Shane Life

I did it.

Rather, WE did it.

The idea originally came from a fast that Alli and I have been doing. Where the idea came from doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is that - thanks to a last-minute donation by Alli Arnold Art - as of midnight last night, I have the money needed to purchase a dairy cow from Heifer International.

I’ve bent the rules a little to allow for some mailed donations to come in, but I know they are coming so we’ll just consider them donated.

I’m so excited that I accomplished my goal. HOWEVER, since I achieved the goal by midnight on January 31, I’m going to give up red meat until Memorial Day.

This is going to suck.

Then again, yesterday Brian D directed me to this article in the New York Times, which gives examples of how meat consumption is similar to that of the excessive SUV driving that we do in the United States. Consider this:

an estimated 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land is directly or indirectly involved in livestock production, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which also estimates that livestock production generates nearly a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gases — more than transportation. [This figure led a University of Chicago professor of geophysics to calculate] that if Americans were to reduce meat consumption by just 20 percent it would be as if we all switched from a standard sedan — a Camry, say — to the ultra-efficient Prius.

Not only that, but since most cattle are “grown” rather than “raised” (the distinction being that normal cattle graze on grass and industrial cattle are fed grain, which is far more abundant than grass and since cattle aren’t built to digest grain), they have health problems and have to be given antibiotics to stay alive. That’s one thing that I like about Chipotle — their Food with Integrity program which means that they buy only meat that has been raised humanely without antibiotics.

I love red meat. I love cheeseburgers and steaks. But if this means that I’ll be reducing my consumption by 20 percent for the year, so be it.

There are a lot of people who helped me get to the $500 goal:

• Chimpotle was the first one to jump on board and donate.
• My family came through and donated over $200
• KC Bloggers Average Jane, KC Sponge and Meesha all donated.
• Thanks to my friends Laura and Brian D for donating
• Thanks to Tony for mentioning me on 980 and his blog
• Thanks to Alli for all the support and the last-minute donation to get me to my goal

I’ll be purchasing the cow later today and I’ll keep you updated. I will be happy to be out of fund-raising mode and return back to regularly scheduled discussions like last night’s Lost episode and some other randomness.