Source: WikipediaStarweaver wrote today on the question of pagans and vegetarianism, asking should pagans be vegetarian. He comments on several concerns, mainly ethical but this is the one I'd like to talk about,

And, if one somehow gets past the gruesomeness of killing animals, there remain serious ecological and economic issues. ...It takes something like 10 times the resources to produce a pound of meat than it does to produce a pound of grain or vegetables. Most of the grain farmed today goes to feed animals for slaughter, not to feed people directly. When you start to contemplate the wastefulness of this - not just the land, but the water, the fossil fuels used to run the operations, and the pollution produced - it becomes hard to see meat eating as a wise and responsible choice. Most Pagans claim to be quite concerned about what we are doing to the Earth, whom we regard as mother and goddess. ... if you work the numbers, eating meat undoes all the good we achieve with these Earth-friendly practices.

I think he left out a point that has really driven my own journey down this road, as he talked about the economics of the meat industry. I just cannot afford it any more. My family has three people but less than two full incomes, we cannot afford the $2+ a day to keep us in beef, the $3+ a day for chicken. That is $60-90 a month. Our current food budget is only $80 a month so adding fresh meat to every meal could double the amount of money we have to spend on food. Since food costs are only continuing to go up, if you and your family have been considering the vegetarian lifestyle, this might be the time to give it a test run.

To this end, I've been exploring some alternatives recently, such as home-made tortillas as I rather enjoy refried beans in store-bought burritos. Here in Georgia, tortillas are expensive but flour is cheap and they only use flour, water, a very little oil and baking powder. It's well within my budget to buy flour. And every dollar I save buying food is a dollar I can put towards my faith.

If you do choose this road, go to CNN and read this article. No diet you choose these days is going to be "wash and wear". The mainstream high-fat diet isn't good for you, but being a vegetarian won't be either if you don't pay attention to what you eat and work to make it balanced and healthy.