I have had so many discussions about being a vegetarian. If I am looking for an argument, I can always get one with this topic. There are things that I always hear.
1) I don't eat much meat
2) God put animals on this planet to be eaten (Dominion)
3) Plants have feelings too, and you kill those
4) How do you get enough protein?
5) What do you eat?
I am not going to address those. OK, I will provide a protein chart. I am getting plenty of protein, thanks for your concern. I am going to tell you my perspective and send you to a lot of links with compelling reasons. I am not your food police. I am not going to judge you, ok, maybe a little. I am going to post this because this topic is really important to me.
I became a vegetarian when I was 18 years old. My initial reason was not noble. I was attending Boston University and the food in the dorm was terrible. One time, someone at my table found a feather still in her chicken! There was an all vegetarian option at one the dorms. I started eating there because the food was so much better. I started talking to people who had much better reasons than I did to go vegetarian. I did a lot of research. I realized that my life would be forever changed.
Later, I remembered when I found out what meat was. I was seven, a very mature seven. I remember asking why we would eat animals and my parents said "Honey that's just what people do. It's the food chain." I also remember crying when I thought about what was on my plate. I loved animals then and I love them now. If I were to use one word to describe how I want to be, it would be compassionate. If that is what I wish to be, then that is how I must live. Every day. If I ever lose my compassion, then I have truly lost myself.
Many vegetarians did not like meat in the first place. I did. I do. It has been a long time and it still tempts me. I will go to a festival and the smell of the meat is incredible. It is also inconvenient. Every time I travel I wonder if I will find something decent to eat. I am saying this because I do understand that this is a really tough choice. It's even tougher for vegans, and frankly I could not stick with that. My line is to avoid eating anything that once breathed. Everyone has a different line.
There are numerous reasons to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle. It really comes down to three main reasons. Health, environment, and/or compassion for animals. I will touch on each of these. I am mostly in it for the respect and love of life.
I can't really preach about health. I was probably one of the few obese vegetarians. That being said, going vegetarian can reduce your risk of cancer by 40%. It can also help with heart disease and Type 2 Diabetes. There are many articles about this and some that say a vegetarian diet is not healthy. Research, you decide. You can avoid the carcinogens and antibiotics in meat when you eat a more vegetable based diet.
Care about the environment? Care about world hunger? Consider a more vegetable based diet. The UN Panel on climate change urges people to reduce meat intake to impact climate change. Livestock farming creates more greenhouse gases than all transportation. There is also tremendous water waste associated with meat production. Consider all that water (2500 gallons per pound of beef) to raise your meat while 780 million people cannot get access to clean water. Consider that you can feed 16 to 20 vegetarians with the same resources that it takes to feed one meat eater. Peace and activism begins on your plate. Think before you eat.
My reason most of all is because I believe that animals feel pain and have a consciousness. I do not want to cause another living being pain. I would if I had to survive, but I will try my best not to. We don't know if they have souls, or really if we do. I think we all do. I think we are all connected. I can't create those animal lives so how could I justify taking them? If we end up growing meat without killing, that may change things for me.
Vegetarians are in good company. Einstein, Socrates, Edison (and Tesla), Ralph Waldo Emerson, and DaVinci were all vegetarians.
Maybe I can convince you to have a meatless meal once a week? If you can do that for me, that would be greatly appreciated. If everyone in the U.S. did that for a year it would save 100 billion gallons of water, yes billion. It would also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide. Most important to me, it would reduce the number of slaughtered animals by 1.4 billion. Oh, this is a good time to link you to some vegetarian recipes.
Thank you for reading.
Recipes
30 Reasons to go Vegetarian
Consciousness
Water
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