The Power of Defaults in How We Eat
A few months ago I attended a conference held by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. One of the interesting things they noted this year was about their lunch offering.
You might be surprised to know that meat production, between raising, processing, packaging, and preserving meat uses a lot of energy. In fact, Michael Pollan, author of The Omivore’s Dilemma once asserted that “A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius” (it turns out that this was a bit of an exaggeration).
If you’ll note in the picture below, it seems that in this meeting (2009) the council was able to convince attendees to switch to a vegetarian lunch.
The trick, as I’ve blogged about before, was making the vegetarian option the default option! For the past two years, the council did not have any default and the vast majority of the attendants picked the meat option. This year they set up the vegetarian option as the default, and this yielded a more environmentally friendly results, with a mere 20 percent insisting on having their steaks (see the column for 2009).
The other good news is that the vegetarian option was also (in this case) more tasty and healthy.
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And cheaper for the organisers perhaps? Would it be cynical to infer a motive there?
With how much commodities agriculture have influenced what we think is ‘healthy.’ Not to mention the completely unfounded ‘health’ superiority vegetarians enjoy in our society. Probably because of how powerful the emotional arguments about eating other animals can be. With all of that, I’m extremely skeptical that the vegetarian option was actually more healthy.
So, Jared, in the absence of details about the various options, why would you choose to be “extremely skeptical” that the vegetarian option was healthier? Dan was actually there and reports that the vegetarian meal was healthier; on what basis do you fault his reporting?
Simon, cheaper & healthier would be considered a win-win. Include Dan’s opinion that the veggie option was tastier too, and you have a win-win-win triple play.
Only because there is little in the world that has more complete nutrition than fatty meat.
Jared – That’s ridiculous. All studies have shown that vegan diets are healthier (except ones funded by the meat and dairy industries). Read The China Study.
I’m sorry, there is no study that has shown correlation between vegetarianism and decreased mortality, no matter how much we want it to be true.
You cite the China Study, which is far more biased than any study sponsored by meat or dairy industry. This is a study done by someone looking to prove one thing. It does not hold up to close critical scrutiny as anything but very biased, inconclusive research.
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/397/
Beyond that, animals provide all essential human nutrition. No other food can claim that. It provides all essential fatty acids (in the most usable form), all essential vitamins and minerals, all essential amino acids. Human beings can live on a 100% meat diet (and have many times through history – inuit are a favorite example) without any disease of civilization (heart disease, diabetes, etc.). These are facts.
What else can you possibly ask for in a food source?
Fortunately, in real life we are not limited to only one food source, so we can choose food that is healthier for us, less cruel to other creatures, and more ecologically sustainable.
Perhaps what’s best or most healthy to eat depends on context. If you lived in caveman times and your next meal depended on what you could hunt or find, you probably spent a lot of energy. Fatty meat, when and if you could find it, would be a sensible choice.
On the other hand, if you live in the 21st century, sit at a desk all day (requiring less energy) , and have a reliable supply of all sorts of food at the grocery store, a diet high in fatty meat (or for that matter, french fries) might, health wise, cause more problems than it solves.
Back to people people tending to pick the default option, I wonder what would happen if the default food choice was something less appealing? What if people had to choose between corned beef hash (the default) and a steak (the opt out)?
Jared – Right on
DH – If your ancestors thought like you……you wouldn’t
@ namowal
Spot on.
Very rational and apt.
Jared was too irrational/emotional because he is a meat eater. And then went into further cognitive dissonance because someone disagreed with him.
Cavemen? Alas the name says it all.’The world is black and white. You die, you loose!’
Very fascinating!
Just as your example with the Organ Donors in Europe outlined! How fascinating.
Eminent pieces as usual…
Tremendous post!!!