Simply going vegan for a few meals a week would substantially lessen my and most American's carbon footprint, without having to forgo animal products altogether. Given that more and more Americans are consuming animal products, and more individuals in the developing world are also consuming animal products, reducing this area of consumption is vitally important for the sustainability of the planet. It surprised me to learn that reducing meat consumption was such an important part of reducing one's ecological footprint, perhaps even more important than reducing one's consumption of fossil fuels through transportation. Buying a Prius has received substantially more praise in the media than reducing meat consumption.

But reducing meat consumption is not enough. Factory dairy production is also very taxing on the environment. Raising chickens for eggs and cows for milk production takes a great deal of the earth's resources. In the developing world, consumption of dairy has...
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