Well, I suppoe I am the only person here who can actually see both sides of the issue. I do find it interesting that my motives are being called into question and that you wonder why I would do anything since you think I feel it won't make a difference. What I am saying is there will always be people who eat meat. Period. No matter if all Americans became vegetarians (which isn't feasible for every person due to medical reasons; I, for one, cannot eat soy so my possibilities for protein substitution are limited) there will still be Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and South America. Meat is an important part of many cultures, and you can go on living the dream that the world will reject meat, but reality and 40,000 years of history prove you wrong.
And, by the way, I make a difference every day of my life--I work for a state environmental protection agency and have worked in public service since before I graduated college. So, thank you very much but I will continue driving my hybrid and eating meat and do as much as I can to continue to conserve and reduce, reuse and recycle.
Also, most Asian countries have very low standards for pollution. For crying out loud hybrids are just now becoming available in India and elsewhere on the continent. Indonesia does absolutely nothing to reduce pollutio and clear cuts rainforest every day for mining minerals.
What meat eaters can do is call their Congressmen and Congresswomen and encourage passage of COOL, which will allow us to know where our meat is coming from. I buy organic, US raised meat and produce. Last time I checked, no one was clearcutting anything for pasture for American beef. It's naturally "clear cut" and if a rancher does his job right the foraging animals will leave little destruction in their paths.
I am done now and I doubt I've influenced any of you. I work my butt off everyday to ensure we live in a clean world, so those of you who are weekend environmentalists go right ahead.