Top 10 Tuesday: Environmental Reasons to Go Vegan!
As Albert Einstein once wrote, “Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” To honor Einstein’s progressive stance, here are 10 reasons why going vegan is not only good for your health and animals but also for the Earth:
- Polluting the Waterways
Waste, antibiotics, and pesticides from factory farms and slaughterhouses contaminate water sources. A typical pig factory farm generates a quantity of raw waste equal to that of a city of 50,000 people—but without the sewage system. - Climate Change
Researchers at the University of Chicago concluded that switching from a meat-based diet to a vegan diet does more to fight climate change than would switching from a standard car to a hybrid. - Inefficient Land Usage
Turning grain into flesh is extremely wasteful. From the amount of land needed to feed one person on a meat based diet, enough food could be produced for 20 vegetarians. - Potable Water Supply
As the consumption of animal products rises, even desert nations in Africa and the Middle East are pouring what little water they have into meat production. It takes 20,000 liters of water to produce a kilo of beef but only 200 liters to produce a kilo of wheat . - Wasted Energy
It takes more than 10 times as much fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of animal protein as it takes to produce the same amount of plant protein . - Food Inequity
Animals who are raised for food consume millions of metric tons of corn, soybeans, and other food annually. That’s food that could be eaten by humans—and it’s enough to end world hunger. - Ocean Threats
Commercial fishing nets often scoop up everything in their path, destroying coral reefs, which are home to billions of aquatic animals. - Hidden Costs
The price of meat would double or triple if the full costs—including fossil fuel use, groundwater depletion and agriculture chemical pollution—were included in the price tag. - Rainforest Degradation
Rainforests, which are vital to Earth’s oxygen supply, are being destroyed at an alarming rate, and the top cause is the raising of animals for food. - Our Fellow Inhabitants
You can’t be concerned about the environment without caring about animals. They’re made of flesh and blood, they have complex social and psychological lives, and they feel pain just as acutely as humans do. Every year, billions of animals are killed for their flesh in ways that would horrify any compassionate person.
Change will only come when people of integrity and courage choose to speak and act forcefully against animal agriculture by embracing a vegan lifestyle. Help yourself, animals, and the planet by taking the Pledge to Be Veg today!
Posted by Jason Baker
