Michael Pollan Quotes

In many places where coffee is grown, deforestation is a major issue. With Starbucks' position in the marketplace and the respect and relationships we have, we can - and have, in some cases - been able to educate and influence people.

It's not a question of McDonald's vanishing from the face of the earth. It's a question of these companies assuming some more responsibility for what they're selling.

Our food is safer and our diets are more diverse than ever before; production methods are becoming increasingly sustainable, clean and efficient; and we are constantly becoming better at protecting biodiversity.

As I got older and more educated about things like chemicals in food and how beef is processed, I simply stopped eating certain things because it felt like the right thing to do.

The meat and poultry industries are outstanding industries, and it's going to be a very natural fit for me.

Viewed from a holistic ecological perspective, some meat - such as conscientiously hunted animals - involves less suffering and environmental damage than arable agriculture, while both of these are significantly less harmful than indiscriminately purchasing meat on the market.

'Fast Food Nation' was boring and aimed at yuppies, and yuppies don't eat fast food.

McDonald's says it's phasing out pig gestation crates. When I heard that news, I almost started crying.

I don't want food that comes from animals that are caged up and fed antibiotics. I am really suspicious of that kind of production of meat and poultry.

I've learned so much about what you can do to help animals, the environmental issues around meat production.

Meat consumption is a part of our evolutionary heritage; meat production has been a major component of modern food systems. Carnivory should remain, within limits, an important component of a civilization that finally must learn how to maintain the integrity of its only biosphere.

Meat is undoubtedly an environmentally expensive food. Large animals have inherently low efficiency of converting feed to muscle, and only modern broilers can be produced with less than two units of feed per unit of meat.

Genetic modification is a very powerful tool. But like any powerful tool, when using it, you have to take into account the environmental impact, the food safety aspects and so on. There must be a strong regulatory mechanism.

Large-scale hog producers are a greater threat to the United States and U.S. democracy than Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network.

By cutting the red tape that comes out of Brussels, we will free our farmers to grow more, sell more, and export more great British food whilst upholding our high standards for plant and animal health and welfare.

When I started researching the eco effects of eating meat, I'd assumed, for no good reason, that environmental irresponsibility would correspond to both animal size and deliciousness: Eating cows would be worst, eating pigs would be a bit less bad, and eating chickens would be basically harmless.

I think that once I started connecting dots of where my food was coming from and the reality of that, as opposed to maybe what you think it is as a little kid, and the realities of how my food was getting to my plate and what the real effects of that are. When I started connecting those dots, I couldn't disconnect them.

We all buy our meat wrapped in plastic because we don't like to think about the animal that died.

Veganism is a point of contention all year round. So much so that many vegans cut themselves off from the rest of society, huddling together for warmth and smugness, and using online forums to vent their disgust at the morally corrupt dairy- and meat-eating savages who make up most of the populace.

I realised what goes on in the egg industry and the dairy industry, so then I was like, 'That's it! Going vegan!' and I just kind of went cold turkey, basically.

We need to ban all air-freighted food. Carrots from Holland. Potatoes from Egypt. It's got to stop.

Young people contact me all the time to articulate issues with the industrial food system, but they are frustrated by their perceived inability to do anything about it.

I think that if everyone knew how meat and dairy was being produced, they wouldn't eat it.

Meat is undoubtedly an environmentally expensive food.

Years of cultural programming have taught us to love some animals while eating others, when in all reality, all animals are sentient beings with the capacity to feel, both physically and emotionally. Every day, I have the choice to live a life of compassion that not only saves animals but helps the environment.