Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Should there be more vegetarians in this world?

Should there is more vegetarians in this world?
By: Shelly Lim

Being a vegetarian can be tough for people like me, but to those who have given up meat for their own goods or for the animals are the ones who are actually helping the environment. 18% of human created greenhouse gases come from livestock farming, which is terrible since it is a large amount of percentage. This percentage is more than all emissions of transportation put together. Livestock farming has a wide environmental footprint because it results in deforestation, biodiversity loss, water degradation, and more.

In 2013, the production of meat increased to around 320 million tonnes. The world is slowly producing more than four times the quantity of meat than they used to 50 years ago. As the world is getting richer the utilization of meat is increasing. When we lose biodiversity, then habitats are being destroyed and the air we breathe will worsen. About 56% of air pollution and 57% of half of water are being contributed towards livestock farming. Thinking about our future generations, no one would want this horrible disaster to happen in our ecosystem. 

 It has been proven that vegetarians were about 25% less likely to die from a heart attack and death from cardiac causes. To protect the heart, choose high fiber whole grain and legumes. Non-green food, such as, white rice, potatoes, and white-flour causes a higher risk to blood sugar, which raises the risk of diabetes and heart attacks. Also according to the University of Oxford, researchers monitored the 48,000 UK adults for eighteen years and found that people who have been eating plant-based diets had fewer cases of heart diseases. Even though, eating healthy can be hard, it lowers the risk of any kind of disease. It also helps the environment grow more and healthy.  

I was never a 100% healthy eater, but looking at the environment and doing some research, I want to push myself to eat more greens than meat. I personally don’t like the idea of animal abuse and animal being killed for our good, so to save the animals, there should be more plant-based eaters than meat eaters. It will take time to get used to eating healthy, but if we try to eat vegetables little by little everyday, we will get used to it someday. There are 1.62 million US vegetarians out there giving up meat for the animals. Let’s at least think about the animal that had been slaughtered for you to eat a good meal of hamburger.

Questions:

  1. Would you ever become a vegan for the farm animals? Do you think it would be easy?
  2. Do you think there should be more vegetarians in this world?
  3. Is it right to kill the animals so we can survive?

Resources:

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would never even consider becoming a vegan. As someone who eats meat almost everyday, it has become a integral part of my diet since I was young and because my culture puts value into meat. For this reason, it would be very difficult for me personally. I believe that we shouldn’t ruthlessly kill animals and deplete them for human intake. I do not support animal cruelty, but I most definitely do not believe there should be more vegetarians in this world unless it a cultural, religious, traditional component of one’s life. I mean if we don’t kill a single animal in this world, how are we going to have a balanced diet with protein? Protein from tofu, eggs, and nuts are definitely not enough to support a lively human life. I personally value human life above animals. So if it came down to either killing a human or animal, I would definitely kill an animal.

Anonymous said...

I have always eaten meat and lots of it. That said, as an athlete, I have seen a large number of athletes becoming vegetarian and discussing the many benefits. Even so, I think it would be very difficult to stop eating meat altogether. The growing focus on 'vegetarian meats' has given me hope. Many have stated that the difference in taste is not noticeable. By having more and more people try these new 'meats' we can bring more people away from meat consumption and toward a vegetarian diet. In terms of nutrition, a vegetarian diet can meet all the same needs as a meat-based one so I would confidently transition over to a vegetarian diet.

David Ahn said...

The thought of becoming vegan has never crossed my mind due to the fact I’ve been eating meat my whole life everyday. My dad loves to cook all kinds of meat for our family and we all eat it cause it’s good. If I ever became vegan I would probably quit the second I declared it because I literally cannot live without eating meat. I think it is right to kill animals so we can survive especially when some animals kill other animals in order to survive so why can’t we. I don’t really care if there are more vegetarians in this world, all I care about is eating meat and what I think tastes good.

Anonymous said...

I don’t think I would ever consider becoming a vegan. It would be really hard. I have eaten meat all of my life! Now I definitely would be able to consider becoming a vegetarian or at least trying to eat more vegetables and cut out the large amount of meat that I do eat. I can’t really talk because I’m not a vegetarian, but it would definitely make the world a better place if a lot of us meat eaters adopted a vegetarian lifestyle. The problem is that we don’t eat meat to survive because we as people could definitely survive without the use of meat.

Anonymous said...

I personally am not vegetarian, but my meat intake is pretty low, and my diet is not meat based in the slightest. I think it would be difficult to have lots of vegetarians on earth, since many cuisines are heavily meat based and some need meat for health reasons, but for people with the option to choose vegetables and who don’t necessarily need to eat meat, I think reducing meat intake or going vegetarian is a smart idea. I think the world should definitely lose some of its meat intake, as there are meats such as red meat that are not healthy and can easily be cut out of one’s diet. I also believe humans, although there are exceptions, have mostly grown beyond the point where we need meat to actually survive. We really only eat meat as a part of our diet, not necessarily out of survival.

Anonymous said...

I don’t see myself becoming vegan at any point in the near future, I feel as if I would need to totally redo how I live in order to do so. While my mother and sister are vegetarians, my Dad and I will basically eat anything. Most of, if not all, of the time we go to restaurants I order a meat dish (wings, burgers, bacon, etc.) with maybe a side serving of vegetables for nutritional benefits. I think that everyone should have the right to eat what they want so, in other words, I don’t know if there should be more vegetarians or not. As, at the end of the day, I can only control my life and what I’m going to eat. Is vegetarianism beneficial to the environment? Yes. Will anyone force it upon me? No. I think it is perfectly fine to kill animals so we can survive, our ancestors have done it for millennia. Furthermore, it is extremely prevalent in nature as a whole. In the end, you do you!!!!

Anonymous said...

I have been a vegetarian growing and the idea of becoming vegan is not that far fetched for me because I do not like milk or eggs that much, and I do not eat them often. Therefore, it would not be hard for me to become a vegan. Since 18% of greenhouse gas emissions is through livestock production, I definitely makes sense to me that there should be more vegetarians, but I am biased because I am vegetarian. I do understand why it would be difficult for people to become vegetarian, so perhaps we would find a way to make meat in a way that is less polluting. I have heard of research to make lab grown meat though that might sound unappetizing to some people. When it comes to the question is it right to kill animals so that we can survive, there really is no good answer. In nature we see animals having to kill other animals to survive, so it might seem okay. But also, we humans consider ourselves to be “better” than animals so we would not be upholding that if we keep killing animals for meat. In addition, research has also been showing that plants can feel when they are being eaten, so at that point both sides can make any argument.

Anonymous said...

I don't believe I would ever become vegan. Although I don't eat much meat, I find it impossible to give things like milk. I think it would extremely difficult to become vegan because I am very dependent on non-vegan foods. Although I think that being vegetarian is best for the environment, I believe that it is everyone's right to chose what they eat. Everyone should be able to eat whatever they want to eat.

Anonymous said...

I actually have considered becoming vegan and even went vegan for a month last year. I do not eat a lot of meat, so it was not too challenging for me and my diet. It was hard, however, to give up dairy because I incorporate a lot of dairy into my everyday diet. It was worth it for that little while though to know that I was not harming any animals and doing something good. I do not think I would become vegan for the long term, though, because I do believe that I need things such as protein from animal products like meat. Although it would be great and ideal for there to be more vegetarians in this world, I highly doubt that this will happen because we are all too dependent of meat and animal products in our diet and are not willing to give that up. Even though it is horrible that we kill animals in order to survive, and it seems unethical, I doubt that anything will change and at the end of the day, people’s diets and maintaining their diet that they are used to is more important than saving animals.

Anonymous said...

I am not even a little sorry when I say that I will never go vegan. I love my meat! I won’t even go vegetarian, I love my milk! Being a vegan sounds like a horrible way to live your life. I think that we need to kill animals to survive, and that’s ok because its the food chain. We are on top se we eat whats below us. But we definitely need to have some laws protecting the animals from being treated inhumanly. I think that they should be treated fairly, even if we are about to kill them to eat them. It is a basic need for the human race, people think that we need to stop eating animals but that would mess the whole flow of the world as we know it. As science progresses there might be a widely supported substitute to meat in the future, but in our lives I believe that meat is here to stay.

Anonymous said...

While I do eat meat frequently, I would consider becoming vegan if I had a lot of convincing. I was vegetarian for a while and I did not think it was a terrible lifestyle. However, being vegan is much more intense, so I think I would struggle a bit more with being vegan. I’m think that there should be more vegetarians in this world because the rate that we are consuming meat is unsustainable. Eventually we will run out, so it will help the environment if more people are vegetarians or even vegans. I think that killing animals is only acceptable if it is done in an ethical way. Since the beginning of time, humans have killed animals for their own source of food. And if we think about it, animals kill other animals for their sources of food as well. However, I believe there is a right way to killing animals for food. Many companies are unethical and let the animal stuffer before killing it. This is wrong. I think that companies should not be so harsh on the conditions of the animals they are killing and should make the death as painless as possible.

Anonymous said...

Going vegan is a huge commitment because people generally consume dairy products, such as eggs and milk for their daily basis. I’m currently vegetarian because I have compassion for animals, and I have intolerance to chicken meat. Before I became vegetarian last summer, it was very tempting for me to stop eating meat because I was a meat eater just like any other human being. However, after a while, I was able to break free from my temptation and surprisingly meat didn’t taste like food anymore for me. I do believe that the more vegetarians it’s better because we can reduce the amount of emission from meat production. From my religious belief, I believe that everyone has their rights to decide for themselves. However, I’ve seen a lot of documentaries about how some people in China are consuming endangered species illegally, which happens to be a major problem we’re facing today. Also, I’ve seen many hunters on the TV slaughtering animals for fun and making trophies out of them.

Anonymous said...

I would not mind trying a vegan diet but I think it would be very difficult for me to stick to it and frankly I would not want too. I have had meat in my everyday diet ever since I was little and it would be hard to break the habit. I think many other people are also in the same situation. I think there should be more vegetarians in the world or at least we should start to limit how much meat is being consumed for the sake of the environment. I do believe that it is okay for humans to eat animals in order to survive, but there should be regulations on how the animals are treated since there has been many cases of unethical behavior.

Anonymous said...


I personally would not become vegetarian because I have grown very accustomed to eating meat in my daily life. If I were to try to become a vegetarian it would be very hard for me to break my habit. I don’t have much of an opinion if there should be more vegetarians in the world or not. It all comes down to each individual’s preference whether or not to be vegetarian. It is not right to kill animals as a sport, but in order to survive I think it is very necessary. Animals being hunted in the wild is a popular occurring thing, so it makes sense for us to eat animals in our environment.

Anonymous said...

Becoming a vegan, personally, would be very difficult for me. It is not the transition of types of food or cravings that would be the problem, however, finding alternatives that are cheaper than meat would be of difficulty. I do believe there should be a drastic change in the vegetarian-meat eater ratio, however, once again it is quite expensive to makes this change. In reality it is very hard for low-wage families or individuals to afford a vegan or even a vegetarian diet due to the expense these foods come at. Why would these people pay significantly more over the tasty, cheap meat. I do not think there is any logical way to justify the ethics behind killing so we can survive when there are so many alternatives. Besides that, todays companies have taken producing animal meat so far to make machines to kill and raise animals in mass which society often overlooks.

Anonymous said...

I feel that becoming a vegetarian would be very difficult for me. It would require me to change my whole lifestyle around and be more conscious about what I’m eating. However, I think that if becoming vegetarian or vegan would have a good impact to future generations, I will consider giving up eating meat. I think that just me giving up meat will not save any animals because they are already bred to be killed. I don’t agree with killing animals in inhumane ways, but I think that unless many more people protest animals being killed my small Change will have no impact.

Anonymous said...

I have definitely toyed with the idea of becoming vegetarian before I just never really pulled through with the execution of it. I really don’t eat meat that often and when I do its in pretty small portions, so realistically, it would be a small adjustment to do it, but like, I just haven’t. I would love to one day make the switch to being vegetarian, but I don’t think I could ever do vegan. Vegan to me is a little too extreme, but I think that the majority of the population becoming vegetarian will significantly help the problems that the meat industry has created for the environment. Obviously, that switch will be very difficult to pull off which is why I think we should normalize not eating meat for every meal because I think we tend to over emphasize the impact meat should have in our diet.

Anonymous said...

As a lacto vegetarian myself (a vegetarian that also doesn't eat eggs), I find my dietary restrictions a slight challenge, but very doable. However, the slight inconvenience of having to check the ingredients on food products is very small compared to the positive impact that I know my diet has on the environment. Being vegetarian is a large part of the reason that I had the smallest ecological footprint in our class, and I am very proud of that. Personally, being vegetarian helps me have a guilt-free consciousness when I see videos/images of slaughtered animals.

Anonymous said...

I personally don't think that I would ever become a vegan for the farm animals. The reason for this is that I don't think that one person like myself becoming vegan will have a major impact. Also, I do think that it would be extremely hard for me to become vegan most of the food that I love to eat would not be allowed in a vegan diet.

Anonymous said...

I don’t think I would ever become vegan, but I could see myself giving up certain meats since I’m not a big fan of them. I mainly eat chicken anyways, so it would not be that difficult for me, and I think that I would want to try it out in the future. I don’t think I could become a vegan since I love cheese a lot, but maybe I can someday. I think that if many people went vegetarian, many problems involving the meat industry and its impact on the environment. I think that in order to maintain populations and ecosystems, animals do have to be killed off like they are in nature, but the number has to be lowered for a positive environental impact.

Anonymous said...

I have definitely thought about about becoming vegan for farm animals. Even though becoming vegan has its benefits and has a good outlook, personally it would be hard for me to make this change. I could eventually fall out of the habit fearing meat but it would have to happen in small steps. Yes, I definitely believe that there should be more vegetarians in the world because being vegetarian has immense benefits for the environment. Killing animals has ranged all the way to the native Americans and unless we involve a significant amount to people in this plan it will not make much of a change.

Anonymous said...

I do not see myself ever becoming a vegan, although I could see myself cutting down on the amount of meat I consume. I prefer vegetables to meat in a lot of cases so I do not think that at least going vegetarian would be too much of an issue, full on vegan on the other hand is completely out of the question. I think that I could do this because I don’t like the idea of eating any animal with a mother and father, it seems wrong. I think that it would be a good thing if more people became vegan due to the positive impacts it has on the environment and the well being of farm animals. I do think that the killing of farm animals is justified. There is death in nature so if it weren’t human s doing the killing and consuming it would be some other predator, that’s just the natural order of things in an ecosystem. I do however disagree with some of the more cruel practices of the meat industry in regards to its treatment of animals. I think that if we are going to kill animals then we should at least do it humanely and give them the best possible life beforehand.

Anonymous said...

While I have been a vegetarian for most of my life out of concern for animals, I do not think I can see myself becoming vegan, as a lot of my diet includes non-meat animal products. I have never had a problem with not eating meat and I think it is a very sustainable lifestyle and its easy to manage. I do not believe in animal cruelty and much of the practices of the meat packing industry are inhumane, but if we simply stopped killing them all at once we would have a major overpopulation issue on our hands. At some point, nature must take its course and balance should be achieved. But I do feel bad for killing animals, and I would argue for letting them live their life and die by natural, non-human causes.

Anonymous said...

I would not consider becoming completely vegan as it would be difficult, but I would like to incorporate vegan meals in my diet. It would be great if there were more vegetarians, and I would recommend people to try being vegetarian or reduce the amount of meat they eat. Also, there are lots of great vegan and vegetarian recipes online for anyone interested in having a more plant-based diet. There are people who are reliant on hunting animals for food, and I support that. However, I think that excessively killing animals for food, like in slaughterhouses or factory farms, is not right. I have watched so many videos of animal cruelty in farms, and it is upsetting because this can be avoided.

Anonymous said...

As human beings eat much less meat, they want to eat more plants, so farming areas want to be transformed accordingly. In some areas where the land is not arable (such as mountainous regions with dry climate), grazing cattle, sheep and goats is absolutely converting inedible grass to fit for human consumption of meat and milk. Pigs and chickens should be fed leftover foods; leftover food quantities to an absurd one-third of whole meals produced in the world. In some bad regions, meat and milk consumption is the only reliable source of protein and fat. Also, in poor regions, many human beings work with livestock. They ought to be redirected and skilled for farming, however due to obstacles with soil excellent this may now not be an easy shift. Switching to a vegetarian (no-meat, however egg and dairy are OK) as antagonistic to a strict vegan food regimen is also impractical, since, in the case of livestock, cows must calve each and every 12 months to keep producing milk and 50 percent of their offspring are males. Overall in terms of sustainability, there isn’t a greater advantage of switching to solely a meat free diet, but instread we should switch to eating less meat than our diet normally permits now.

Anonymous said...

I don’t know if I could go vegan or vegetarian right now just because my family generally eats a lot of meat. But I think when I’m on my own it wouldn’t be too hard for me to go vegan or something because I already don’t have much dairy in my diet and I usually don’t eat meat unless my dad is cooking it. I definitely think that more people should know about the environmental and health benefits of going vegetarian/vegan. I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with the killing animals part if its done humanely just because its kind of a part of life ya know? I honestly think the main problem with eating meat is the negative environmental effects, not so much the killing animals part.

Anonymous said...

I think as long as animals are being respected and not abused there’s nothing wrong with eating meat. I personally eat meat everyday and it’s very hard for me to eat vegetables. I would never even think of trying to get myself to completely cut meat out of my diet unless my life depended on it. Although I will admit I’ve never even bothered to try vegan meals and I think for the environment’s sake we should all have a balance of eating meat and eating everything else.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I do not see myself ever becoming vegan as I eat meat daily. Although it would help the environment, it would be extremely difficult to stop eating something that I eat everyday. One solution for myself is to not completely stop eating meat, but to cut down on it and eat more plants on a daily basis. After watching videos of people slaughtering animals, I believe that it is wrong to do it in that fashion. But since we are human, animals will continued to be killed so that we can survive.

Anonymous said...

I personally would not become vegan for the farm animals. Although I am vegetarian, I do not think that I could give up dairy products such as milk many cheese as well. I feel as though it would be too difficult for me to make another drastic change which further prevents me from consuming the food that I like on a daily basis. And although I am vegetarian, I respect everyone’s choices (it’s not a big deal to me) in their dietary habits, specifically whether they eat meat or not. The one thing that I do advocate for is healthy eating, which is the reason why I gave up candy and soda, which is a practice that has been going on for some time. And I don’t really think that killing animals for our sake is just, but I do believe that it truly helps to regulate the populations of these livestock animals, because without human consumption of them, they would definitely overpopulate.

Wind or Solar Power?

Wind or Solar Power? Shantanu Vinchurkar Our society has begun to use more renewable resources after learning the negative impacts of non...