Environmental impacts
Global warming poses one of the most serious threats to the global environment ever faced in human history. Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide together cause the vast majority of global warming. Producing a little more than 2 pounds of beef causes more greenhouse-gas emissions than driving a car for three hours and uses up more energy than leaving your house lights on for the same period of time. Each day, factory farms produce billions of pounds of manure, which ends up in lakes, rivers, and drinking water.
Estimates of the water required to produce a kilo of beef vary, from 13,000 liters up to 100,000 liters . Whichever figure you use, the damage is plain when you consider that the water required to produce a kilo of wheat is somewhere between 1,000 to 2,000 litres. According to the United Nations, a global shift toward a vegan diet is one of the steps necessary to combat the worst effects of climate change.
By choosing a vegetarian diet instead of one loaded with animal products, individuals can dramatically reduce the amount of land, water, and oil resources that they consume and the amount of pollution they otherwise might cause.
Religions point of view
In many cultures, vegetarianism is an integral part of religion. Many sects of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism prohibit the consumption of meat and animal products, though the use of milk, honey, and sometimes unfertilized poultry eggs is acceptable.
Religious vegetarianism tends to be rooted in a philosophy of non-violence and compassion towards the natural world. Many other people follow vegetarianism as a way to protect the environment – they believe that raising and killing of animals for food negatively affects the environment, creates pollution, and contributes to climate change.
Switching to a vegan diet reduces your “ecological footprint,” allowing you to tread lightly on the planet and be compassionate to its inhabitants. With so many great vegan options, eating green has never been more delicious. Whether you go vegetarian for the environment, for your health, or for animals, you have the power to change the world, simply by changing what’s on your plate.
