Why you should consider going vegetarian/vegan

One obvious reason for becoming a vegetarian is for the animals. You hear about animal cruelty all of the time and even with things being more strictly regulated, it will not stop factories from slipping through the cracks. It is so easy to find videos of abuse and animals being mistreated. Is it not sad that these animals were bred for death? Cruelty is still being exposed, it is just up to us to turn our cheeks the other way or actually acknowledge that it is still going on. Now, as for other reasons than the obvious, let’s talk about our planet.

Becoming vegetarian is one of the most important and effective actions you can take to ease the strain on our Earth’s limited resources, protect the planet from pollution, prevent global warming, and save countless species from extinction. Consider how much a waste of resources it is. Feeding large amounts of grain to farmed animals in order to produce a small amount of meat is an inefficient waste of limited resources. 70 % of the grains in the United States are fed to livestock. 70 freaking percent. Think about how much that is! We have people who are starving, and 70% of our grains go to livestock. It takes nearly 7 pounds of corn and soy to produce just one pound of pork. It takes 14 gallons of water to produce wheat, but 441 gallons to produce a pound of meat.
A groundbreaking 2006 United Nations report found that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. According to another 2006 study done by researchers at the University of Chicago, most Americans can reduce more greenhouse gas emissions by becoming a vegan than they can by switching to a hybrid electric car.

So why does meat cause so much global warming? There are a number of factors. Here are a few:

Manure. The tens of billions of farmed animals of the world produce massive amounts of manure, which emit green house gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide.

Cow Burps. Ruminant animals such as cows and sheep also emit huge quantities of methane via burping and flatulence. Methane has 23 times the global warming potential of CO2, and the livestock industry alone is responsible for 37 percent of human-induced methane emissions.

Deforestation. Forests are being destroyed to make room for cattle to graze or to grow crops to feed livestock. When the trees are cut down or burned, the CO2 they store escapes back into the air.

Synthetic Fertilizer. Growing feed for farmed animals requires intense use of synthetic fertilizers manufactured with fossil fuels. This process emits a tremendous amount of CO2, and the fertilizer releases nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas that is 296 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Burning Fossil Fuels. The burning of fossil fuels releases CO2, one of the primary gases responsible for global warming. In addition to fertilizer manufacturing, the meat industry uses fossil fuels to heat the buildings that house the animals, to produce of all the crops to feed to the animals, and to transport, process, and refrigerate all of the meat. Cornell ecologist David Pimentel estimates that animal protein demands about eight times as much fossil fuel than for a comparable amount of plant protein.

Another huge factor for switching is the pollution that is caused by the factories and poultry farms. Factory farms produce run-off that pollutes our streams and rivers, endangering not only the water supply for humans but also harming delicate eco-systems. If you care so much about your planet, why don’t you do something about it? You don’t even have to stop eating meat completely. New fads such as Meatless Monday really do help this epidemic. According to Ed Ayres, "Pass up one hamburger, and you’ll save as much water as you save by taking 40 showers with a low-flow nozzle." If that isn’t enough for you, how about the healthiness of it?

“Vegetarian diets offer a number of nutritional benefits, including lower levels of saturated fat, cholesterol, and animal protein, as well as higher levels of carbohydrates, fiber, magnesium, potassium, folate, and antioxidants such as vitamins C and E and phytochemicals. Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.” --American Dietetic Association, June 2003 position paper

People claim a reason to not be a vegetarian is because of the lack of protein received. Many vegan foods are packed full of muscle-building protein, while being low in saturated fat and free of cholesterol. Tempeh, setain, and lentils are a prime example of this.