Vegetarianism
Posted January 2, 2007
I've been feeling very veggie today so decided to write this. I promise I will not lecture you but I will not hesitate to cause feelings of guilt to anyone who reads this. You have been warned :)
ps i got this info from amny sources, but a lot is from myspace.com/vegexpress. u can look there fi u are thinking of going veggie, also look at PETA websites
ANother thing: a lot of this is in random order the way i find it cuz unfortunately i have homework to do
Ethical Reasons For Being Vegetarian:
Um....so you don't make innocent sheep, cows, pigs, and chickens be slaughtered. Even before these animals are killed, they live horrible lives in cramped cages and are fattened up so that they will produce more meat, like hansel and grettle (sp?). Would you kill a cow or a pig or a sheep or a chicken? If you wouldn't kill it yourself, you shouldn't be having someone else do it for you. Chickens are raised in crowded, unnatural enviroments. There are usually 3,000 or more in one pen.
Health Reasons (some directly from vegexpress myspace):
Contrary to what some believe, you CAN get all the nutrients you need as a vegetarian. In fact, vegetarians are statistically healthier than non-veggies. Many carcinogens like pesticides are stored in animal fat, which YOU ingest when you eat the animal. In every bite, a typical beef. Pork hotdog contains seven cancer-causing pesticides, and a quarter pound burger contains three cancer-causing substances. The primary source of nuclear radiation contamination in humans is from beef and dairy products (Living Healthy in a Toxin World - David Steinman). Meat eaters are more prone to heart attacks and various kinds of cancer, including ovarian cancer, non-smoking lung cancer, and prostate cancer. vegetarianism is also supposed to help you lose weight (although you prolly shouldn't take my word for it lol) Approximately 30 percent of slaughtered chicken and fish is contaminated with salmonella (EW!) Vegetarians have lower blood pressure even when they eat the same amount of salt as meat eaters and exercise less. Researchers have known since the beginning of the 1900s that feeding meat to vegetarians causes their blood pressure to rise. Women who consume meat on a daily basis has 3.8 times the risk of developing breast cancer than women who eat meat less than once a week.
Famous vegetarians (more at famousveggie.com):
Brad Pitt, David Duchovny, Dustin Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Brooke Shields, Jerry Seinfeld, Michael J. Fox, Richard Gere, Woody Harelson, Drew Barrymore, Alicia Silverstone, Sarah McLachlan, Shania Twain, Seal, Michael Bolton, Lenny Kravitz, Indigo Girls, Billy Idol, BOB DYLAN, Anne Hathaway, Annie Lennox, EINSTEIN, Gandhi, LEONARDO DAVINCI, Ben Franklin, JOEL & BENJI Madden, Carrie Underwood, Darwin, DAVEY HAVOK, Henry David Thoreau, JACK JOHNSON, Jude Law, Josh hartnett, Joaquin Phoenix, Milo Ventimiglia (<3), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sir Isaac Newton, TObey Maguire, WEIRD AL, Plato, THomas Edison, BOB MARLEY.
Environment Reaons (much also from vegexpress):
If the west reduced their meat consumption by just ten percent, it would free up enough grazing land to grow food for up to 40 million people. I'm not saying that I want all farm animals to die, but meat=producing animals are fed so much that some fo them can't even stand up, in order to have a maximum meat output. All the land and grain that is used to OVERFEED these animals could be put to much better use.
Twenty-thousand pounds of potatoes can be grown on one acre of land, but only 165 pounds of beef can be produced in the same space.
A carnivorous diet requires 4200 gallons of water per day; a vegetarian one, 300 gallons per day. Of the 20 million tons of plant protein given to raise cows only 2 million tons of protein are used. That means 18 tons of plant protein are wasted! The 20 million tons of plant protein could have reduced 90% of the world's yearly protein deficit for humans. Plants yield 10 times more protein per acre than meat.
guess i'm done for now...not rly, part two coming up[
