Why are people vegetarians?!

This is a really great question. As you said, some people just don't really give a sh*t about the animals. Before I go into this, I want to say that this information comes from 48 informational sources...not PETA, not meatlessmondays.com, but stuff like the American Heart Association, the United Nations, Harvard, and so forth. There's a link provided in the source section if you want to check it out. It links to a powerpoint presentation that I gave on the subject, and you can download it or view it in the browser.


The Environment
Ditching meat is beneficial to the environment...as long as you don't grow it yourself or hunt it (if you have a small farm or hunt/fish, this section can be skipped). The cost to "grow" meat is very expensive. Just the water requirements for beef is pretty insane...a whopping 12,009 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef...400 gallons of water per pound of chicken (this includes water used to give to the animal, as well as the amount of water used to grow the food, used in transport, and tthe relatively minimal amount used to clean the animal). Compare this to potatoes, which require 60 gallons per pound, or rice, which is 229 gallons per pound. Pesticides are also heavily used on food for animals, moreso than on food for our consumption. Over half the pesticides used are used on five main crosp: corn, soy, cereals, cotton and rice, but most of that is fed to animals. In fact, 80% of US-grown corn is used for domestic and international animal feed. 30 million tons of soybean meal per year is also fed to animals, and cottonseed (and cottonseed meal) are used for livestock, poultry and dairy cattle. Not only do the soils have a hard time supporting this, but in order to grow that excess amount of food we do things like deforestation. The pesticides flow into the watershed, causing a serious amount of pollution. Perhaps you've heard of the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico? This is also from fecal run-off from the CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), which introduce stuff like E.Coli into the water but also into other crops. The E.Coli outbreak on spinach a couple years back is from feces from CAFOs.


The Workers (also pertains to factory farming and only factory farming)
Meat workers experience an increase in leukemia and lung cancer, even when all other factors are considered (like genetics, diet, smoker/non-smoker). The increased demand for meat turned the once-safe meat-packing industry into a very dangerous job. Workers lose limbs, parts of fingers and even their lives in this fast-paced job. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 25 million agriculture workers (so those growing the feed) are poisoned each year. If you care about your fellow man, US corn crops put Mexican farmers out of business and they were offered to work off the books (aka, illegally) in meat-packing industries along the border...the companies advertised in Mexican news and radio and even provided free transportation. The problem is that not only are the meat industries operating illegally (it's illegal to knowingly hire illegal immigrants), but they get away with it. The only people who suffer are the illegal immigrants.

The other issue is workers who are paid to "grow" animals like chickens in their own farm. A typical grower with two chicken houses has over $500,000 in loans...but is paid less than $18,000 per year. In this way, the industry really forces the farmers to stay with the company by increasing their debt. Keep in mind that every few years the farmers must purchase upgrades to existing equipment, driving them further into debt.

Health
For factory farming, E.Coli is a huge issue. The slaughterhouses process 400 cattle an hour, which means they don't have time to clean them properly. When tested, store-bought meats average 3600 CFU, even after chlorine baths (approved by the FDA, by the way) when the max limit is 133 CFU. That's pretty gross. Speaking of, in order to help kill off the nasty bacteria in things like ground beef, pellets soaked in ammonia are mixed into the beef prior to shipping. Again, this isn't from PETA but reported in the New York Times (you can google it). The reason all this crap goes on is because lobbyists for the meat industry allow the meat industry to police itself...meaning it's illegal for the USDA to come in and routinely test the products. The meat industry is supposed to do this themselves, which doesn't happen. The FDA in 1972 performed about 50,000 safety inspections, which dropped to under 2,200 in 2006.

Even if you don't buy factory-farmed meat, dairy and eggs, it's not exactly a healthy thing to consume. Casein, which is a milk protein making up 80% of the protein in milk, has been shown to promote ovarian, prostate and colorectal cancers.

[more below]

Estrogen has as well, and it is also found in milk (before anyone argues soy, keep in mind that the body processes "plant estrogen" differently from mammalian estrogen). High protein diets have been shows to harden the arteries and shrink the brain. The Harvard Nurses Study of Osteoporosis (done over 12 years with over 75,000 women) showed that women who drank the most milk in the study were more prone to osteoporosis. Meat also promotes arterial scarring by producing homocysteine when digested.


In other words, the stuff sucks!

Source
Powerpoint Presentation: http://www.mediafire.com/?90eani72hro80f…
Since this was designed to be viewed in bullet points and elaborated on during the presentation, feel free to contact me if you want me to elaborate on any of the bullet points.

Apparently you reap more energy from primary producers such as things that harness the sun's direct energy... rather than secondary or tertiary producers such as animals or their predators. Each move up the trophic ladder brings a diminishing of the energy you'll be able to get from the chemical bonds.

As for more ethical reasons, I can't tell you why vegetarians do what they do. Some truly say that meat tastes bad to them, it's just the way their taste buds developed. Others have to go off on some sort of nature-embracing animal love tangent. Still others believe some sort of lie that it's natural... these will be the same people who like to cite evolution all the time... funny how they omit the fact that we've evolved to have canine teeth for the shredding of fine MEAT!!!

An omnivorous man-beast.

Some people are vegetarian because they love animals and think slaughter is cruel. Others do it because they believe it is a healthier diet. Some do it because they think it's better for the environment. Personally, I am vegetarian for all of the above, plus the fact that I never liked the taste. Also, I'm not Hindu, but my religious beliefs call for me to respect nature and to harm no one.

my personal and religious beliefs

I am a vegetarian because of how they kill the animals, and the fact that we don't need meat to live. It is a healthy lifestyle, and it shows self-respect and determination. I find it disturbing what they do to animals, and I feel they don't deserve it. Like Paul McCartney said "If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian." I don't enjoy it when people talk bad about us. but it is you're point of view, but that is my reason. Animals. When people say they're gonna die anyways, I always reply. "Well, you're gonna die someday, does that give me the right to slit your throat and eat you?" :P

Hippie for life. Tree Huggers United

im a vegetarian cause i never ate meat when i was growing up. raised in a vegetarian family. not really any reason. i just don't. the animal cruelty etc all makes sense, but i've never eaten meat before and i'll continue this way for however long i want.

by the way my name rhymes with vegetarian (Y).

kinda.

not really. but yea.

im a vegetarian.

Because it's a much healthier diet! Do you think we'd have so many obese people waddling around in this world if everyone was vegetarian? Nope!

And I just have to add, I find it quite disturbing that you are unaffected by seeing a defenseless baby cow being tortured. I hope you are just a troll trying to fire people up. If not, I pity you.

I started because I watched the documentary called "Earthlings", and unlike you, I felt something. You don't want negative karma or negative energy in your body. It's healthier and better for the environment.

Vegan/Raw Vegan.

It scares me that someone could watch a baby animal get bashed to death and feel absolutely nothing.

But you figured you'd get that sort of reaction. That's why you posted this, right?

I care about animals. I don't think they should die to satisfy our taste buds when there are other options.I'm not some sick selfish person to watch calves get their skulls bashed and continue contributing to such horror.

people are vegetarians because they are pure Hinduism . they are not allowed to have meat in there kitchen or those who love animal they don't like to eat their meat

It's healthier, good for the planet, shows respect for animals.

Carnivore. I love meat.

*Your* lack of empathy for sentient creatures
doesn't mean that empathy in others is not a "real" reason to be vegetarian.

Health, religion, animal cruelty, medical issues.

Some people do care for animals.. Like myself but I do eat meat since either way they will be killed and I will eat them along with millions of other people!

Normal human

You sound like a sociopath.

because it is healthy.

There are none. Closest to a real reason would be to not eat red meat and instead eat fish. But that's not vegetarian.