A little over a year ago I would come home from cheerleading practice, eat a turkey/roast beef/buffalo chicken sandwich and pretend I didn't feel bad about it at all. We've all seen or heard of those documentaries like Food Inc. or Cowspiracy; however, I know we've all also tried to avoid the daunting truth that the meat industry is immensely screwed up.
Ever since I can remember, I have been an activist for animal rights. At 10-years-old, my elementary school friend and I would stand outside of my dad's restaurant with cans collecting money to donate to the local ASPCA. Somewhere along the way, though, I lost that passion that I once had for animals and for the earth's health in general.
I devoted my senior year of high school to finding myself. I wanted so bad to be that passionate little girl I once was, so I spent lots of late nights facing those disturbing documentaries and reading up as much as possible about how the meat industry is essentially killing our planet.
First of all, 40 percent of our planet is used to keep us fed. This means that a little less than half of our planet is being used as farm land. However, 40 percent of our earth was not naturally farmland. So how do these farms get there? We cut down the natural landscapes such as forests, jungles, even marshes are made into farms by human hands. Not only do the animals on the manmade farms suffer, but the wildlife that once lived there naturally dies out and suffers as well.
Livestock production (meat, dairy, eggs, etc.) is responsible for 1/3 of our planet's water supply. Do you turn your faucet off while brushing your teeth? Or try and take shorter showers? That's a step, but that's not enough to save our waters.
A single pound of chicken takes 518 gallons of water to produce. And a single pound of beef comes up just behind with 441 gallons. Brushing your teeth and turning the water off in between rinses saves about 200 gallons of water per month. That's better than nothing, but cutting meat out of your diet can save about double that amount in a single day.
Among other reasons, the inhumanity of the meat processing industry is the most disturbing.
The only law that is in place to have meat considered to be "free roam" is that the animals can see the sunlight at some point in the day. That does not mean they have good lives or are fed the foods they are supposed to be fed. That does not mean that they have room to roam around the fields.
They are still pumped with antibiotics, unable to support their weight because they are too fat for their legs to bear. They are still in pain. They are still tortured.
I would never ask someone to change their diet or lifestyle just to match mine. But I am asking you to at least be conscious of what you are doing to our planet. Be conscious that you are not getting the whole picture by reading the labels. Be conscious of what you are putting in your mouth.
