Ecotarian

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Ecotarian is a term used to describe a diet that is socially and environmentally responsible.

[edit] Diet

When ecotarians make a consumption decision, they consider the impact on the land of growing the product, the impact of transporting the product from where it was produced (food miles), and the labor conditions for the people who grow the product. In addition, ecotarians consider the welfare of the animals that have been involved in the production. Ecotarians see their food and other consumer choices as political opportunities. Ecotarianism is related to permaculture and other practices of environmental sustainability.

[edit] Ecotarianism versus vegetarianism

Ecotarians often eat local food that is organic and seasonal. However, ecotarianism, unlike vegetarianism, is not made up of hard and fast rules of consumption. Rather, ecotarians continually evaluate the positive and negative impacts of particular consumption choices. For example, an ecotarian may eat local, organic, grass-fed beef, but not eat meat at a restaurant. Similarly, an ecotarian may decide only to eat organic and fair trade bananas, but eat local conventionally grown apples over organic apples that have been transported a long distance. Ecotarians may also broaden their choices if the food would otherwise go to waste, for example by dumpster diving. Thus, ecotarianism manifests itself differently for different people, as each individual has the opportunity to evaluate which principles are most important to him or her and make choices accordingly. Central to ecotarianism is the assumption that when there are no hard and fast rules, “mistakes” are easy to make. Thus, ecotarians understand that it is vital to eat in a socially responsible manner, not necessarily always succeeding.

Subgroups also include eco-vegetarianism and eco-pescitarianism.