Four Piglets Were Born The Other Night

Hi, my name is Grace. I want to go vegetarian.

I wrote that opening as a joke placeholder a week ago, but it´s not a bad attention grabber, is it? On to the story.

Here in Minas we live on a farm. We work on the farm too. A couple weeks ago I woke up and after talking to Paula at breakfast she told me that one of the pigs they keep gave birth to four piglets.

That night as we were feeding the pigs I saw the piglets. They were cold and huddled together in a corner of the concrete cage they live in and will probably live in until the day they die. They will never know the feeling of dirt or grass. I went to summer camp on Sprout Creek Farm for three years and I know that the kind way they treat animals is rare for America and that even if I thought a little farm in Ecuador was bad it was definetly worse back home.

It started with my roommate Madison. She and her entire family at home are vegan. It´s for ethical reasons (like stated above), but also for ecological and human health reasons. They´re so dedciated to reducing their carbon footprint that instead of using the energy of a dryer, they hang dry their clothes. That´s only one of the ways they´ve changed their lifestyle for the better.

Though vegetarianism/veganism is on her dietary restrictions form our host family was having a hard time accepting that. For example: making chicken soup for lunch and dinner every day, trying to slip meat into her food, asking her just to eat meat for just an hour. To most of you the last one won´t sound like that crazy of a request, but Madison´s veganism is an integral part of her life. It´s a core tenet and philosophy. Ecuador is a primarily Catholic country and our host family is practicing, so she tried to explain that veganism to her is almost like a religion: something she believes in strongly to guide her life, but also something that she can´t just turn off for an hour.

Walking up and down the hill every day I started to ask her questions about why veganism and what her actions had on her life individually and the world as a whole. I had seen a number of statistics during Casti´s Earth Week and as a matter of fact during a project I had my junior year in bio but had for the most part always chosen to ignore it.

This time I listened.

Going back to Junior Year biology, I remember after our Global Invesigator Trips Ms. Appelget had us calculate our carbon footprint. They were particularly high because of the trips we had just taken. I was at dinner the other night thinking about that bio class and San Juan La Laguna in Guatemala where I went on my Global Investigator Trip and will be returning to in a few weeks and how big my carbon footprint is going to be. What´s a great way to reduce it? Don´t eat meat.

If you know me well, then you know that I am one to follow rules. I like a lot of structure. I was talking to Madison about differences between vegetarianism and pescatarianism and she stopped me to say something like this, "There are no rules. You don´t have to follow any. You can cheat and have animal products once in a while but it´s really about what you think is the best way to live your life."

Her words comfort me. In knowing that I really do have control over my effect on the world and what I put in my body, I feel some sort of power. It´s kind of like that magical power of turning 18, I feel ready to make more decisions on my own.

Going vegetarian in Latin America, especially in homestays, is going to be near impossible. I want to start when I get back to the US. I also won´t cut meat and animal products out of my diet entirely upon arrival, I plan to slowly ween myself off of them.

I´m writing this in a blogpost because I want accountability. I don´t want this to be an idea in my head or a New Year´s Resolution that I never act upon. By writing it here, people see my intent and I feel an obligation now to follow through.