Why You Should Consider Going Vegan

You have probably heard a couple of arguments on why you should go vegan and I know that a lot of times the delivery can be too harsh, the cons seem to outweigh the benefits, the lifestyle change can seem daunting, or living without meat is simply unimaginable to you. I've gone through all these motions myself but going vegan has been the best decision I've ever made despite it all.
 
I want to make it clear that my intention is not to make anyone feel judged, nor question anybody's lifestyle. This post is meant to educate and hopefully change a few minds and lives. So without further ado lets get into why you should go vegan.
 

 The Scale

World wide over 65 billion animals are raised and killed for food each year and this could raise to 120 billion in the next few decades. This statistic does not include fish or other sea creatures. It is not a surprise that 65 million animals take up a lot of space. According to the United Nations 59% of the planet's ice-free land is used either to raise animals or to grow their feed.

Take a second and let these numbers sink in:

• 65 billion animals killed every year.
• 65 billion animals that need space to live.
• 65 billion animals that need food to eat.
• 65 million animals that need water to drink.

Justifying this by saying "Hey, this just how people eat," is ignorant considering that we've only been producing meat on this scale for the last 50 years, which is barely a drop in the bucket in human history. If we want to live in world that is safe and pleasant to live in we are going to have to break our addiction from meat.

Climate Change

It is now irrefutable that the methane produced by cows is one of the leading causes of greenhouse gasses. Those are the harmful gasses that rise to the top of the earth's atmosphere and trap heat, creating a greenhouse-like condition on the earth that eventually results in global warming. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a single cow belches out 250 to 500 liters of methane a day (a car by comparison, holds only about 60 liters of petrol in it's tank.) Once the methane is in the atmosphere it is even more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat. NASA states that methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. By eliminating meat you will not only help to cut down on but also reverse global warming. 

Wasting Water

Water is on its way to becoming the top security risk to many countries on Earth. Governments are trying to control their water resources because they know there won't be enough to go around in a few years. 

Many experts predict that our next wars will be fought over water. Every time you eat meat you are contributing to the water crisis more than you know. According to PETA,  2500 liters of water is needed to produce one single burger. Dairy and eggs are also an issue when it comes to water consumption. About 2650 liters of water go into producing half a kilogram of cheese and 1800 liters are needed to produce half a kilogram of eggs. 

We need to stop thinking in terms pf personal consumption of water. If you were to stop eating meat you'd save an estimated 615 076 liters of water each year.

Animal Cruelty

Imagine being forced to be pregnant twice every 12 months, year in and year out. While eating an unhealthy diet laced with drugs. Only to have your children taken away from you every time. Your body and mind would give out after a while, right? Well that is the reality of most dairy cows. Being separated is both traumatic for cows and their young. Many calves stop eating out of fear and cry for their mothers so long that their throats become raw.

Beef cows undergo both red hot branding and castration without painkillers. Any man reading this can imagine how painful that is. Cows arrive at the slaughter house exhausted and terrified. Many of them can't walk at this point. These are called downer cows, who are legally prohibited from being slaughtered for food. However slaughter houses tie chains around their necks to force them out the truck, others are poked with electric rods, sometimes in their anus, to try and make them stand. Many of these cows have their throats slit while they are still conscious and are left to painfully bleed out.

Pigs are really smart. Smarter than your dog and two year old children too. The New York Times writes "Pigs are of the quickest of animals to learn a new routine, and pigs can do a circus worth of tricks. They can play video games with joy sticks and more.

Heart Disease

Heart disease is the number 1 killer in the world. Research shows that there are certain communities around the world, in central Africa, Papua New Guinea and Mexico, that have almost no incidence of heart disease. When looking into their traditional diets it was obvious that they contain almost no animal products.

A surgeon named Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, after being tired of only treating symptoms decided to use this research. Esselstyn was convinced that if he put his patients on a plant based diet that is would reverse their heart disease. The rules of his diet were: no eating anything with a mother or a face, and eating as many vegetables as possible. They could eat all the legumes, whole grains and lentils and fruits they wanted. Within a year almost all Esselstyn's patients saw their heart disease improve. 

There is a lot more on this topic as well as the health benefits of a vegan diet and I suggest you do further research on your own.

I hope this has been an interesting read and has given you some perspective on the effects of animal consumption and it's consequences. I recommend you do some more research and watch the documentaries I suggested on my first post How to Transition to a Plant Based Diet.

Most of this information has been adapted from Russel Simmons' book The Happy Vegan. It is easy to read and contains a lot of insightful information. I recommend it to anyone interested in making the change to veganism.

You can purchase his book here and here.

Thank you so much for reading this far. Please share this post with your friends and family and help spread awareness for the cause.