I’m no expert on food production, but I don’t think anyone needs to be to realize the rationality behind vegetarianism. This is a very complex issue, so I don’t mean to suggest that we’ve reached some sort of simple final conclusion. I will continue to reevaluate the issue. Here are a few basic facts that led me to my decision.
- In America, the animals we eat are fed with non-meat food (soy, corn and grain) that we could eat.
- For obvious reasons there are serious inefficiencies with meat compared to non-meat foods. This means that feeding humans with meat requires more of this soy, corn and grain than if humans were fed without meat.
- Therefore eating non-meat foods has a lower impact on global food prices than meat.
- The negative environmental impact of eating non-meat food (deforestation, transportation, water usage and pollution, and more) is a fraction of the environmental impact of eating meat.
- Additionally, producing meat introduces negative environmental effects such as methane and nitrous oxide production that are sperate from the effects of non-meat food used to raise animals .
- The only large-scale technique (factory farming) that reduces (but does not nearly eliminate) these inefficiencies introduces many serious problems for the animals themselves, the human workers, and humans as a whole.
- Much meat production is extremely disrespectful of animal life.
If these are accepted then the case is laid out for eliminating or at least reducing the typical consumption of meat (and even animal products such as dairy and eggs by the way).
I want to point out that I’m very surprised that institutions such as the Catholic Church have failed to publicly analyze meat-based diets more often. If it is correct that reducing meat consumption would make feeding the poor easier and reduce human environmental impact, then why aren’t well-meaning organizations jumping all over this?
To me it’s a win-win-win-win-win-lose. The only thing I have to lose is the satisfaction of my meat-tooth, but what I gain is a lifestyle that is easier on my conscience in nearly countless ways. I’ve been a vegetarian for nearly a year now, I haven’t gotten sick any more frequently, I’ve ran two mini-marathons, and even managed to put on about 10 lbs (as much as I’ve done in any year of my life so far). I’m not doing so bad.
Vegetarianism is often seen as judgmental. I’ve definitely had more than one person give me a ‘So what exactly are you saying is so wrong with the way I eat?’ look when they found out that I’m a vegetarian. I’m not telling anyone what to do, and I realize that there are many gray areas such as hunting, or resource-intensive non-meat foods, or animals who are raised by grazing on land that cannot be used for any other purpose. Basically, I’m asking you to think about it.
