The Tipping Point

We're going to get in trouble with Honeypiehorse and Borealkraut for this one, but here goes:

We accept avoiding certain foods because they are fattening.

We can accept avoiding certain foods because they cause cancer.

We accept avoiding certain foods because they have been treated with nasty pesticides.

We can even accept, in theory, avoiding certain foods because they contain genetically modified organisms.

But now things are getting silly.

As if all of the above were not enough to permanently put one off one's feed, people must also now worry about whether their dinner is destroying the planet. ("To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates")

In Sweden, major food manufacturers and fast food chains trumpet the relative environmental virtues of their wares by including a measurement of the CO2 emissions associated with their production. At Max, the Swedish McDonald's, consumers are informed that the consumption of a hamburger entails the production of 1.7 kilograms of carbon dioxide, as opposed to the more earth-friendly 0.4-kilograms of CO2 released in the production of a chicken sandwich.

We hope Swedes enjoy carrots on those chicken sandwiches, as the hothouses needed to grow Swedish tomatoes will likely destroy the ozone layer and melt the polar ice caps.

Enough, already!

Extremism in the pursuit of virtue is a vice. We can all do our part to save the planet, and we should all be as conscientious as possible. But with every new restriction, every new warning, every new admonition against eating or drinking or driving or. . . or dancing (who knows?), our reserves of good will and social conscience dwindle.

Everything is a trade off. If we stop eating beef, then cows will reproduce exponentially and cover the earth! And consider that one of the Swedish government's recommended substitutes for red meat is beans, which, of course, pose greenhouse hazards of their own.

It's enough to make one throw up one's hands and drive the Hummer across the street to McDonald's where one can fill up on a nice, juicy, Amazon-deforesting Big Mac. If, in the long run, we're all dead, we might as well get there with plaque-filled arteries and a healthy sunburnt glow!