People in this day and age have so many beliefs that it can be hard to have a reason for everyone to commit to veganism or vegetarianism. Some people believe it is okay because it is how we survived. It is how our ancestors survived. Some think it is okay to eat some meat but stay away from others because that is what their god says, but why should these sentient creatures have to suffer because of our food preferences? Simply by existing we are responsible for millions of deaths of large to microscopic animals so where do we draw the line? Who gets to pick and choose what animals have more worth than others?
Meat consumption is part of the daily lives of billions of people around the world and thousands of animals are killed every day for food production. Research has shown, however, that meat is not important to our lives and only gives us other food options on the market. The consumption of meat may not immediately harm you or the surrounding environment, but consuming less meat in your diet is shown to be mentally and physically healthier as well as making a better environment for humans and animals, which is why people should eat less meat or no meat at all.
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During most of our evolutionary history, humans were vegetarians. Consuming meat as part of a human diet began with the discovery of fire allowing us to survive when plant foods were scarce in the winter. This consumption has almost doubled over the last 100 years. Before, only the wealthy could afford to feed, raise, and slaughter animals for meat but now meat is cheaper thanks to factory farms, but the human body is meant to function on plant-based foods. These foods should be full of fiber, antioxidants, and cholesterol-free proteins. According to History.com, between 2.6-2.5 million years ago, the Earth grew warmer and the climate was drier. Before this shift early humans ate mostly fruits, leaves, seeds, and flowers but were forced to find a new energy source. They were not known to be hunters yet, but they were thought to have likely scavenged for meat from dead carcasses.
Eating meat more than other foods has led to certain preferences that are heavily meat-oriented but humans' physical anatomy proves that it was never supposed to be that way. We do not have carnivorous teeth or sharp claws. We cannot tear flesh easily. We have a set of flat molars (that carnivores lack) that are used for grinding up fruits and vegetables. While carnivores have short intestinal tracts that allow meat to pass quickly, humans' intestinal tracts are longer like those of plant eaters, giving their bodies more time to break down the fibers in plants and absorb the nutrients.
Meat contains more fat than non-meat foods, according to reports and analyses of the contents of different food products. Cholesterol blocks the arteries and makes circulation very difficult for the bloodstream, which can lead to a heart attack. A diet rich in vegetables and fruits lowers cholesterol levels, which also lowers the risk of a heart attack. Of course, meat is not the only variable that can cause a heart attack, but why not try to lower the chances of getting heart disease by simply getting rid of meat?
There are many other advantages for your health when you don't eat meat, such as losing weight. A large, five-year study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2013 revealed that people who do not eat meat have a lower average BMI than meat-eaters and that vegans have a significantly lower rate of obesity than omnivores.
Not consuming meat also lowers your blood pressure and decreases the risk of diabetes. Vegetarians and vegans have less hypertension than meat-eaters, according to findings published in the journal Public Health Nutrition. Researchers say it is due to their lower weight and higher intake of fruits and vegetables. They also found that people following a vegetarian diet had a decreased risk of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors linked to type 2 diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. Study subjects who avoided meat and poultry products tended to have lower blood pressure, blood sugar, and triglycerides, as well as smaller waists, than those who regularly consumed those foods.
Not only does reducing meat consumption help your physical appearance, but it can make you more happy as well. Adding more fruits and veggies to your diet is a natural mood-booster. Economists and public health researchers from the University of Warwick and Dartmouth College studied the eating habits of 80,000 people in Great Britain and found that mental well-being appeared to increase with the number of daily portions of fruit and vegetables, and hit an overall peak at seven servings. The average American gets less than three servings daily.
Of course, many people assume a vegan diet is unsafe because the body does not get enough nutrients, but it's all about stability. One argument against a vegan diet is that you're likely to become nutrition-deficient. A popular misconception is that vegans are deficient in a vitamin called B12 while meat eaters are not. Sure most vegans are B12 deficient, but so are most meat eaters. When looking at the optimal intake of B12, vegans and meat eaters are equally deficient. This deficiency is not strictly a vegan problem. Almost everybody is low in B12 and it is a major problem in the world today.
Another issue is that meat consumption is responsible for mass environmental destruction. People waste massive amounts of natural resources when farming animals that can be used for other necessities. Nearly half of the water in the United States, for instance, is used to raise farm animals for food. In an article published by Peta, they stated that “it takes 2,400 gallons to produce one pound of meat but only 25 gallons to produce one pound of wheat. To produce a day's worth of food for one meat-eater takes over 4,000 gallons; for a lacto-ovo vegetarian, only 1200 gallons; for a vegan, only 300 gallons.” Not only does it use large amounts of water, but the burning of fossil fuels for farming animals is one of the biggest contributors to global warming. Cattle create methane gas that is about 20 times more destructive than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. The livestock sector is responsible for about 37% of human-caused methane emissions, and about 65% of human nitrous oxide emissions (mainly from manure), globally.
The consequences of their senseless behavior are extremely harmful to the entire planet; trees are destroyed in the production of farms for animal food, land is stripped from wildlife increased deforestation is induced, topsoil is lost, groundwater is wasted, and improper use of pesticides. One chicken farm uses as much water as a small city. Few may know that this industry, compared to others, causes the biggest pollution of all.
Another argument is that people can not enjoy their favorite foods or have a bland diet but there are vegan alternatives for everything including meat and dairy. Almost any dish can be made vegan with a few simple tweaks. People can substitute milk for almond, soy, hemp, or coconut milk. Or maybe try using oil instead of butter. There is a variety of egg replacements for cooking and baking such as ½ a banana, ¼ cup of applesauce, or 3 tablespoons of peanut butter. One of the most common questions vegans are asked is “What do you eat?” The answer is simple: everything non-vegans eat but the dairy or meatless alternative.
Facts and studies have dismissed some claims for a vegan diet, yet some people believe the ignorant claim that the animals are not suffering because they have no emotions. People have spent years watching and researching animal behavior, but one does not need a degree to see that a cow is in tremendous pain when she has her calf taken from her.
According to an article published in National Geographic, researchers spend decades watching these creatures and seeing individuals. Many scientists have names for the animals and understand their different personalities Some of them are brave, some of them timid. Some of them are more aggressive and some are more mellow while others are more assertive. They see that first-time mothers are not as sure about what to do, and experienced mothers are more relaxed and confident. They see that some wolves are very assertive and aggressive while others are calm and slow to anger. Many people believe that empathy is only shown by humans as a rare emotion, but many species feel empathy for each other.
There are documented stories of elephants finding people who were lost or protecting them from predators. In one case, an old woman who could not see well got lost and was found the next day with elephants guarding her. Lions were also seen guarding a 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by 7 men in Ethiopia. Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert with the rural development ministry, said the girl may have survived because she was crying from the trauma of her attack. “A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they didn’t eat her,” Williams said. Another case where whale biologist, Nan Hauser was filmed being pushed around by the head and mouth of a humpback whale. The male tucked her under its pectoral fin and Hauser realized that a tiger shark was lurking nearby. The whale protected her like it would its young, other whales, and seals.
All living, breathing animals are sentient. While the level of intelligence differs between species, they all can feel pain just like us. An animal’s behavior is no guarantee that they are experiencing the emotions that people have but thanks to neuroscience, we know that all mammal brains are similar. Scientists know enough about human neuroanatomy to be able to explain that it is because they have brains like ours. They know the mechanisms by which brains work, which operate across humans and other mammals. However, this argument doesn't apply to insects, reptiles, and fish, which have much simpler brains. Whether it applies to birds is hard to say, because they do not have a prefrontal cortex, although they do share a similar brain structure. Mammals do not have emotions that depend on complexities of language and culture, but about much more basic emotions such as happiness, sadness, fear, and anger.
Animals are the same as humans. We are born and we live and we die just like them. We consider them to be our best friends or our family. Still, some people will put themselves above others in the ecosystem when we are technically at the bottom of the food chain. This era is creating the 6th mass extinction recorded on the planet with the last being the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Although extinction is a natural occurrence, we are still speeding up the process. At this rate, we will witness the extinction of the South China tiger, hawksbill sea turtle, the amur leopard, and many others in this lifetime and most likely in the next 10 years. Species are dying quicker than new organisms can evolve meaning that the new generation will not be able to keep up with this loss. Animals, plants, humans, and the environment make up a complex network. Disturbances to any part of this biological system can have serious, rippling effects and biodiversity loss is just as important for the future of human life as climate change.
Unlike past mass extinctions, this one won’t be caused by a volcanic eruption or an asteroid hitting Earth but because of the ignorance of humans. Reversing the damage will not be done easily but biodiversity can still be preserved if people start taking more action to protect their planet.
Unfortunately, it does not seem that information alone is sufficient. Even when they are told about the harm of meat eating, many meat-eaters become angry and mark the call to vegetarianism as an infringement of their freedom of choice. Scientists and government officials are often mistrusted because people fear that the changes they are proposing will cost money or make them feel like their freedom is being threatened. This is viewed as moral cowardice, and the reason for this is, in most instances, the fear of losing the pleasure of enjoying good food, but it is so necessary that it will ruin the future of the Earth. Some people are okay with it because it will not happen in their lifetime but what about their children? It is easier to clean up the mess made than to wait for the consequences that have no end. If this was just an emotional worry, it could probably be ignored, but it's not. It is time to stop ignoring the truth because this is not a risk we as a whole want to take.
This whole argument is based on the fact that if something lives, breathes, and chooses to live completely, then an incredibly profound moral justification must justify taking its life. Nevertheless, given that humans so far have advanced in understanding agriculture and the prevalence of food from plant sources, the excuse that our ancestors could make for taking animal life tens of thousands of years ago has been thoroughly overturned simply because of human advancement. So, we can only conclude that the billions of animals murdered in the United States every year for human consumption are doing so for selfish, unnecessary reasons that we should want no part of.
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