As small local businesses are replaced by national brands, communities become colonies where people hardly know each other and where neighbors are united not by social and economic ties, but by proximity only. Television and car culture contribute to the breakdown of community: no longer do we sit on the front stoop and watch people walking to the corner store, or chat at the baseball diamond and the post office. Instead we live our lives indoors, in private, except when we drive out of the neighborhood to shop, work, or socialize with carefully selected friends. Alarmed by these trends, social activists have taken up the cause of localism and the rebuilding of community. What many of us do not realize, however, is that localism is not just a worthy social cause, but an important health issue as well. MORE...
Charles Eisenstein
Most vegetarians I know are not primarily motivated by nutrition. Although they argue strenuously for the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, many see good health as a reward for the purity and virtue of a vegetarian diet, or as an added bonus. In my experience, a far more potent motivator among vegetarians-ranging from idealistic college students, to social and environmental activists, to adherents of Eastern spiritual traditions like Buddhism and Yoga-is the moral or ethical case for not eating meat. MORE...
