Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet, 2021a

20 Adaptation Strategies 342
Since only one in 40 meals is of this type, multiply the poultry <strong>and</strong>
dairy contributions by 1 40 <strong>and</strong> adjust f v to bring the total to 1.0. Doing
so yields f v 0.993, f p 0.00375, <strong>and</strong> f d 0.00325. Multiplying by
the respective R x values <strong>and</strong> summing produces 1.05.
Thus, the one meal of poultry/dairy per week achieves 99% of the
journey from normal-American (6.1) to full vegan (1.0), from an energy
perspective.
The result of Example 20.3.18 is so nearly 1.0 that it is essentially indistinguishable
from a purely plant-based diet, quantitatively. This is especially
true in the context that the rule-of-thumb factors are themselves not to
be taken literally as high-precision numbers. All pork will not have an
energy ratio of 27.0. All tuna will not be 17.0. All wheat will not be 0.45.
The methods of producing the food—of all types—become important at
this stage. Note that gardening (<strong>and</strong> canning) one’s own food is a way
to nourish ourselves at a super-low resource burden—undercutting the
nominal vegan energy factor even further.
The quantitative focus suggests an approach best called flexitarianism.
If energy <strong>and</strong> resources are the primary concern, rather than ethical
issues around eating meat, 55 then the occasional meat treat is no big deal.
Under this scheme, it is still possible to enjoy traditional foods on special
occasions like holidays. 56 If a friend serves meat at a dinner party, just
do the quick calculation <strong>and</strong> realize that you can easily offset later 57 <strong>and</strong>
make this special-occasion meal disappear into the quantitative noise.
The perception you generate is therefore more likely to be as a grateful
friend, rather than as a person whose needs are difficult to satisfy.
55: ...valid in its own domain
56: ...arguably making them more special
57: . . . or note that you have already offset
it by prior actions
More people are likely to be attracted to join in responsible behaviors
if they are not too rigid or strict. Imagine ordering a bean, rice, <strong>and</strong>
cheese burrito only to take a bite <strong>and</strong> discover a morsel of meat inside.
Score! Meat Treat! It doesn’t have to be a bad thing, if resource cost is
what matters most. This flexibility can also apply to waste food. Before
watching meat get thrown into the trash, intercept with your mouth.
From a resource point of view, wasting meat—or any food, really—is also
something we should strive to avoid: better that the energy investment
produce metabolic benefit than be utterly wasted.
20.3.6 Discretionary Summary
We don’t have direct <strong>and</strong> immediate control over all the energy expenditures
made on our behalf in the same way that we have control over our
own light switches <strong>and</strong> thermostats. Yet, we must accept our communal
share of energy <strong>and</strong> resources used by governmental, military, industrial,
agricultural <strong>and</strong> commercial sectors providing us with structure,
protection, goods, <strong>and</strong> services. The 10,000 W average American power
frequently used as a benchmark throughout this book—<strong>and</strong> mapping to
240 kWh per day—is not all in our direct control. Individuals can make
© 2021 T. W. Murphy, Jr.; Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Lic.;
Freely available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions.