Someone asked for my opinion about a comment that defended eating meat and stating that being vegan was an indulgence in an affluent society. This was my response. One of the main reasons for hunger and starvation in the world is raising cattle for food. It is an entirely unsustainable, greedy, cruel and destructive practice. So many billions of gallons of water are wasted to grow a pound of meat. It takes very little to grow a pound of vegetables. Billions of acres of land are used to raise, not only the animals, but the food that goes to feed those animals (usually GMO corn and soy). If we could even cut meat consumption by 10%, it is shown, we could use that land to grow food to feed people directly, a much more nourishing diet of plant foods. Billions of acres of land and rainforests are destroyed yearly to raise more cattle and grow food for them. Eating animals is extremely wasteful, and expensive. Its much cheaper at the checkout to eat fresh, organic whole foods than it is to eat expensive meats and cheeses. (BTW, it would be even more expensive if it wasnt for government subsidies to the meat and dairy industries, subsidies that are not provided to produce and other healthy foods.) Animal farming is also the major cause of land, air and water pollution and a health hazard. If you eat meat or dairy, please dont say you are an environmentalist, if you were you wouldnt destroy the planet you live on. Another economical advantage to eating a meatless, dairy-less diet is a saving in health care cost. Studies have shown that eating meat and dairy can greatly contribute to and often cause cancer, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and may have links to Parkinsons, MD, MS and other neurological diseases. So, when you say your choice to eat meat is not hurting anyone else, know that causing your body harm is raising the cost of everyones insurance. Ive been meatless for 30 years and vegan most of that time. Im 65, at an age where most of my peers are on at least a couple of prescriptions, if not more. I just took all of my tests you get when you sign up for Medicare, and passed with flying colors. No heart problems, no colon cancer, no kidney or liver problems. the nurses kept calling me that healthy guy! When I asked them why, they replied that their vegan patients always did better than the meat-eaters. Almost every leading oncologists, cardiologists endorse a vegan or plant-based diet, as do a majority of leading researchers. The AMA and the Nurses Association, as well as the UN, have all shown support for a vegan diet. I take no pharmaceutical or prescription medicine. Food is my medicine, and I love to take my medicine! With the money I save on Health Care, I can afford the healthiest, best tasting food: organic, local, vegan whole foods. Im semi-retired and low-income so it is important to buy responsibly.I have a garden, buy bulk food and produce at the local co-op market and cook from scratch. I cannot afford the pesticide-laden, processed, GMO commercial foods at the supermarket. They may seem to cost less at the checkout but are more expensive in the long run. There is a big difference between cost and value. Value will save you more money than cost in the long run! Those are just the environmental, health, and finacial incentives to go vegan. There remains the fact that there is absolutely nothing that we need from the animal kingdom. There is no reason, ever, to exploit, abuse or murder an animal. Watch the documentary Earthlings (earthlings) and learn the cruelty and abuse that is commonplace in the meat and dairy industry. Free-range, grass-fed and humane are lies to cover up the atrocities the meat and dairy industries dont want you to know. Thats why they want to ban any reporting of animal abuse with the Ag-Gag Bill. The reality is that the meat and dairy industry is the equivalent to German death camps to animals. That is not an exaggeration. You think that milk is not harmful, theyre just milking the cows, not hurting them? Know that there is a world of abuse behind that glass of milk or that slice of cheese. First, the cow is raped. (Yes, raped! What would you call the farmer sticking his arm past the elbow up a cows vagina to impregnate her with bull semen? Did you think the bull and the cow made love under soft lights and music?) Immediately after birth the hungry calf is dragged from its mother and, if its male he goes into a small pen to be raised on a diet to make him anemic. But hell be slaughtered for veal at 4 months. If the calf is female she becomes the next generation of milk slave, being milked until her body is depleted and she develops mastitis, which puts pus and blood into the milk you use. Shes given massive doses of anitbiotics and hormones (that also go into the milk) and is used up and sent to the slaughterhouse, usually, at 4 years of age. Normally a cow would live about 20 years. But, I am told, I should respect a carnists choice to eat meat. What about the animal? Is he given a choice? I will respect a carnists choice to kill and eat an animal ONLY when they respect the animals choice to NOT be killed and eaten. Otherwise, its hypocrisy. Its the bullys attitude, or the rapist. I dont care about you or your rights, you have something I want and Im more powerful so I will just take it! So, they would cause harm to their health, cause destruction to the environment, and torture and kill millions of animals for what? A moments pleasure on the tongue. Vegans have a million valid reasons NOT to eat meat. A carnist only has one honest reason: It tastes good! Thats not a reason but an excuse, and a very lame one at that. If you eat meat, just be honest and say, I dont care about anyone or anything but my greedy taste buds! There is absolutely no justification for raising animals for food except greed.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 15:56:47 +0000