Although, for many people the smell of a well barbecued steak could make their mouth water, but have you ever thought about how much negative impact takes place just so that this piece of meat could come to you?
I take the position that vegetarian food, although for many people it may not be as tasty as non-vegetarian food, has huge positives like better health and a lesser negative impact on the environment, that can outweigh the benefits of having a Non vegetarian diet. In our day to day diet, I feel that for the benefits of innumerable we should have a completely vegetarian meal at least once a week, thus reducing your amount of meat consumption.
Vegetarian food has further benefits than Non vegetarian food. One of the reasons is that Vegetarian food is significantly far more environmentally friendlier than Non vegetarian food. According to scientific research Animal Agriculture is the one of the three biggest reason for global warming. It is responsible for about 20% of global warming, being a greater contributing problem than deforestation. It has grow to a huge problem although many people don’t notice it. Scientists are so concerned by the effects of rising meat consumption that Dr Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and possibly the world's leading authority on global warming, made a plea last year for people to have at least one meat-free day a week. (Finn, 2009). There are many reasons why IPCC made this plea out to us all. First of all Animals only give us 1/10 of what they eat as meat and use the rest to survive, and in that process they also pollute the air with methane. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, also known as EPA, Comparatively the impact of methane (CH4) on climate change is more than 25 times greater than Carbon dioxide (CO2). That's not only it, to feed the 19 billion livestock we're raising, we have to grow thrice as much plants for them than we had to if we all didn’t eat meat at all. This takes up a lot of land, 33 million square kilometers to be more specific. That is about the size of Africa. And that's not even counting the land used to grow crops exclusively for the animals. That’s a lot of land that once could have been trees or grassland in their original state. After that all the effort to get so much food to the animals emits huge amount of greenhouse gases. Adds poisonous chemicals into our soil, air, and water. Animal agriculture creates a lot of greenhouse gasses and it is greater than all of the gas emissions from planes, trains, and automobiles combined. All of this mostly affects the land and air but what about all the freshwater being used. About 70% of fresh water is used for agriculture. It takes about 15000 litres of freshwater to make one kilogram of beef whilst it takes only 900 litres to make a kilogram of fruits. If you had to pay for all the damage that the meat had done the environment to get to you it would add a whopping $240 to your weekly grocery shopping bill. But, as the earth can sustain this damage, for now, we don’t have to pull out that extra 240 dollars from our pockets. Even if it’s not possible to completely become a vegetarian, it’s still possible to make the problem little better by eating meat less often. Now as you all can see eating meat already does so much damage to the environment but what about how badly it affects the animals. A quote from Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection at the Humane Society of the United States. “From locking animals in tiny cages, to slicing parts of their bodies off without any pain relief, to genetically selecting them to grow so obese and so fast that many become lame, it’s by far the biggest cause of animal suffering in the world.”(Melone, 2014). Now this is just the question about your humanity. How would you feel if you were just raised for the sole purpose for being food for someone else with no greater purpose in life? That is some food for thought.
Another reason eating less meat is an amazing idea is that, consuming meat not only harms the environment but it also harms you. A study from Harvard School of Public Health found an association with red meat consumption and increased risk of a shortened lifespan. “We know processed red meat like hot dogs and salami are the worst,” says Larry Santora, MD, medical director of the Dick Butkus Center for Cardiovascular Wellness, Saint Joseph Hospital, Orange, California. (Melone, 2014). Red meat is not what you think it is. To treat the meat, countless chemicals are added to it and this sometimes can be harmful to the consumer. According to a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, meat being rich in cholesterol can clog the consumers arteries. This increases the chance to obtain a heart disease or cancer by 44%, and that is no small number. Even with the amazing taste a meat has, after knowing it’s dirty little secret it can make it hard to swallow.
It's been said that meat provides nutrients like Vitamin B12 and Omega-3 that is not present in any plant based food. The vegetarian diet often has many perks that are related to personal health.(Melone, 2014). Research shows that vegetarians tend to be leaner than their meat-eating counterparts, and that they also tend to have lower cholesterol and body mass index (BMI). Data also suggests that a vegetarian diet can help with weight loss and be better for maintaining a healthy weight over time. This can be a crucial aspect in the long run. It has also been shown that having a vegetarian diet increases your life span by an average of 10 - 13 years. A vegetarian diet is rarely a negative for anyone and it is always a win for everyone although not many notice it. Virginia Messina, M.P.H., R.D., who has written extensively about vegetarian diets quotes that “Vegetarians have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and tend to be a little bit thinner, so vegetarians are automatically going to be at lower risk of certain chronic diseases,”. According to so many studies it has been shown that there are multifarious benefits vegetarianism can have on your personal health. Lot’s of people think that eating a vegetarian meal provides less protein and iron. But there are countless studies lauding the benefits of a vegetarian diet. As for protein, the great myth is that you won't get enough of it unless you eat meat. But according to the World Health Organisation, the average Non veg eats twice the amount of protein they need in a year, so the odd vegetarian meal at work shouldn't weaken you too much.
There are innumerable benefits from eating less meat, Including valuing animal rights, saving the environment and personal health. But coming down to to the core with biology, humans in the first place were never meant to eat meat, and ever since then we still haven’t adapted to eating meat like numerous carnivorous and omnivores. Many characteristics that meat eaters have such as Lions and Bears are not present in us. We haven’t developed many of the required characteristics that we need. Like strong acids in stomach to break down meat thoroughly so that we don’t get food poisoning from the billions of bacteria present on meat. We also don’t have sharp claws and canines to help tear the meat resulting in more work for the digestive tract. And now if you are thinking - nobody likes being a vegetarian, nobody wants to be a vegetarian, and being a vegetarian is so lame and stupid. I have a perfect answer for that. Did you ever know that the famous Steve Jobs was once a vegetarian and some people said that his vegetarian diet help battle cancer and live longer than others would. What about the genius Albert Einstien he too was a vegetarian and how can I forget our famous popular female singers, Beyonce Knowles and Ariana Grande. You see a vegetarian is not that uncommon as many people think. I know many people prefer the greater taste and varieties of the non veg options in almost every Restaurant . And also many people think it is the quickest and the easiest way to get food. Have any of you seen frequency of occurring Fast food restaurants like McDonalds, KFC, BurgerKing is ? Although there are these benefits from eating meat But is it really worth what little we are gaining from compared to how much we are losing?
I'm not saying that you have to immediately change into a vegetarian and have a super strict vegetarian diet, although that would be amazing and great for you. No, No, I'm saying that with the best of you efforts you should try reduce the amount of meat you eat bit by bit. Baby steps that's how we all learnt how to start walking. Maybe say no to that Hawaiian Pizza and go for a vegetarian Pasta. And it you want a have a goal set for yourself try with having at least one completely vegetarian meal once a week. And something to help you motivate yourself, remember all those cute little piglets and calfs your saving lives of.
bibliography
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZDsSnpYZrw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANUoAdXfA60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANUoAdXfA60
