was published last year. He is not a vegetarian.” Learning that the author of this amazing article was a meat-eater helped the students realize that they have the absolute right to their own choices, but it is better to make informed life-decisions instead of masked ones. And, although this project may not have changed our students' eating habits altogether, it has given them a lens through which to see exactly how those burgers get on their plates along with how many sacrifices are made for them to eat what they want. 

Eaten Alive: A Video on How Meat Consumption has Contributed to Global Warming. - By Marlon Barrows