Why I am Vegan...
I have been a vegetarian for a decade now and a vegan for almost two years.While some people assume I am a huge animal rights person, I do get the occasional inquiry into why I am a vegan. While I enjoy the additional benefits of not eating animals like health and ethics it often surprises people when I explain I am vegan for environmental/economical reasons. "What does eating meat have to do with the environment?" someone might say, to which I would respond "It is pretty simple".... and it is, though it takes a bit of time to explain.
http://www.enviroveggie.com/ puts it this way
Land + Water = Crops
Land + Water + Crops = Livestock
There is not an unlimited amount of land- Fact.
There is not an unlimited amount of water-Fact.
There is not an unlimited amount of crops- Fact.
There is not an unlimited amount of livestock- Fact
By eating meat, humans are using limited resources to create crops. Then additional limited resources plus those crops are used to create livestock. Wouldn’t it make sense to just eat the crops?
The answer is yes.
In the U.S alone, more than 260 million acres of forest has been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farmed animals; farmed animals are fed more than 70 percent of the corn, wheat, and other grains grown in the U.S.; and almost half of the water and 80 percent of the agricultural land in the U.S. are used to raise animals for food.
All of this goes on while the World Health Organization calls malnutrition "the silent emergency", and says it is a factor in at least half of the 10.4 million child deaths which occur every year. Cornell scientists have advised that the U.S. could feed 800 million people with grain that livestock eat.
We are not only overusing our own land, but large beef companies are expanding into other countries, ravishing anything that gets in the way.
The Society for the Social Advancement of Education published an article in 2004 that stated "In Central America, 40% of all the rain forests have been cleared or burned down in the last 40 years, mostly for cattle pasture. In the process, natural ecosystems, where a variety of plant and animal species thrive, are destroyed and replaced with monoculture grass."
With a vegetarian or vegan diet we can greatly reduce world poverty and also stop destroying land that is so important to our economy.
This is just a very quick summary of the basic reasons I believe being vegan contributes to creating a better world to live in. If you think about it further, a lot of aspects in the meat industry can harm our environment...
What about animal waste?
Its disgusting to think about, but you should the next time you are drinking a tall glass of water. Where does waste run off to? Into our fresh water supply. Waste spills happen all of the time, and fresh water is a resource that takes 10,000 years to rejuvenate.
What about methane?
Yes, cows give off methane. It may seem humorous talking about cows flatulence, however, when a company decides to cut down a rain forest to put in a grazing area for thousands of cows, natural bodily functions become a problem.
Here are the facts according to http://fatknowledge.blogspot.com/
Average car drives 15,000 miles a year and gets 30 mpg (my estimates, might be a little high on the mpg estimate)15,000 miles /30mpg = 500 gallons of gasoline a year * 20 pounds = 10,000 lbs of CO2 a year
Methane is over 20 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (source)90 kg * 2.2 lb/kg = 200 lbs of methane * 20 = 4,000 lbs of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gases
It's a scary thought but everyone going out there buying a hybrid would do a lot more good just giving up meat.
Then we come to disease.
Mad cow, avian flu, beef recalls... it all relates to bad business practices and the over consumption of meat. Even the recent recall of vegetables relates to improper drainage of meat factories and cattle farms in which the water systems became contaminated.
So I say it is pretty simple...
All this ,and more, is enough for me to ask "is that burger worth it?"
for me;
no it is not.
