Luxury, vegetarian style

I've always known that living in America is a luxury. (Okay, I've known it for a few decades; when you're a kid, you don't think about this stuff.) Residing here doesn't guarantee an idyllic life, but it does seem to ensure certain things:

* that there will always be thousands of different food choices in the grocery;

* that we can reach anyone, even the president, by cell phone, email, fax, landline or, oh yeah, letter;

* that there's a library in almost every town with books, movies, newspapers, magazines and Internet access for the asking--free knowledge;

* that if we need a new chopping board, T-shirt or car, the only problem will be deciding which one and how much we can spend;

* and that, of course, there'll be a new charge card offer in the mail tomorrow. There's probably not a country anywhere in the world where the choices are so endless or the abundance of options so taken for granted.

And one of these choices is to be a vegetarian. We tend to forget what a luxury it is to be able to say, "No, sorry, I won't cat that"--to turn down food for health, ethical and ecological reasons when, for countless people around the world, food itself is a luxury, and turning it down is unthinkable.

I don't mean that we should feel guilty about making good, thoughtful choices. Hardly. Only that we should feel grateful every day for the luxury of being able to do so.

That core sense of gratitude is one reason I think so many of the people who create vegetarian products--organic carrots or cookies--routinely give away a percentage of their profits. Or use only crops from sustainable farming, or buy only free-trade chocolate, or use only recycled packaging. Or all of the above. We've started to highlight some of these "good guy" companies in our "Goods" section every month. While their individual efforts are small steps, they add up. Eventually, that's what always changes the world.

For instance, since expanding and enlarging VT a few months ago, we've been struggling to get enough recycled printing paper. The good news/bad news is that there's a major shortage of the stuff. So many businesses today want recycled paper that demand far outpaces supply. Yet, a few years ago, only a few companies insisted on it, and many paper mills simply couldn't be bothered. Now it's a premium product that brings premium prices. Similarly, companies that recycle rubber tires--for decades, a huge environmental blight predict that in a few years, there will be a shortage of recycled rubber. Like the Prius, there will be waiting lines for it. Shortages of recycled, environmentally correct products? Now that's our definition of luxury.

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