Vegetarians: Where do They Come From?

Most of you probably know this, since the main demographic of this blog is my grandparents and my parent's friends, but I also write fiction. I write mostly horror. Although I try to make my stories scary I think the scariest stories I've heard take place in reality.

I've been a vegetarian since 3rd grade. I decided to give up meat after I told my dad he shouldn't eat elk because it was cruel and my mom said " Well then why are you eating a turkey sandwich?" Not only did my mother make me cry in the middle of a restaurant but she also made me begin to believe that eating animals was cruel.

When I first started I was a pescatarian so I ate fish.

As 3rd graders do, my classmates made fun of me. One of my friends did become a vegetarian with me but she just recently started eating meat again. I've always had trouble explaining to people my age why I would ever even think of giving up bacon. Although I have never found a good substitute for bacon I'm willing to give it up for a greater cause.

What eventually turned me into a full vegetarian was the documentary "Cowspiracy" that followed Kip Andersen in his journey to educate the world on the leading cause of deforestation, global warming, and many other environmental issues: livestock.

Livestock manure releases Nitrous Oxide which is shown to have a potential for global warming 265 times higher than Carbon Dioxide (Animal Frontiers, 2018). Carbon Dioxide is the molecule that we've always been warned is causing climate change and is coming from us. Yet it seems that what comes from all transportation, cars, trucks, boats, planes, etc., only makes up about 5% of the problem.

Not only is this about climate change but also cruelty towards animals. Cows, pigs, and chickens are kept in tight cages where they're forced to sleep in the same place they go to the bathroom. Maybe reading Animal Farm made me more sympathetic to animals but these conditions are inhumane.

What is the solution to all of this? Stop eating meat. Or at least lower meat consumption.

I believe that everyone should watch this documentary even if you're not planning on becoming a vegetarian.

Even if you do become a vegetarian or a vegan they have plenty of healthy substitutes for both meat and dairy. There are even lab meats which are real meat without the slaughter, deforestation, or Nitrous Oxide. Cloning is scary to a lot of people but so far lab meats have proven to be safe. Even scarier then clones is the possibility that polar bears might disappear by 2050.

Another good documentary is "The Game Changers" about how athletes who went vegan are better at their sport than they were before.

Simply cutting out meat and dairy from your diet can make you healthier and slow down global warming.

There's an idea that biting into a piece of meat or shooting a deer makes you tougher. At least that's what my classmates seem to believe. My question is " Do you think you can sacrifice your pride to save the planet we all share?"