Why I’m plant based

Photo by Dean Xavier on Unsplash

The human ego is a powerful and sometimes dangerous thing. We as humans believe that we are the most important living thing on earth and that the earth is ours to use as we want and that every other living thing is simply a passenger. Other creatures have a very vital part in the world we share. If humans left earth today, the world would thrive in our absence. But if certain creatures, like bees for example, left this earth, it would be disastrous for all life. Yes we have made huge developments in technology, agriculture and other innovations and these are very important and helpful for our development, but somewhere along the way we have forgotten about our role in the greater scheme of things.

I first gave up eating pork before I became vegetarian. I slowly started to make the connection between what was on my plate and the suffering that animals endure. I did not give up beef and chicken until maybe a year later. The process can be quite slow. I believe this is due to the brainwashing that we have been put under from big meat companies via commercials on TV and internet.

Here is a list of reasons why I’m plant based:

• Lessening my contribution to animal suffering. You could argue that it is a personal choice to eat meat, but what about the animals choice to live. In the Western world, we don’t really have an excuse to eat meat
• Discovering new ways of fueling my body. Consuming different kinds of plants packed with proteins, carbs, vitamins and minerals with little to no cholesterol and saturated fat
• Reducing my risk of heart disease and cancer and reducing inflammation
• Reducing the effect on the environment. According to climatenexus.org, animal agriculture is the second largest contributor to human made greenhouse gas emissions after fossil fuels and is the leading cause of deforestation, water and air pollution and biodiversity loss
• Reducing world hunger by not eating meat. Every year an estimated 41 million tonnes of plant protein is fed to US livestock to make them as big as possible for slaughter. If some say that “humans are more important than animals", then why can’t we feed our starving.