Why I chose to be Vegetarian

I choose to be a vegetarian not only because I care about animal rights, as important as that is, but there is so much more I understand that comes with this choice.

On factory farms livestock are crammed into small cages, undersized and not cleaned. Chickens have their beaks cut off, their feet mutilated to avoid injury towards the farmers. They live their entire lives on poor quality, sharp cage floors, with an artificial sun to simulate sunrise and sunset. Until the day comes when they are loaded up to go to the slaughterhouse, they will never feel or see the sun.

Hormone injections are given to hinder the animals ability to know when its full so it will continue to eat to get enormous faster then they would naturally, adding to the price tag, and they are genetically altered to grow faster or to produce much more milk or eggs than they would naturally.

These conditions often lead to disease.

I care about my body; the hormones and antibiotics injected into the animals don’t just affect the animal, it also plays a part in damaging those who decide to eat the animal after they‘ve been slaughtered. This plays a huge role in our health. Choosing not to eat an animals carcass also gives me a better chance against heart disease, along with other health issues.

I care about the environment and understand the harsh effects farming has on our planet. I’ve learned that looking at a year, the methane gases produced by a single cow has more of an effect on the atmosphere than driving to work everyday. I want to say I am a part of the effort to reverse or slow down the damage.

And if these aren’t reason enough to stop, simply knowing that I CAN make a difference is. For every one person that chooses to give up eating meat, 100 animals won’t be served on a table a year (got that number from PETA). That number adds up. Why not make a statement about your values at every chance given to you; every meal you eat has the power to do this.

Here is another tid-bit of info I received from my well informed buddies over there at PETA (open to bias of course):
“There is more than enough food in the world to feed the entire human population. So why are more than 840 million people still going hungry? Our meat-based diet is partly to blame, as land, water, and other resources that could be used to grow food for human beings are being used to grow crops for farmed animals instead. According to a recent report by Compassion in World Framing, "[c]rops that could be used to feed the hungry are instead being used to fatten animals raised for food." It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just 1 pound of edible animal flesh.”

One person can make a difference and I refuse to ignore that. I respect that a lot of people don’t have the same beliefs as I do about this topic. I won’t pressure them into feeling guilty or constantly press at them to change (those intolerable door-to-door bible enthusiasts come to mind). I do however hope that they have the same courtesy towards me.