Would this affect your decision to purchase? NYT article

I recently read two books about clothing - The Conscious Closet and Project 333. I was just looking for advice on how to manage my closet but learned a lot about the impact of clothing manufacturing. It has stuck with me and is affecting not only my clothing purchases but all my fabric purchases. That is a big deal in my life as I made my living selling fabric and making home decor for customers for many years. I continue to quilt. I'm thinking a lot more about my purchases and definitely not adding to my stash of fabrics. I'm focusing more on using up what I have. I will still make purchases but not as many and certainly not unless I have a direct, immediate need for materials. It's something you can't really unlearn.

It's made me think about all the things we consume. We've started going to estate sales rather than buying new. It's fun and I feel like it is better to repurpose. I was going to order some grocery bags from Amazon and then I scrounged around and found everything I needed to make nice bags in my basement.

As far as food, I don't see myself making changes on what I eat due to the environment. We purchase locally grown and processed beef. I purchase much of our produce from local farmers getting better quality produce and reducing transportation costs. The question I have is what alternative would the land be used for? Over the last 30 years, so much farmland in our area has become housing developments followed closely by fast food, grocery stores, convenience stores and other businesses. Much of the land in my immediate area including some I own is being used to grow crops to feed cows and I'm happy with that. Chicken farming is also a big business in this area.

I might have to change my diet for health reasons at some point but I don't see the environment being a huge factor here. There are other ways that I can favorably impact the environment.

Are you able to share the recipe for the tofu ricotta?


I ate vegetarian for 18 months a couple years ago. My reasoning had everything to do with the environmental impact of corporate farms/big ag. I stopped eating vegetarian because I needed to simplify my life at the time. I was essentially making separate meals for me & DW and I was burned out.

I'm at a point in my life now where I have time to devote to changing what/how I eat. I'm slowly working my way towards vegan/vegetarian again. I bought that big, beautiful cookbook that was talked about on another thread recently (Big Vegan Flavor) and have started reading it.

I agree with a previous poster that it's a place of privilege to be able to consider the costs (environmental, or otherwise) of the food we eat. It's also a place of privilege to be able to contribute to trying to fix what has gone wrong. Corporations aren't going to be the ones to take care of the problems they've helped to create. They already put the onus on consumers to "clean up" the messes they create (recycling programs, comes to mind...).

I recently watched Farm Dreams (on Disney+). One episode focused on vertical farming in warehouses and community centers. Another episode featured a rooftop farm in the middle of the city. There are machines that create water from the air, allowing these farms to dramatically reduce the amount of water used from typical sources. Give these types of places gov't subsidies and let them open up in every town all over the country. It would be great to have people working at places like these, instead of needing them at McDonalds.

OK I am a person who (as I posted upthread) often is either vegetarian or vegan and who generally doesn't eat much meat, and I really don't like tofu.  "Well if you prepare it right" no, I just don't like it.  I also generally don't like products that are designed to taste like meat (although I actually do like impossible burgers).  

This is where I come down on a lot of hot button issues. For example, I really don't think the shift to electric cars is a great idea. I think we need to focus on making life in the US less dependent on driving. We have the technology to work remotely and have proven that many industries can do it successfully, yet here we are all back in the office that we have to drive to 5 days a week. More housing needs to be built where jobs are located instead of relying on people living an hour away where housing is affordable and commuting to work. We need to grow our own food and repair items instead of buying new all the time.

For the topic at hand though... I really don't think having that info readily at hand would change my purchasing decisions. I buy what I can afford. Consequently, I haven't purchased any beef beyond ground beef for a couple of years. It's simply too expensive. While there are some plant based meals I enjoy overall I'm a pretty picky eater and just don't have much interest in exploring a plant based diet. I know a lot of vegans though so who knows, maybe in the future that will change. I will say that I cringe when I grocery shop to suit their vegan diet though, it's very expensive to buy the vegan alternatives they use. Like coconut cream instead of heavy cream, etc.

Fair. I would say that a majority of Americans have neither the time nor the skill to cook from scratch with meat or without, and in most cases find processed foods (which often contain animal products if not actual meat) cheaper. And those who live in food deserts don't have access to all those vegetables and fruits, and when they do have them, their kids won't eat them. It's a complex issue.

My mom grew our vegetables and canned them to save money, but that's also a skill most people don't have even if they have the time and space.

I have seen an increase in food prices myself, but I don't see produce being affected by inflation any differently than processed foods---at least where I live. So it's interesting to hear others share opposite issues.  

In fact, any time that we feel like our grocery bills is starting to get out of hand, the very first thing we do is look to have meals & snacks that are more produce-heavy.  We cut the processed items and our bill goes down.  But again, it depends on the produce you buy and whether or not you have access to it, as Merge said. 

But it's clearly been the way around here since I was a child, because it was the exact same thing my mother did to cut the costs of feeding us. We never bought premade cookies, for instance. She'd slice up apples for a snack. And looking at my latest receipt, I see a package of cookies that's 6oz for $3.00 and a 3lb bag of apples for $3.89, and I can clearly see why as a kid apples were our only snack option. My mother would have had to buy 8 packages of cookies to get 3 pounds of food, for a cost of over $23.00. 

And while I am well aware that many people do live in food deserts and/or lack the funding to buy healthier foods in places where they are more expensive, there are also plenty of Americans buying a grocery cart of processed foods to bring back to their kitchens the size of my 2 car garage and filling their over-sized fridges with them. So it's not a situation based only on cost and ability to find healthier options. Plenty of people choose the processed foods because they simply want to do so. And that's their right and their choice.

(And yes, I am also aware that plenty of people enjoy doing a whole lot of cooking & baking and that's why they enjoy their larger kitchens, too.   )

And I think that's what I get out of these discussions---not that plant-based living is the answer to everything, but more of a "If you personally have options when buying food, have you considered X,Y,Z or have you noticed X,Y,Z and if so, how do you feel about what you are buying and the idea of making changes?"

I know that for me, going vegan is likely not going to happen. I've tried it a few days here and there and was just not happy. (One year I went vegan on all Fridays in Lent, for instance. I wound up really loathing Fridays.) But I do still enjoy hearing about others who are very pleased with their vegan lifestyle.

I don’t think the issue is necessarily plant vs meat. Corporate plant based farming is just as toxic to our environment.

As a few peas have said already it is a balance of what is available to you, that you can eat that you can afford. So I’m not going to judge other people’s choices - well at least out loud I’m not I can’t control what crossed my brain.

My food choices are governed by my needs, in conjunction with what is available to me within my price range of affordability.

I have dietary restrictions already, I’m not willing to add to them at this time by cutting more things from my diet. What I have consciously done is I buy more locally produced food preferably grown with ethically based practices that help renew the lands. Part of that is joining a CSA based on their practices, AND how they treat their workers ( pay, healthcare & the food )

But those options are not available to everyone, I’m not going to judge others who make do with what they can access and afford. If that corporate produced foods, so be it. I do judge those corporations & the politicians who support & uphold them. But some end consumers have little choice in what is made available to them.


Making choices like this IS a luxury not available to everyone, as long as we are aware we have that luxury before we judge what others are doing.

Yes, substituting vegan alternatives can be pricy, but it's also not always necessary.  As you said, these meals don't always have to revolve around meat. My kids didn't have any idea that most people put meat in tacos for years. They thought everyone ate tacos with rice & beans. And the rice & beans are cheaper than both the plant based meat crumbles and the actual meat.    Our lasagna was made with spinach, and never with meat. DH once tried to throw in plant based meat and my kids were like "What the heck did you do to the lasagna??"   And he never tried that again.