Why I'm a weekday vegetarian | Graham Hill

譯者: Marie Wu 審譯者: Terry Lin

About a year ago,

大約在一年以前，

I asked myself a question:

我問自己一個問題：

"Knowing what I know,

「既然我知道這麼多環保概念，

why am I not a vegetarian?"

我為什麼不吃素？」

After all, I'm one of the green guys:

畢竟，我可是支持綠能生活的人。

I grew up with hippie parents in a log cabin.

我的父母是嬉皮，我從小在木造的小屋裡長大，

I started a site called TreeHugger --

我架設了一個「擁抱樹木(Treehugger)」的網站，

I care about this stuff.

我關心這一類議題。

I knew that eating a mere hamburger a day

我知道，就算一天只吃一個漢堡，

can increase my risk of dying by a third.

也會讓我增加三分之一的死亡機率。

Cruelty: I knew that the 10 billion

殘忍的事實是，我知道

animals we raise each year for meat

人類每年飼養100億隻動物做為食物，

are raised in factory farm conditions

他們居住在類似工廠的農場裡，

that we, hypocritically, wouldn't even consider

我們絕對不會把我們的狗、

for our own cats, dogs and other pets.

貓或其他寵物飼養在那種環境裡。

Environmentally, meat, amazingly,

對環境來說，

causes more emissions

動物所排放的氣體

than all of transportation combined:

比所有交通工具加起來還要多，

cars, trains, planes, buses, boats, all of it.

包括車子、火車、飛機、公車和船等。

And beef production uses 100 times the water

生產牛肉所需要耗用的水量，

that most vegetables do.

要比一般植物所需用水高上100倍。

I also knew that I'm not alone.

我知道我不是唯一吃肉的人，

We as a society

現在的人

are eating twice as much meat

吃肉的份量，

as we did in the 50s.

是50年代的二倍。

So what was once the special little side treat

以前視為很珍貴、只能提供一小盤的食物，

now is the main, much more regular.

現在變成了主食，而且幾乎是每天的主食。

So really, any of these angles

說真的，這麼多分析

should have been enough to convince me to go vegetarian.

都在告訴我們該改變自己成為素食者，

Yet, there I was -- chk, chk, chk --

但是，我還在嗑..嗑..嗑..

tucking into a big old steak.

往嘴裡塞進一份大牛排。

So why was I stalling?

我為什麼遲遲無法決定？

I realized that what I was being pitched

我發現我面對的是

was a binary solution.

一個二極的選擇，

It was either

要不做一個肉食主義者，

you're a meat eater or you're a vegetarian,

要不然就做個素食主義者。

and I guess I just wasn't quite ready.

但我覺得我還沒有準備好。

Imagine your last hamburger.

想想看你最近一次吃的那份漢堡。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

So my common sense,

所以我的理智、

my good intentions,

我的良心

were in conflict with my taste buds.

都在和我的味蕾戰鬥，

And I'd commit to doing it later,

所以我決定「以後」再吃素，

and not surprisingly, later never came.

你也知道，「以後」就表示「永遠不會」，

Sound familiar?

對吧？

So I wondered,

所以我在想，

might there be a third solution?

有沒有第三種選擇？

And I thought about it, and I came up with one.

我深入思考之後，讓我想到了一個方法，

I've been doing it for the last year, and it's great.

我從去年就已經開始這麼做了，我覺得還不賴。

It's called weekday veg.

我把它叫做「上班日吃素」，

The name says it all:

從名字就可以知道它的意思。

Nothing with a face Monday through Friday.

星期一到星期五不吃肉，

On the weekend, your choice.

週末的時間自己決定。

Simple.

很簡單吧！

If you want to take it to the next level,

如果你想要再更進一步，

remember, the major culprits

請記得

in terms of environmental damage and health

對環境及健康破壞最深的

are red and processed meats.

就是紅肉和加工肉品，

So you want to swap those out

你可以用品質良好、

with some good, sustainably harvested fish.

人工飼養的魚類來替代。

It's structured,

這樣做下來，

so it ends up being simple to remember,

既簡單又好記。

and it's okay to break it here and there.

你可以在週末的時候放鬆一下，

After all, cutting five days a week

反正每週有五天不吃肉，

is cutting 70 percent of your meat intake.

就可以減少百分之七十的肉類攝取。

The program has been great, weekday veg.

「上班日吃素」這個方法還不錯，

My footprint's smaller,

我的腳步變輕盈了、

I'm lessening pollution,

我減少了污染、

I feel better about the animals,

我覺得對得起動物、

I'm even saving money.

還省了一些錢，

Best of all, I'm healthier,

最好的是，我變得更健康了，

I know that I'm going to live longer,

我知道我會活得更長壽，

and I've even lost a little weight.

而且還減少了一些體重。

So, please ask yourselves,

所以，問問自己，

for your health,

為了你的健康、

for your pocketbook,

你的錢包、

for the environment, for the animals:

環境、動物等著想，

What's stopping you from giving weekday veg a shot?

你還有什麼理由不試一下「上班日吃素」？

After all, if all of us

畢竟，如果我們所有人

ate half as much meat,

都能減少一半的肉類攝取量，

it would be like half of us

就好像有一半的人

were vegetarians.

在吃素一樣。

Thank you.

謝謝！

(Applause)

(掌聲)