 "Photo: Dane Koch")
I hate meat. I hate the taste, the smell, the bloody juice that runs from it when it's cut. I hate that the precisely cooked and seasoned piece of food on someone's plate was once a sweet, innocent animal.
Much to my parents' annoyance, I decided to become a vegetarian - or more accurately a pescatarian because I still eat fish for the protein - about two and a half years ago. I was sick of being forced to eat food I hated, and sick of knowing my food potentially came from a slaughterhouse. I didn't approve of animal cruelty, and refused to take any chances of that happening to the meat I was eating. But only recently did I realize abstaining from meat products was helping our environment.
Studies have found a consistent diet containing meat uses up to three times as many natural resources as a vegetarian diet, according to Vegetarian Society. Obviously, vegetarians don't have to feed their food.
The breeding of animals is not much better - cattle raising also has some negative effects on our environment. Raising and breeding livestock is contributing to deforestation, climate changes, soil erosion and huge expenditures of fossil fuels. Those poor cows are seriously harming our environment, just for the sole purpose of them being killed and winding up on someone's plate, chopped into pieces.
The livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and 64 percent of anthropogenic ammonia emissions that go straight into our ozone layer, according to a report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The release of these gases contributes straight to acid rain. Way to go, cattle ranchers.
This lifestyle can be exceedingly hard for many individuals, but choosing to cut back on meat is beneficial. If every person decided to be a vegetarian for a day, we could save 100 billion gallons of water and 70 million gallons of gas, according to Live Earth. Also, if every American skips one meal of chicken, the carbon dioxide saved would be equivalent of taking half a million cars off of the roads.
Yes, helping the environment is a great incentive for picking up vegetarianism, but people need to make sure they do their research first. Choosing not to eat meat is an important life decision, and plenty of research needs to be done beforehand. You can't just jump right into it.
Also, please note that just because you're a vegetarian, it doesn't mean that all you do is eat carrots and celery. There are plenty of meals and cookbooks out there strictly for the vegetarian lifestyle.
People also need to make sure they understand how to keep getting the nutrients they need once meat is absent from their diets. Only make the leap into this lifestyle after you know exactly how to obtain all of the essential nutrients. If your body doesn't adjust properly, go back to meat. You have to take care of yourself first.
I had a hard time getting enough protein, at first, because I detest the taste of beans and nuts. I refused to eat a significant amount, and I started getting sick because I wasn't respecting what my body needed. I added a small amount of fish in order to keep healthy, even though I still resented the idea of eating an animal. But it was necessary to keep myself from falling over from malnutrition.
Sir Paul McCartney said it best by stating that the biggest lifestyle change can help the environment is turning vegetarian. All we need is love - and vegetarians.
Therese Marucci can be reached at tmarucci@theorion.com
