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There's no way around it: Meat production is bad for the environment. Between Fast Food Nation, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and Rolling Stone's expose on pork production, the dangers of raising animals are practically a pop-culture phenomenon. Ozone-destroying methane in cow farts, overflowing toxic-pig-poo lagoons, and the cruelty of debeaked hens in battery cages—it's enough to turn anyone vegan.

Almost.

I'm a CSA-subscribing, organic-produce-buying sustainable-food fanatic, but I also can't fathom giving up meat. Bacon is just too good.

Thankfully, carnivorous consumption doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. Animals can be raised sustainably on rocky or steeply sloping land that's unsuitable for crops. Farmers like Joel Salatin at Polyface Farms have integrated plant and animal raising in ingenious, eco-friendly ways.

But the fact is, to eat meat responsibly, we've all got to eat less of it. WAY less. A Cornell University study found the most efficient use of land lets everyone eat just two ounces of meat and eggs a day. Mark Bittman, in his book Food Matters and this Ted talk, says to shoot for less than a pound, per person, per week. Total.

So how can you eat well, help the earth, and stay under Pittman's limit? Here are a few options. More

Each morning you sip your cup of coffee to start your day. One cup a day, 365 days a year. We've all heard the phrase fair trade, but what exactly would it mean if you made sure all that java was purchased sustainably? Get up to speed with TakePart’s comprehensive issue page, or just check out the numbers on fair trade…

400 million cups of coffee are consumed by Americans every day

284,000 children in the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon are working in hazardous tasks on conventional cocoa farms right now

2 cents is the average amount conventional farmers receive from a $3 latte

$2,000 is the average annual income for fair trade coffee farmers. Non-fair traders make just $500. 

$1-2 is the average cost difference between one pound of fair trade coffee and one pound of regular coffee at Starbucks More

At this point, we've all read about how vulnerable Haiti was before the quake. It was already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Infrastructure barely existed. The drug trade ruled the economy. And while the world's relief effort has been nothing short of extraordinary, it's worth highlighting those who were doing something to help Haiti before January 12. 

People like the Schneiders of Pflugerville, Texas. More

Here's a shocker for your Tuesday. According to Edward L. Glaeser, an econ professor at Harvard, it's Beijing. By a mile. In fact, the carbon emissions in San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco are ten times higher than those in the average Chinese city. That raises two points. One, it underscores how little moral authority the U.S. has at the negotiating table. And two, it makes you wonder how long China can keep it up. More

I think we can all agree that placing a playground in the middle of a chemical laboratory would be a bad idea. Yet, somehow not nearly enough of us are up in arms about the roughly 80,000 harmful chemicals that children (and adults) are exposed to when using everyday products like toys, food packaging and cosmetics. Many of these toxins have slipped through the regulatory system and pose serious chronic health risks including asthma, allergies, autism, cancer, obesity and diabetes. More

In 1996, Slate released its first "Slate 60," an annual list of the biggest givers of the past year. The goal of the project was simple: create a list that ranked America's wealthy not by the size of their pocketbooks, but by how much of it they were willing to sacrifice for the greater good. It's the Fortune 400 for an enlightened age.

Now in its 14th year, the list has become a who's who of American philanthropy with big names and even bigger checks. Here's are some of the notables from the 2009 list: More

Scotland is a land of golf, a land of delicious whisky, and, apparently, a land of a whole lot of renewable energy. Though we’ve already reported that the country has been able to combine two of those three things with a bioenergy facility in the nation’s largest distillery, the country as a whole has stepped up its renewable energy game, to say the least. Scotland had hoped to get 31 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2011, and it looks like that target is not only going to be met, but has, in fact, already been surpassed a year ahead of schedule. More

Maintaining a head start in eco-friendly cars is going to be crucial to Toyota if the company is to emerge from its present crisis, according a specialist in the economics of innovation.

Despite the damage a series of product recalls in recent months has done to the automobile giant’s reputation for quality, Professor Mariana Mazzucato, of the Open University, U.K., and a visiting professor at Bocconi University, Italy, said that the existing edge Toyota has already gained on hybrid vehicles, if used wisely, might be substantial enough to help it retain remain a global player in the car industry. More