I showed up to my Sustainability Studies class yesterday afternoon, fully expecting to be lectured on the ways to better communicate facts about the earth and its climate to the public. I was grossly mistaken. Instead, a guest animal rights activist on the path towards global veganism stood at the podium. At first, I thought “I didn't sign up to become a vegan. I signed up to be a voice for the earth", but I soon realized that in order to be a beacon of sustainable living, I would have to seriously consider making a few changes in my “normal", societal-issued diet.

Now, I'm not writing this to try to convert you overnight to veganism-I'm still eating how I was before class. The difference is, I am now conscious of the consequences of my food choices, and after I eat the groceries I bought this past weekend, I will try to slowly change my diet towards a plant-based variety. Now that that's out of the way, let me lay a few of those truth bombs on you.

In terms of animal cruelty and animal rights, the meat and dairy industry is one of the leading offenders, and our society is very hypocritical in regards to which animals we love and which we don't give the time of day. In China, the fact that markets sell dogs for consumption angers and astounds many of us. Yet we do the same to our farm animals, like pigs, cows, and chickens. What started the idea that we can love and treat some animals as our “family", while others are greeted with violence and disregard?

Society has implanted the idea in us all that only the animals we keep as pets have lives worth living. What surprised me most about the dairy industry is that it is actually far worse and more inhumane than the already horrific meat industry. I'll spare you the gory details she showed my class and move onto the environmental and societal damage.

If the animal cruelty doesn't make you feel upset and concerned, maybe the environmental statistics will. In an article we read in class, a statistic was brought up concerning the sheer mass of water used to keep the industries up and running. To compare the amount, think of it this way: you could save more water by not eating a pound of beef than by not taking a shower for six months (in California today, “Is Meat Sustainable?").

This insane comparison blew my mind! Consuming a pound of meat is not a hard feat in our society, and if you move the scale past yourself to include everyone else's meat consumption, the water loss is mind-boggling. A societal and global loss she mentioned also struck hard. The speaker mentioned that we could potentially end world hunger with the food that we feed our meat and dairy industry animals. This statistic is also not something to take lightly.

I would like to reiterate that I am not speaking from a vegan perspective-I am currently eating the meat and dairy that is in my apartment. It is unrealistic to make the switch to vegetarianism it veganism overnight, but knowing the facts and losing the ignorance about what we put into our bodies is the next step. However, after these truth bombs knocked the veil covering the truth about these industries away, I will make more conscious decisions the next time I grocery shop or eat out, and I urge you to do the same.