Conclusion

I feel like this blog needs a quick wrap up post-


I don't think I will continue with my veganism after this project- I will try to reduce the amount of dairy I eat, but I won't cut it out entirely. I wrestled with putting my desires before animals' quality of life earlier in this blog, and have come to the realization that it is a non-paradigmatic moral problem, because I am disconnected from the wronged party spatially, I am not doing intentional harm, and it is a collective harm (all of us who eat dairy are contributing to the harm). Thus, I have an easier time not facing the moral questions involved.


I want to finish up with a quick summary of what I learned over the course of our lived ethics project.

1. veganism is really hard, unless you give up trying to have a balanced diet
2. oreos, pop tarts, tater tots, and french fries are all vegan
3. the food industry is very non-helpfull when you are trying to figure out where stuff comes from
4. biking is awesome, but it can make your parents worried.

Happy Summer, Everyone!

Itinerary and To-Do list for bike trip

Working on hashing out the details of the bike trip- here's what I've got right now

TO-DO:

get couchsurf reply

adjust derailer

replace rear brake pads

buy stove and cookpots

get boxes for shipping stuff home

pack up and store room

contact Alex about riding

talk with Drewise about riding

pack for trip

print google map bits

create group for everett to edmonds leg

BIKE TRIP ITINERARY!

MAY 17

·         C-Springs to Harstel CO

·         Google maps

·         66mi

MAY 18

·         Harstel  to  Green Mt Reservoir (southern tip)

·         Trans-am 6

·         75mi

MAY 19

·         Green Mt Reservoir to Wildlife Refuge

·         *refill water at willow creek crossing- no night water

·         Trans-am 6

·         82mi

MAY 20

·         Wildlife Refuge to Spring creek/Centenial creek (@ matchline between Riverside and Saratoga)

·         Trans-am 6

·         80mi

MAY 21

·         Spring/Centenial creek to Saratoga to Muddy Creek

·         Stop in Saratoga for food (5 days)

·         Trans-am 6/5

·         90mi

MAY 22

·         Muddy Creek to Hall Creek (just before beaver creek rd)

·         Trans-am 5

·         60mi

MAY 23

·         Hall Creek to Dry Creek (brutis lenmore road, just past Crowheart)

·         Trans-am 5

·         75mi

MAY 24

·         Dry Creek to Buffalo Fork of Snake River

·         Trans-am 5

·         75mi

MAY 25

·         Buffalo fork to Madison

·         Buy food (2 days)

·         Trans-am 5

·         75mi

MAY 26

·         Madison to Cameron

·         Trans-am 5/4

·         75mi

MAY 27

·         Cameron to Dillon

·         Buy food in Dillon (4 days)

·         Trans-am 4

·         83mi

MAY 28

·         Dillon to Big Hole Battlefield Natnl Park (butler creek)

·         Trans-am 4

·         75mi

MAY 29

·         Big Hole to Stevensville

·         Trans-am 4

·         85mi

MAY 30

·         Stevensville to Charlo

·         Trans-am 4/Google maps

·         77mi

MAY 31

·         Charlo to Whitefish

·         Look for couchsurf host

·         Buy food in Whitefish (3 days)

·         Google maps

·         90mi

JUNE 1

·         Whitefish to Peck Gulch Campground (off lake koocanoosa)

·         N-tier 2

·         80mi

JUNE 2

·         Peck Gulch to Bull Lake

·         N-tier 2

·         75mi

JUNE 3

·         Bull Lake to Sandpoint ID

·         Buy food in Sandpoint (4 days)

·         N-tier 2

·         70mi

JUNE 4

·         Sandpoint to Mill Creek

·         N-tier 1

·         66mi

JUNE 5

·         Mill Creek to Columbia river

·         N-tier 1

·         77mi

JUNE 6

·         Columbia river to Bannon Creek (matchline)

·         N-tier 1

·         77mi

JUNE 7

·         Bannon Creek to Omack to Twisp

·         Buy food in Omack (3.5 days)

·         N-tier 1

·         70mi

JUNE 8

·         Twisp to  Newhalem

·         N-tier 1

·         82

JUNE 9

·         Newhalem to Sedro Wolley to Big Lake

·         N-tier 1 / Google maps

·         75 mi

JUNE 10

·         Big Lake to Everett (commercial and 61^st st) to EDMONDS!

·         Depart commercial and 61^st at 3pm. Invite others

·         Google maps

·         65 mi

Dear Marion

Dear Marion, I'm sure that at some point you get tired of reading blogs. So this blog post has very few words, and a lot of lovely pictures.

The End. 

Sincerely, Betsie

1950 miles to Seattle

There are aproximatley 1950 miles between Colorado springs and Seattle. And I will see all of them through the spokes of my bicycle tires on my way home. I leave on the 17th, the day after school gets out, and will be arriving in Seattle on the 10th or 11th of may. Why bike so far? I believe that it forces you to be incredibly present and aware, something we often overlook, simply taking the here and now for granted.

There's something about traveling in our culture that is disorienting and unreal. You just jump from place to place on a plane. It's almost like those little tunnels in video games, where your character goes in and suddenly pops out in a completely different place.

I think that everyone should, at least once, travel under their own power, whether that means walking, biking, horseback riding, (or even uni-cycling, if that's what floats your boat). I believe this way of traveling helps people truly experience the places they visit. Slow travel teaches you that the places you visit are a comprehensive, interwoven set of communities rather than individual, concentrated experiences; they are not dots on a map but a part of the vast and complex system that makes up our reality. I think that Leopold saw this, riding and walking many of the forests he regulated, and studying his woods at home. I think that slow travel is one of the most effective ways, in our fast-paced world, to find that reflective quality within ourselves and reach a true understanding of our environments, whether they are natural, rural, suburban, or urban.

Furthermore, airplane travel is ridiculous (although efficient and appealing). It has a giant carbon footprint. By biking, I am shrinking my carbon footprint. The average airplane produces 48kg carbon per mile, and as the bird flies, it is about 1025 miles from Csprings to Seattle. That's 49200kg of carbon that I will have no part of.

Also, I'm just really stoked to ride that far. It's going to be a facinating experience, and I think it will force me to think a lot, and truly rely on myself. So 1950 miles it is. If you want to look at routes, or plan your own bike trip, I highly recommend adventure cycling association's maps.(http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/RouteNetwork.pdf)

Technically, this isn't part of my lived ethics project. But I think it's interesting and relevant, so I figured I'd post about it anyways.

5:00

last week I ran a 4:55 1500. This week I ran a 5:00 1500. The question is, why? And what can I change this week in order to have the best possible week? Was it sleep, was it the lack of speed workouts on a track, was  it diet, or was it something else entirely? I have no idea. Furthermore, if it was food, was it simply the food I was eating at Baca? It certainly wasn't a balanced diet, and was very heavy on soy, which I have trouble digesting, and might be mildly allergic to. Normally, some soy is fine, but an entirely tofu-based diet doesn't work well for me. I need to get my vegan protein from other sources like quinoa or nuts. The easiest way to rule out this concern would be to eat non-ethical dairy: Rastall meat is okay, but I am severely limited in my choice of dishes, since many of them include some kind of dairy. To best prepare for my race this weekend, then, I should eat nonethical dairy products.

But when I eat non local, unethical animal products, I am essentially saying that my sport, my hobby (running as fast as possible) is more important than animals' quality of life. It's not a question of health on a survival scale, but a question of optimum nutrition. To put myself first is unjustified, ethically. To eat non-ethical meat and dairy anyways would simply be an acceptance my immorality. I've accepted my own immorality before, when I shoplifted and didn't feel guilty about it. So why can't I eat dairy and not feel guilty about it? The answer is affect- by shoplifting I am not participating in or endorsing an oppressive lifestyle for another morally considerable creature.

So what do I do? Eat dairy, and accept my immorality? Eat dairy, and feel guilty? Or don't eat dairy and constantly second guess myself if I don't race well? I have no idea, and I have to decide soon.

Veganism on the Road

Knowing where your meat and dairy products come from, how the animals were raised, and how they were killed takes research. This means that whenever I'm traveling, I pack food, or I eat vegan. I can't pack everything though. I try, but this week especially, I haven't had time between getting back from Iowa, going to Baca, and leaving for DIA an hour after getting back on campus. So I only have enough packed food for about 50% of my meals. Our coaches always bring us to a grocery store to get food, but the problem is, it's always Walmart. Thus, I have a choice to make- I need a balanced diet in order to race. So do I choose to get vegan protein from Walmart, or forego veganism for vegetarianism when we eat at restaurants?

Sitting in the car as I made my decision, this is the information I had available to me: Walmart is a conglomerate giant that probably ships it's products from all over, so the fuel impacts of vegan versus Walmart are fairly similar. We have already looked at the treatment of animals in the dairy industry- the living conditions of laying hens, the constant calving of dairy cows, their living conditions, the fates of the dairy cows' male calves. What about the impacts of Walmart? They hire people part time, in order to save on benefits that they would need to give to full time employees.

I believe that animals and humans should be equally morally considerable. Thus, by both of the ethical theories we've studied (Utilitarianism and Kantian) I should have picked the Walmart alternative. The abuse of animals via the dairy industry causes considerably more pain than the economic limitation of humans: employees still have social services available to them, and are not being de-fingernailed (what I imagine the human equivalent to de-beaking would be), raised in closets, or having their children sold off to be fattened up and killed as a delicacy (veal). Thus, Utilitarianism dictates that I should go to Walmart. The animals are being used as a means  more than the Walmart employees are. Walmart employees could, theoretically, terminate their contract (although one could argue that quitting might not be an option for employees because of their economic situation), implying that they have some control over their own lives.Walmart is making a contract with their employees, rather than owning them This suggests that walmart employees might be treated as means in some cases, but to a lesser extent than animals in the dairy industry.

But I didn't pick the Walmart option. Instead, I had bagels and cream cheese for breakfast, and pizza with cheese on it for dinner. So why did I make this decision? I didn't sit down for half an hour and think about the pros and cons, the ethical consequences. I simply acted on instinct. There's something weird about Walmart. Maybe that's because I've always avoided Walmart; my parents taught me to. Normality dictates that it's more okay to eat dairy than it is to go to Walmart. Perhaps it's also because of my instinctual preference for my own species. Is that ethical though? Is a bias towards one's own species acceptable? As much as I believe equal moral consideration should be accorded to animals when making ethical distinctions, I think that a preference for our own species is important in making the most acceptable decision. (The most acceptable and the most ethical decision aren't always the same.)

I also wanted to look further into Walmart's practices, my instinctual leeriness of the business. Walmart is not  environmentally sustainable. ( http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/media/2011/2011-06-walmart.pdf)
Based on this information,  my earlier assumption that dairy and Walmart foods had roughly equal ecological impact is probably incorrect, although it would be very difficult to compare the two without spending an incredible amount of time on the issue. It imports many of it's goods, forcing US suppliers out of business. Furthermore, it closes local businesses in many of the small towns it moves into. It is anti-union, and provides  few opportunities for employees.(http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3.html). Although the pain caused by Walmart might be less significant than the pain caused by the dairy industry, the company is much more widespread than the dairy industry, and as such, might actually cause more overal pain. Thus, by utilitarian theory, I made the correct choice.

Did I make the right choice though? What if this decision was evaluated using Leopold's land ethic? In this case, the environment becomes morally considerable as well. To what extent is the land ethic a more relevant/valid or less relevant/valid theory when making a decision between Walmart and veganism?

Update

I am in process of scheduling a meeting with bon appetit to talk about where they get their eggs and milk from, so hopefully by the end of the week I'll be able to add them to my list of  local, ethical, okay-to-eat foods. In the meantime, however, I have been eating vegan plus beef and pork that comes from Rastall (Rastall sources its' meat from Ranch Foods Direct, who buys local, free range meat. However, one of their fowl suppliers, Redbird, only packages localy. Therefore, I avoid the chicken and turkey served by Rastall). Engels claims that it is "extremely easy to adopt a vegan diet" and that doing so is also healthier, which makes me wonder if he has ever tried to be vegan. A surprising number of foods are vegan- I discovered that pop tarts, frosted mini-wheats, and potato chips are all vegan. The most readily accessible vegan options have proved to be junk food though, which significantly contradicts' Engels claim that a vegan diet is healthier. Perhaps a vegan diet is easier if you are buying and cooking all of your own food, but as a college student, I would say that a carnivorous diet would definitely be healthier, simply based on accessibility.

Veganism's Ethical Alternative

My best friend has been vegetarian her whole life- she's never had meat, of any kind. As a little kid, I thought that was really cool. So my second grade self decided to have a go at the veggie thing. I think I lasted about two weeks before I caved, asking my mom for salmon, steak, lobster, and chicken for dinner. The thing about vegetarianism is that it's really difficult, especially if you don't have a clear understanding of why one wouldn't want to eat meat.

A couple of years ago, though, I tried again. I thought about the implications of my meat consumption, environmentally and ethically- Where was the meat I was eating coming from? How was the animal raised and how was it killed? How did effect the ecosystems from which it came- did the way it was farmed disrupt the environment? Was it wild-caught or farmed? How much corn was farmed in order to feed the animal? This time, I lasted six months, but it wasn't lack of commitment that stopped my meatless streak, it was athletics. I know there are a lot of pro athletes out there who do just fine on a veggie diet. And I tried. I read books, went to a sports nutritionist, ate cottage cheese and broccoli and spinach and almonds up the ying-yang, but my body still craved meat, and my times (i'm a runner) weren't where they should have been. 

I wasn't ready to give up completely though- I'd decided I didn't want to eat meat for a lot of reasons. So I made a compromise. I eat meat, but only if its "happy meat" (as my family calls it). Before I consume any kind of meat product, I look into where it comes from. It needs to be free range, local sources with humane slaughter methods. The locality and the grass-fed (for beef), grain-fed (for fowl), or wild caught (for any seafood) element addresses some of the ecological concerns associated with the meat industry, while the free-range and slaughter method standards ensure a higher quality of life. Once I started eating meat again, I started running faster. I wasn't putting any more effort into my races, but my times dropped, more significantly than my training should have caused them to. I've found that this system works well for me- I get the nutrition I need, without compromising the things I believe in. 

I've been eating only local, ethical meat for two years now. I've always considered extending my standards to all animal products- many of the same issues are present in the dairy industry as in the meat industry- and so for this project, that's what I want to do. I'm going to cut out animal products from my diet, until I can figure out if the food i'm eating is coming from local, ethical sources. As the class goes on, I will use my blog to outline where the different meats and animal products that Bon Appetiet serves are coming from, making it a resource for others in addition to a record of my own choices. I think blog number two's going to have to be about eggs- with any luck, Mike's omelets will make the okay-to-eat list. 

-Betsie