Insight Meditation 
(Vipassana)

Ten Compassionate Reasons to be Vegan

 

1. A plant based diet saves the lives of animals, birds and fish year in and year out. Farm animals and birds face the terror of slaughter at the abattoirs as they are lined up one behind the other, for execution. It is estimated that a person living to 75 years of age consumes around 6600 animals, birds and fish, including 2200 chickens.

2. Antibiotics, growth hormones, and pesticides affect the cells of farm animals and those who eat them.

3. Farm animals, such as sheep, cows and pigs, are generally calm and trusting creatures. Animals respond to love and can feel pain. They may have the mentality of babies and very young children.  To produce a pound of beef,  cattle consume 2500 gallons of water and crops that could feed humans. It takes 13 lbs of plant-based food to produce 1lb of animal flesh. The huge number of acres used to grow crops and other plant based food to feed animals could go to feed the world’s hungry. 75% of topsoil has been depleted due to farm animals.

4. The UN reports that the raping of rainforests for cattle grazing affects the climate. Rainforest destruction brings about more greenhouse gases that affect the climate than all transport, air, land and water.

5. The varieties of forests provide food and medicine for people worldwide. Greenhouse gases release methane, ammonia, and nitrous oxide, and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through burning of wood, gas, oil and coal. Pollution affects land, water, air and forests, as well as the health of people and animals.

6. Livestock farms have become factories known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO). Living in controlled, tight, intensely overcrowded environments, these animals live a hellish life. They also produce huge amounts of urine and excrement waste polluting land, water tables and rivers.

7. Millions of calves and male chicks are slaughtered as waste to ensure milk and egg production.

8. The livestock industry is responsible for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, The transport sector is responsible for 13.5% of global emissions planes, cars, trucks, and trains.

9. The ‘typical’ US diet generates the equivalent of nearly 1.5 tonnes more carbon dioxide per person per year than a vegan diet.

10.  It is far more sustainable to eat plant foods than animals in order to feed the rapidly growing world population of seven billion plus people, especially as available land decreases. Through a vegan diet, or  a virtually vegan diet, our eco footprint treads lightly on the earth.