For about a year now, I've been a vegetarian. Originally, I became a vegetarian for animals, which is still the main reason I continue to be one, but as the months passed I learned more about the negative effect meat production has on the environment. I now continue my lifestyle as a vegetarian not only for animals, but for the environment as well.
From Time To Change, I learned that beef production produces more greenhouse gasses than all of the world's transportation combined. That means all the cars, trains, buses, planes, etc. that are always seen as the culprit for making our air bad are actually not as harmful to the environment as we think it is. I don’t know about you, but my jaw dropped.
Ever since elementary school, I’ve been told to drive less, walk, bike, and carpool more. I was never told to stop eating meat though. Even when my eating habits were causing more harm to the environment than driving to school was. We have a national holiday to support environmental protection, Earth Day, but I don’t think people realize that eating less meat is a big way to help protect the Earth. It’s mind blowing to me that there isn’t more awareness .
Being able to produce enough meat to satisfy the growing demand of people has also led to an overuse of resources. Forests are being cut down to make room for animals to be raised and crops to be grown to feed them. According to PETA, more than 80 percent of the agricultural land in the U.S. is used for these purposes. The whole process of raising and feeding livestock is incredibly inefficient, especially for a diet that’s not even that healthy.
There have been arguments that eating vegetarian or vegan is more expensive, but that’s simply not true. Eating a meal with fruits, vegetables, rice, or beans is far cheaper than meat. I don’t know if you go to the grocery store regularly but I do and buying veggies and a can of beans is cheaper than a pound of beef.
While on the subject of buying food, there are so many sustainable alternatives to meat. I’ve seen practically every meat you can imagine with a vegetarian option like veggie burgers, soy chicken nuggets, and meatless meatballs. Companies have been able to create a huge variety of products to satisfy anyone’s palette. These options allow you to eat similar products to meat while helping animals, the environment, and your health all at once. So my question is, knowing all this, will you go meatless at least one day out of your week?
From Time To Change, I learned that beef production produces more greenhouse gasses than all of the world's transportation combined. That means all the cars, trains, buses, planes, etc. that are always seen as the culprit for making our air bad are actually not as harmful to the environment as we think it is. I don’t know about you, but my jaw dropped.
Ever since elementary school, I’ve been told to drive less, walk, bike, and carpool more. I was never told to stop eating meat though. Even when my eating habits were causing more harm to the environment than driving to school was. We have a national holiday to support environmental protection, Earth Day, but I don’t think people realize that eating less meat is a big way to help protect the Earth. It’s mind blowing to me that there isn’t more awareness .
Being able to produce enough meat to satisfy the growing demand of people has also led to an overuse of resources. Forests are being cut down to make room for animals to be raised and crops to be grown to feed them. According to PETA, more than 80 percent of the agricultural land in the U.S. is used for these purposes. The whole process of raising and feeding livestock is incredibly inefficient, especially for a diet that’s not even that healthy.
There have been arguments that eating vegetarian or vegan is more expensive, but that’s simply not true. Eating a meal with fruits, vegetables, rice, or beans is far cheaper than meat. I don’t know if you go to the grocery store regularly but I do and buying veggies and a can of beans is cheaper than a pound of beef.
While on the subject of buying food, there are so many sustainable alternatives to meat. I’ve seen practically every meat you can imagine with a vegetarian option like veggie burgers, soy chicken nuggets, and meatless meatballs. Companies have been able to create a huge variety of products to satisfy anyone’s palette. These options allow you to eat similar products to meat while helping animals, the environment, and your health all at once. So my question is, knowing all this, will you go meatless at least one day out of your week?