Why Vegetarian?

About two months ago, I decided to cut all land-dwelling meat out of my diet. I still eat fish and animal products such as milk and eggs--although I do try to drink soy milk as often as possible. I made this decision for two reasons, one primary and one secondary. The secondary reason has to do with all of the little "extras" that have been appearing in our meat and animal products over the past several decades. In order to continue meeting the demand for higher quantities and cheaper product, the meat industry has responded by using a cocktail of chemicals, antibiotics and hormones which cause the animals to remain healthier and grow at unnatural, accelerated rates. These various chemicals, antibiotics and hormones are stored in the fat and muscle of the animals and transfer to humans when the meat is consumed. Because Americans eat meat on such a regular basis, we are ingesting these additives in high amounts and doctors/researchers are beginning to study and report the negative effects they are having on our health. A good friend of mine who is a doctor recently shared with me a study he read outlining the effects of hormone additives to meat and milk on young girls going through puberty. They followed groups of girls controlling for those eating meat/milk and those not and found the hormones in the meat/milk linked to the early onset of menstruation. Some girls were getting their periods as early as 8-10 years old.

As important as my health is to me (okay, maybe it's not that important. I do smoke after all) the above reason is not my primary reason for choosing to be a vegetarian. My main reason is based on information I have learned about the worldwide impact of consuming meat--particularly the high amounts of meat Americans eat. First is the sheer amount of land that is required to raise animals, particularly cattle. I don't remember the numbers but the basic premise is that it takes a significantly larger area of land to raise cattle which feeds only a small amount of people than it takes to raise grains and feed a much larger amount of people. To me, this is one small thing I can do to increase sustainability and equity in my use of world resources. So many people see the world as separated into geographical areas and we assume that our behaviors don't affect others outside of our boundaries. This is very untrue. There is wide scale starvation occurring in many places around the world and the citizens of the U.S. are unfairly using somewhere in the ballpark of 80% of the world's resources (Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, Ron Sider). There is enough food to go around! But we need to be smarter and less selfish in how it is consumed and distributed.

Additionally, here is a short excerpt from Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales:

"Economically driven destruction is sweeping like a tidal wave across Brazil. Before it are the scrub forests of the cerrado or the rain forests of the Amazon; behind it are the eucalyptus plantations and the new cattle ranches, planted with alien grasses, emptied of native animals, and providing meat for the markets of cities. . . As the native ecosystem and peoples are uprooted, displaced workers, even the urban unemployed, became vulnerable to enslavement. The people caught up and forced to to carry out the destruction of the forests live without electricity, running water, or communication with the outside world. They are completely under the control of their masters. . . In this case, the people who live in the forest and rely on it are usually the ones forced to destroy it. Tree by tree, the hands of slaves wrench the life out of their own land and prepare it for exploitation."