In order to gather all the information I needed to complete these pieces I turned to my sister for the answers. After all, it was her who inspired this to begin with. I wanted to get as much from her point of view as possible. My sister and I grew up cooking out steaks with our dad. We asked for extra pepperoni on our pizza. So you can see why I was surprised to find out she gave up something I thought she enjoyed. I asked her what inspired her to make this change, and what she said seemed to be pretty consistent among those who make this change. Animal suffering, environmental constraints and the health factors were the main reasons given.
What seemed to be the primary cause for her choice was cruelty to animals. I learned quite a bit about how livestock are treated prior to their “harvesting.” They are not always given the same treatment we expect to be given to animals that are considered our pets. Often times they are crammed in small cages denied any physical activity and altered genetically. For any human being that believes in fair treatment and that all life is important, this is something that could certainly make you think twice about supporting an industry that has a complete disregard for the life of an animal.
I never really thought of the environmental protection as a valid reason for becoming a vegetarian. That was before this project. The fact that it takes so much of the environment to sustain the amount of meat eaten each year was a surprise to me. I wanted to make sure to include this piece on my power point because I felt this was an important factor. Our earth cannot be duplicated and it is extremely important to preserve for the human race to survive. It takes an amazing amount of land and labor to generate what is consumed in a year. Land must be cleared for the animals to graze on. Cows consume large amounts of water. In fact, it takes over 2500 gallons of water to produce one single pound of meat. The fact that cattle emit an enormous amount of harmful gasses into the atmosphere plays a huge role in the destruction of the environment as well.
Her last reason for this lifestyle change was to better her health. As I included in the power point, meat eaters are nine times more likely to be obese than vegetarians. That is a vast statistic. Eating vegetables will also drastically reduce the risk for high cholesterol and other chronic diseases. Fruits and veggies protect against cancer, and vegetarians eat many more than the average meat eater. So you can see by this list alone the health benefits that come along with vegetarianism.
Through this project I learned that this is a personal choice that takes a lot of work to maintain. It takes commitment and proper planning to ensure that you are providing your body with the essential nutrients it needs to function. It also takes tough skin at times. As I did prior to this project, I thought of vegetarianism as a trend and gave my sister a hard time about her choice. This can make it difficult to follow your beliefs when there is always people asking “why” or stating “that doesn’t make sense.”
While I certainly have a new found respect for those that fall into this lifestyle, I can say that this is not the lifestyle for me. I will continue to support her decision and make an effort to stop giving her a hard time and admire her conviction.
