This week’s table talk was all about eco-anxiety and the conscious choices we make when it comes to food and the environment. It was a great discussion and we approached the issue from almost every possible angle – economically, morally, culturally, politically, logistically, etc. I especially found the cultural and ethical aspects to be very interesting and engaging.

A lot of people at the table were vegetarians or vegans. I myself am a half-vegetarian as I only eat chicken, eggs, and the occasional serving of fish and chips. Unlike a lot of people there, I didn’t really choose that sort of diet for ethical reasons but rather for cultural ones. No one in my family eats red meat so I never have either and never want to. But on the flip side, a lot of people are unwilling to give up meat for similar cultural reasons. People undoubtedly have a close connection with the food they grew up with and don’t readily want to give it up. On another level, especially in America, eating meat is often tied with being ‘macho’ and being vegan is seen as ‘wimpy.’ For example, the top search suggestions for veganism: ‘unhealthy,’ ‘debunked,’ and ‘is a cult.’ I think it would be impossible to convince most people to trade in their beef for beans and no amount of scientific evidence is going to change that. We’d have to really start with educating young children but even that has complexities in terms of economics and social inequality. As one scholar brought up, choosing to be vegetarian or vegan is a privilege that many people don’t have.

Another aspect that was really intriguing to me was the tie between environmental activism and ethics. For example, if one person gives up meat but the majority of people don’t, that could be discouraging for the person to continue. I think if you are truly passionate about the environment, you can still drive yourself to do what you think is right regardless of whether other people join or not. I personally try to follow Kantian ethics and the categorical imperative which is to act in a way that you would like other people act as if it were a universal law. Maybe two extra minutes in the shower won’t single-handedly destroy the planet, but can it be justified if everyone took longer showers? With such a daunting problem like climate change, I find it alleviates eco-anxiety when you to try to do your part to make a change and to know your conscious would be clear if your behaviour was universalised.