(A late) Happy Earth Day
I forgot to post anything for Earth Day, lots of people across the blogosphere have contributed great stuff.
My contribution will be a suggestion (plea?) for you to go vegetarian! It’s really tasty, environmentally-friendly and generally just a good thing to do.
See also:
Meat and the Environment
GoVeg.com
Environmental Effects of Meat Production
TreeHugger
I feel like a bit of a hypocrite, talking about Earth Day while planning a big international flight. My consistent reducing, reusing and recycling kind of falls away then. 
EDIT: My dear commenters mentioned reducing meat consumption and buying locally-grown food, both of which are excellent things to do. I made up a little scale/list:
Less Meat = Good
Vegetarian = Great
Local Vegetarian = Better
Local Organic Vegetarian = Best
Your own organic, sustainable vegan garden = Glorious!
Doing your best is always best. 
Leena:
Thanks for visiting my blog! And you’re right about the Shahadah. Believing makes it already so.
About your Earth Day post….I’ve been a vegetarian since age 14, so I am completely with you on this! My three kids have been veggie since birth…VERY healthy! Maybe 2-3 uses of antibiotics in their whole lives!!!!!!!!!!!! Definitely the way to go!
Looking forward to reading more!
Thank you so much for your comment, Lindsay. I’m glad to hear that you raised your kids vegetarian as well!
It’s always nice to meet other vegetarians. :-)
Leena,
I don’t think going totally vegetarian is actually necessary. All one has to do is to reduce your non-veg diet.
Manas, “necessary” for what? Reducing is good, eliminating is better.
Leenaji! I feel so good since I started to change my diet. The effort is going really well. You keep me encouraged, believe it or not.
Vegetarianism ftmfw!
About your flight Leena, just try to choose a flight with the least number of connections as possible. That is really all you can do.
I’m a full supporter of vegetarianism (started a year challenge for myself back in June 2007), but one thing everyone needs to remember: pay attention to where your veggies come from. If your not eating produce from your local area then you are supporting large shipments that are trucked across the United States. This means, increased CO2 emissions and all that nasty stuff. Obviously, some things can’t always be grown in your area (take tofu for example) but any reduction you can make in non-local produce can make a difference.
Go Veg! Go Local!
Gulnari-ji, I’m happy that you feel good about changing your diet! Feeling positive and having less guilt about the things we eat affects our lives in so many ways, I believe. Cheeriness radiates! I hope your effort continues to go well and you stay encouraged and healthy and beautiful!
Amanda, unfortunately for me, I am traveling with the least amount of connections.
Something like a 16-hour flight this time. I’m not sure if the longer flight is much better for the environment. It’s still tons and tons of CO2… I suppose I should have married a local. 
And speaking of local, you bring up an excellent point about eating locally-grown food. Thankfully, my state (Pennsylvania) does a good job of promoting its agriculture and my town has a farmer’s market. I wish every level of government would do more to promote and encourage local ag. and ensure everyone has access to safe, healthy food… *sigh*
So, on a scale:
Less Meat = Good
Vegetarian = Great
Local Vegetarian = Better
Local Organic Vegetarian = Best
Your own organic, sustainable vegan garden = Glorious!
I think one flight occasionally is sustainable (especially for the in-laws). Anyway, if everyone married a local there would be inbreeding issues (besides, I have an imported significant other as well).
Vegetarianism or at least severe reduction of the amount of meat eaten will do more for the earth than buying a Prius, I’ll say that much.
That’s awesome you’re going back to Pakistan, give us plenty of pics of course!
Salam!
I hope your trip is going well
And I hope it’s not too hot! I went in May once and it was pretty crazy. (This) March was much better!
To be honest, I’m still kinda wondering if locally grown veggies are always the best (or an existing) option, though. If you live in the North like I do, it takes loads of energy to grow pretty much anything except potatoes and carrots. If you want an occasional tomato, I’m not sure which is worse, going for exported or one grown in a greenhouse here, with loads of artificial light and heating… And staying on an only-potato diet might not be that healthy in the long run
Then again, if I buy local, at least I know the workers are being paid well, unlike the illegal immigrants in Spain that I understand pick up most of the tomatoes there…
By the way, how do you manage to stay veggie in Pk? (Do you?) I tried this time (just like last time), but after a few days of “Oh, but what can we cook you? What will you eat? Oh no you cannot repeat the dish from four days ago!” I caved in and said I could eat a little chicken now and then. (Luckily, this time it actually was now and then; last time I traveled after I’d told them I could eat a little chicken, it was nothing but chicken for the rest of the trip…)
Travel safe and upload loads of pics! (I’m still to upload pics of my trip - and wedding!
- but I hope to get around to doing that as soon as the semester is over inshallah…)
[…] Saara recently asked how I manage to stay vegetarian while in Pakistan. I find it’s quite easy! Thankfully, my husband’s family is very understanding and always makes sure there is some vegetarian dish available for us. I don’t budge on it and they don’t push. Maybe they are unusually accommodating for a Pakistani family (I have no other experience to draw from)? They just know I am vegetarian and there is no problem. Thank God for that… (It seems there is usually chanay or daal around, I hope all you veggie ladies married to Pakistanis don’t have too hard of a time :/) […]