As bars often are in old-fashioned and socially conscious dramas like “Sweat,” this one is a microcosm for a larger world. That includes not only Reading, Pa., the steel town where the play is set, but also a beleaguered part of the United States in which jobs are under siege and identity is fraying.

Fact: It's actually pretty easy for vegetarians to meet their needs for protein, even if they choose not to eat eggs and dairy products. Thanks to plant-based proteins like tofu, beans, lentils and what's found in whole-grains breads and cereals, getting enough protein can be deliciously simple.

Vegetarianism does not automatically constitute a more ecologically friendly alternative to eating meat. Agriculture damages the environment when vast tracts of habitat are cleared and replaced by a monoculture of a single or very few species.

Individuals with lower levels of protein, sodium, iron, manganese and phosphorus in their blood should be especially wary of switching to a vegetarian diet

many vegetarians suffer from nutritional deficiencies. Though a vegetarian diet can, in theory, be a healthy alternative to a standard diet, most that choose vegetarianism fail to obtain the necessary vitamins and minerals and may suffer from a variety of physical ailments.

vegetarians — generally eat fewer calories and less fat, weigh less, and have a lower risk of heart disease than nonvegetarians do.

“Imbalanced diets, such as diets low in fruits and vegetables and high in red and processed meat, are responsible for the greatest health burden globally and in most regions,” he said. “At the same time, the food system is responsible [currently] for more than a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore a major driver of climate change.”

In three decades, emissions related to agriculture and food production are likely to account for about half of the world’s available “carbon budget” - the limited amount of carbon dioxide and its equivalents that can be poured into the atmosphere if we are to hold global warming to no more than 2C.

In the Home Office

If American households were more judicious about laundry, each year they would save enough water to fill more than 7 million swimming pools. When you do wash, put full loads (saving 3,400 gallons of water a year) in cold water.

It will automatically adjust the heat or the air-conditioning to match your daily patterns.

Today, a whopping 30% of Earth’s landmass goes to meat, dairy, and egg production,

Replacing 75% of beef and lamb with chicken and pork could reduce emissions to five gigatons a year. Better yet, if we replaced the ruminant meat with grains and cereals, emissions could be reduced to three gigatons.

In the last few years, Americans have started driving a lot less