VeggieJews

THE HOLE IN THE ECO-KOSHER BAGEL


I’ve spent a good deal of time on the internet Googling eco-kosher web sites.  I must have read about 20 of them quite thoroughly and carefully
to make sure that I understood the movement’s message.  Here’s what I found out:

Out of the 20 eco-kosher web sites that I studied, many written by rabbis, a couple quoted the phrase “tsa'ar ba'alei chayim” (a mandate not to cause
pain to any living being) and one urged readers to boycott veal.  None of them promoted vegetarianism.  The emphasis was on combining popular environmental movement ideology with Jewish culture.  But, despite considering themselves “environmentalists,” the creators of these web sites all ignored the enormous waste and pollution created by the animal agriculture industry, including air pollution, water pollution and e-coli contamination of nearby vegetable crops. 

It is difficult for me to imagine how a movement that does not promote vegetarianism is going to reduce the horrific environmental damage caused by animal agriculture.  In an effort to promote environmentalism into the mainstream Jewish community, eco-kosher takes an approach rather like trying to cure cancer with a Band-Aid.  The attitude seems to be: “Don’t worry, buy organic and the world will heal itself.”  If only it were that easy.

In my opinion, eco-kosher without veggie-kosher is simply fraud.  It gives folks the false impression that by buying “organic” lox or recycling a paper bag you can help make the world a significantly better place while ignoring the true human health, ecological and animal cruelty costs associated with raising and eating animals for food.  It is precisely because the mainstream environmental
movement ignores these essential issues that we have veggie, vegan and animal rights organizations. 

I’ve been told that eco-kosher is a good compromise, a good place for folks to start making the transition to a lifestyle that will tread more lightly on the planet and the animals while preserving our health.  But, in fact, vegetarianism itself is a compromise between a conventional diet and a
cruelty-free vegan diet.  At least vegetarianism is a really good and meaningful compromise and one well worth pursuing on our way to a more
cruelty-free and environmentally sane future.  By contrast, eco-kosher without vegetarianism is a façade, a make-believe compromise that, in terms of diet, requires no real change for the better.

As long as the eco-kosher movement is afraid or unwilling to make issues out of the environmental rape of factory farming and the un-kosher cruelty
of industrial agribusiness, as long as it ignores the “V” word, it will never bring us to a significantly more just world.  To make that kind of progress the eco-kosher movement needs to take reasonable risks, like promoting vegetarianism and veganism -- risks that it has shown no inclination to take.  The eco-kosher folks just don’t want to offend anyone or change their own lives too much.  But nobody
ever corrected a major societal injustice without changing his or her own life and taking the risk of offending somebody.

So, if you’re part of the eco-kosher movement, but not a veggie or vegan, why not choose a path that might actually close down those nasty old factory
farms, protect your health and strengthen our environment BEFORE the Messiah comes.  Go veggie-kosher! 

If you are involved in eco-kosher groups, why not spread the news that there is no real eco-kosher without veggie-kosher?


By Pete Cohon, founder

VeggieJews