Why should you become veggo? There are many answers to this question. We can break down the reasons into 5 categories,

Despite all these reasons, it is usual for someone to say, 'But what about...'.

We have included answers to most of these questions in the section, Responses to Questions, at the bottom of this page.

This is a very long article, but bear with it as it raises every possible point. It can change the way you look at meat eating.

Recycling, composting, and conserving water are all Earth-friendly activities, but the decision to go vegetarian is the single most important way you can help save the Earth.

Consider:

Conservation of Fossil Fuel. It takes 78 calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of beef protein; 35 calories for 1 calorie of pork; 22 calories for 1 calorie of poultry; but just 1 calorie of fossil fuel for 1 calorie of soybeans. By eating plant foods instead of animal foods, I help conserve our non-renewable sources of energy.

If every human ate a meat-centered diet, the world's known oil reserves would last a mere 13 years. They would last 260 years if humans stopped eating meat altogether. That is 20 times longer, giving humanity ample time to develop alternative energy sources.

Global warming, known as "the greenhouse effect," results primarily from carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, such as oil and natural gas. Three times more fossil fuels must be burned to produce a meat-centered diet than for a meat-free diet. If people stopped eating meat, the threat of higher world temperatures would be vastly diminished.

Water Conservation. It takes 3 to 15 times are much water to produce animal protein as it does plant protein. As a vegetarian I contribute to water conservation. More than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S. is consumed in livestock production. The amount of water used in production of the average cow is sufficient to float a destroyer (a large naval ship). While 25 gallons of water are needed to produce a pound of wheat, 5,000 gallons are needed to produce a pound of California beef. That same 5,000 gallons of water can produce 200 pounds of wheat. If this water cost were not subsidized by the government, the cheapest hamburger meat would cost more than $35 per pound.

Efficient Use of Grains. It takes up to 16 pounds of soybeans and grains to produce 1 pound of beef and between 3 and 6 pounds to produce 1 pound of pork, turkey and egg. By eating grain foods directly, I make the food supply more efficient and that contributes to the environment.

Soil Conservation. When grains and legumes are used more efficiently, our precious topsoil is automatically made more efficient in its use. We use less agricultural resources to provide for the same number of people.

Saving Our Forests. Trees, and especially the old-growth forests, are essential to the survival of the planet. Their destruction is a major cause of global warming and top soil loss. Both of these effects lead to diminished food production. Meat-eating is the number one driving force for the destruction of these forests. Two-hundred and sixty million acres of U.S. forest land has been cleared for cropland to produce the meat-centered diet. Fifty-five square feet of tropical rain forest is consumed to produce every quarter-pound of rain forest beef. An alarming 75% of all U.S. topsoil has been lost to date. Eighty-five percent of this loss is directly related to livestock raising. Another devastating result of deforestation is the loss of plant and animal species. Each year 1,000 species are eliminated due to destruction of tropical rain forests for meat grazing and other uses. The rate is growing yearly.

To keep up with U.S. consumption, 300 million pounds of meat are imported annually from Central and South America. This economic incentive impels these nations to cut down their forests to make more pasture land. The short-term gain ignores the long-term, irreparable harm to the earth's ecosystem. In effect these countries are being drained of their resources to put meat on the table of Americans while 75% of all Central American children under the age of five are undernourished.

Aesthetics. Decaying animal parts, whether in a freezer case or served in public restaurants can never be as aestheically pleasing to the senses as the same foods made from wholesome vegetable sources. Only habit can allow one not to perceive this; a change in diet makes this self-evident.

Here are some statistics that give you some idea of the impact eating, or not eating meat makes to the environment.

• Cattle in the US consume enough food to feed 8 billion people! If we turned the land over to soy production we could easily feed the worlds population twice over.

• Every year, about 125,000 square miles of rain forest (along with 1,000 plant and animal species) are lost - more than half of it is now used for grazing cattle. Vegetarians save an acre of trees every year.

• In an effort to conserve water, you install a water saver on your kitchen faucet, saving up to 6,000 gallons of water per year. Most of those savings will be lost if you consume just one pound of California beef (which requires 5,200 gallons of water per pound to produce). A typical American meat-based diet uses 4,200 gallons of water per person every day while a vegetarian diet uses only 300 gallons a day.

• More than half of the total amount of water consumed in the U.S. is used to irrigate land to grow feed for livestock.

• To produce a pound of protein from feedlot beef requires burning 40 times more fossil fuels than to produce a pound of protein from soybeans.

• Every second, 125 tons of waste are produced by animals raised by the meat industry. A typical hog factory farm generates raw waste equivalent to that of a city of 12,000 people. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that almost half of America's surface streams and wells are contaminated by "agricultural pollutants."

• Forty-five percent of the total land in this country is used to raise animals for food or for crops to feed these animals. Vegetarians require 1/6 of an acre of land to feed themselves each year; carnivores, 3 and 1/4 acres.

• Of all the raw materials and fossil fuels used in our country, more than 1/3 go toward raising animals for food.

• More than 3/4 of U.S. topsoil has been permanently lost; 85 percent of this loss was directly caused by the raising of animals for food.

• Cattle feedlots produce 30-100 million tons of methane gas per year, leading to ozone depletion and pollution.

• The price of meat would double or triple if the full ecological costs--including fossil fuel use, groundwater depletion and agricultural-chemical pollution--were included in the price tag.

• One half of the Earth's land mass is grazed by livestock (just a bit too much don't you think?!?)

• 64% of United States cropland is producing livestock feed

• Livestock consumed half of the world grain harvest throughout the 1980's (also just a bit too much!!)

• Livestock production accounts for over half of all water consumed for all purposes in the US

• 85% of US topsoil lost from cropland, pasture, rangeland and forest land is directly associated with raising livestock

• It takes 200 to 1000 years for nature to form one inch of topsoil. 52 million acres of the Earth's land is said to unproductive by desertification (caused by the overuse of land) annually. The main cause of desertification is cattle production.

• 25% of Central American rainforest has been cleared to create pastureland for cattle

• World livestock production is a significant factor in the emission of two of the four global warming gases: Carbon Dioxide and Methane

• Every steak people eat has the same global warming effect as a 25 mile drive in a typical American car

• This year alone, twenty million people worldwide will die as a result of malnutrition. One child dies of malnutrition every 2.3 seconds. One hundred million people could be adequately fed using the land freed if Americans reduced their intake of meat by a mere 10%.

• Twenty percent of the corn grown in the U.S. is eaten by people. Eighty percent of the corn and 95% of the oats grown in the U.S. is eaten by livestock. The percentage of protein wasted by cycling grain through livestock is calculated by experts as 90%.

• One acre of land can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes, or 250 pounds of beef. Fifty-six percent of all U.S. farmland is devoted to beef production, and to produce each pound of beef requires 16 pounds of edible grain and soybeans, which could be used to feed the hungry.

It is not entirely natural for humans to eat meat. All of our closest relatives (monkeys) are herbivores, as our bodies are designed to be. Humans are in-fact opportunistic herbivores. This means that when humans were hunter-gatherers we ate plant matter as our staple diet, and it was good for us. We could eat flesh if it was necessary to do so due to lack of plant matter. This would not be harmful for short periods of time but it was unhealthy, particularly for the heart, to continue eating large amounts of meat for an extended period of time. Consider:

No Deficiencies. There is absolutely no nutrient necessary for optimal human functioning which cannot be obtained from plant food. Contrary to popular belief, there are absolutely no negative health consequences caused by not eating meat, and it is easy to get enough vitamins, minerals and protein without ever eating meat.

High Fat Plus Cholesterol = Heart Attack. Animal foods are higher in fat than most plant foods, particularly saturated fats. They contain cholesterol; plants do not. Heart attack is the most common cause of death in the U.S., killing one person every 45 seconds. The male meat-eater's risk of death from heart attack is 50%. The risk to men who eats no meat is 15%. Reducing one's consumption of meat, dairy and eggs by 10% reduces the risk of heart attack by 10%. Completely eliminating these products from one's diet reduces the risk of heart attack by 90%.

Reduction in Reduction in

meat consumption heart attacks

by 10% : 9%

by 50% : 45%

by 100% : 90%

Cancer Prevention. Those who eat flesh are far more likely to contract cancer than those following a vegetarian diet.

The risk of contracting breast cancer is 3.8 times greater for women who eat meat daily compared to less than once a week; 2.8 times greater for women who eat eggs daily compared to once a week; and 3.25 greater for women who eat butter and cheese 2 to 4 times a week as compared to once a week.

The risk of fatal ovarian cancer is three times greater for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week as compared with less than once a week.

The risk of fatal prostate cancer is 3.6 times greater for men who consume meat, cheese, eggs and milk daily as compared with sparingly or not at all.

Of all the natural cancer prevention substances found: Vitamin C, B-17, hydroquinones, beta-carotene, NDGA -- none has been found to be animal-derived. Yet most meats, when cooked, produce an array of benzenes and other carcinogenic compounds. Cancer is infinitely easier to prevent than to cure. Soybeans, for one, contain protease inhibitor, a powerful anti-cancer compound. You won't find it in useful quantities in animal food.

Disease Inducing. The correlation between meat consumption and a wide range of degenerative diseases is

well-founded and includes...

Arthritis Hypoglycemia

Asthma Impotence

Breast Cancer Kidney Disease

Colon Cancer Obesity

Constipation Osteoporosis

Diabetes Peptic Ulcers

Diverticulosis Prostate Cancer

Gallstones Salmonellosis

Heart Disease Strokes

Hypertension Trichinosis

Obesity. Vegetarians tend to be thinner than meat-eaters, and studies contain it. Obesity is considered by many doctors to be a disease in itself.

Carbohydrate Deficient. Meat is deficient in carbohydrates, particularly the starches, which are so essential to proper health.

Vitamin Deficient. Except for the B-complex, meat is largely deficient in vitamins.

Agricultural Chemicals. Being higher on the food chain, animal foods contain fat higher concentration of agricultural chemicals than plant foods, including pesticides, herbicides, etc.

Exposure to Livestock Drugs. There are 20,000 different drugs, including sterols, antibiotics, growth hormones, and other veterinary pharmaceuticals that are given to livestock animals. I consume these drugs when I consume animal foods. The dangers therein, particularly in secondary consumption of antibiotics, have been well documented.

Pathogenic Micro-Organisms. There are a host of bacteria and viruses, some quite dangerous, that are common to animals. When I eat meat, I eat the organisms present in the meat. Micro-organisms are present in plant foods, too, but there number and potential danger to human health is by no means comparable. This is because animals are so close to us both anatomically and physiologically.

Worms and Other Parasites. Also common to animals. The same argument applies here as that for Pathogenic Micro-Organisms.

Shelf-Life Differential. Plant foods "last" longer than animal foods. Try this experiment: leave out a head of lettuce and a pound of hamburger for one full day. Which one will make you sick?

Organoleptic Indications of Pathogens. Plant foods tend to give tell-tale signs of "going bad" much sooner than animal foods. Did you ever hear of somebody getting sick from "bad broccoli"?

Intestinal Toxemia. The condition of the intestinal flora is critical to overall health. Animal products putrefy in the colon.

Transit Time. Wholesome food travels quickly through the "G.I. tract," leaving little time to spoil and incite disease in the body. Animal products uniformly have longer transit times.

Fiber Deficient. Fiber absorbs unwanted, excess fats; cleans the intestines; provides bulk and aids in peristalsis. Plant food is high in fiber content; meat, poultry and dairy products have none.

Body Wastes. Food from animals contain their waste, including adrenaline, uric and lactic acid, etc. Before adding ketchup, the biggest contributors to the "flavor profile" of a hamburger are the leftover blood and urine.

Excess Protein. The average American eats 400% of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for protein. This causes excess nitrogen in the blood that creates a host of long-term health problems.

Longevity. To increase one's risk of getting degenerative disease means decreasing one's chance to live a naturally-long, healthy life. Huzas and other peoples with large centenarian populations maintain lifestyles that require little or no meat.

Well-Being. I just feel better since "giving up" meat and becoming a vegetarian.

Pesticides. Unknown to most meat-eaters, U.S.-produced meat contains dangerously high quantities of deadly pesticides. The common belief is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture protects consumers' health through regular and thorough meat inspection. In reality, fewer than one out of every 250,000 slaughtered animals is tested for toxic chemical residues.

That these chemicals are indeed ingested by the meat-eater is proven by the following facts:

A. Ninety-nine percent of U.S. mother's milk contains significant levels of DDT. In stark contrast, only 8% of U.S. vegetarian mother's milk containing significant levels of DDT. This shows that the primary source of DDT is the meat ingested by the mothers.

B. Contamination of breast milk due to chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides in animal products found in meat-eating mothers versus non meat-eating mothers is 35 times higher.

C. The amount of the pesticide Dieldrin ingested by the average breast-fed American infant is 9 times the permissible level.

Antibiotics. Here are facts showing the dangers of eating meat because of the large amounts of antibiotics fed to livestock to control staphylococci (commonly called staph infections), which are becoming immune to these drugs at an alarming rate.

The animals that are being raised for meat in the United States are diseased. The livestock industry attempts to control this disease by feeding the animals antibiotics. Huge quantities of drugs go for this purpose. Of all antibiotics used in the U.S., 55% are fed to livestock.

But this is only partially effective because the bacteria that cause disease are becoming immune to the antibiotics. The percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin, for example, has grown from 13% in 1960 to 91% in 1988. These antibiotics and-or the bacteria they are intended to destroy reside in the meat that goes to market.

It is not healthy for humans to consume this meat. The response of the European Economic Community to the routine feeding of antibiotics to U.S. livestock was to ban the importation of U.S. meat. European buyers do not want to expose consumers to this serious health hazard. By comparison, U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries gave their full and complete support to the routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock, turning a blind eye to the threat of disease to the consumer.

Many of those who have adopted a vegetarian diet have done so because of the ethical argument, either from reading about or personally experiencing what goes on daily at any one of the thousands of slaughterhouses in the U.S. and other countries, where animals suffer the cruel process of forced confinement, manipulation and violent death. Their pain and terror is beyond calculation.

The slaughterhouse is the final stop for animals raised for their flesh. These ghastly places, while little known to most meat-eaters, process enormous numbers of animals each years. In the U.S. alone, 660,000 animals are killed for meat every hour. A surprising quantity of meat is consumed by the meat-eater. The average per capita consumption of meat in the U.S., Canada and Australia is 200 pounds per year! The average American consumes in a 72-year lifetime approximately 11 cattle, 3 lambs and sheep, 23 hogs, 45 turkeys, 1,100 chickens and 862 pounds of fish! Bon appetite!

People who come in contact with slaughterhouses cannot help but be affected by what they see and hear. Those living nearby must daily experience the screams of terror and anger of the animals led to slaughter. Those working inside must also see and participate in the crimes of mayhem and murder. Most who choose this line of work are not on the job for long. Of all occupations in the U.S., slaughterhouse worker has the highest turnover rate. It also has the highest rate of on-the-job injury.

Animals on factory farms (Not all animals are raised on factory farms, but many lower quality meats and fast food meats are raised in this fashion. Factory farming is on the increase. Even "well treated" animals live miserable lives.) are treated like machines. Within days of birth, for example, cows have their horns torn from their heads and chickens have their beaks seared off with a hot blade. Male cows and pigs are castrated without painkillers. All of these animals spend their brief lives in crowded and ammonia-filled conditions, many of them so cramped that they can't even turn around or spread a wing. Many do not get a breath of fresh air until they are prodded and crammed onto trucks for a nightmarish ride to the slaughterhouse, often through weather extremes and always without food or water. The animals are hung upside down and their throats are sliced open, often while they're fully conscious.

Every year in the U.S alone, more than 8 billion animals are slaughtered for food - that's more than 250 animals per second. Raising animals on factory farms is cruel and ecologically devastating.

For the morally conscious, eating meat should feel like a crime.

World Peace. There can never be peace among men while men are declaring war on other highly developed life forms. This, too, is the Law of Return, and I prefer to contribute to World Peace.

Clear Conscience. I know I'm doing right. I feel good inside about my decision to remain "meatless."

Food Costs. Vegetarian food tends to cost less than meat-based items.

Love of Animals. I love animals myself. I have no desire to kill them or cause them harm, just as I have no desire to have someone kill or harm me.

Stance Against Factory Farming. I cannot make a statement about the inhumanity of factory farming if I, myself, eat animals.

Respect for Sentient Life. I show gratitude to my Creator by eating as low on the food chain as possible.

Economic Vote. I support the meat industry and the way they operate when I purchase and use their products. I do not wish to do this.

Small Sacrifice. The sacrifice I make is nothing compared to the poor animal’s.

Reducing World Hunger. Much of the world's massive hunger problems could be solved by the reduction or elimination of meat-eating. The reasons: 1) livestock pasture needs cut drastically into land which could otherwise be used to grow food; 2) vast quantities of food which could feed humans is fed to livestock raised to produce meat.

Example. To live in this way is to project the underlying spiritual values to those around me.

Easy Substitutes. There is now a vegetable-based substitute for every meat product imaginable.

Note : These questions and responses have been compiled from many sources, particularly PETA.

From a moral standpoint, actions that harm others are not matters of personal choice. Murder, child abuse, and cruelty to animals are all immoral. Our society now encourages meat-eating and the cruelties of factory farming, but history teaches that society also once encouraged slavery, child labor, and many other practices now universally recognized as wrong.

Most of the animals who kill for food could not survive if they didn’t. That is not the case for us. We are better off not eating meat. Many other animals are vegetarians, including some of our closest primate relatives. Why don’t we look to them as our example instead of to carnivores?

Humans do, too, but that doesn’t give you the right to kill them or to cause them a lifetime of suffering.

Animals on factory farms do not gain weight, lay eggs, and produce milk because they are comfortable, content, or well cared for, but rather, because they have been manipulated specifically to do these things through genetics, medications, hormones, and management techniques. In addition, animals raised for food today are slaughtered at extremely young ages, usually before disease and misery have decimated them.

Such huge numbers of animals are raised for food that it is less expensive for farmers to absorb some losses than it is to provide humane conditions.

It’s unrealistic to expect that everyone will stop eating animals overnight. As the demand for meat decreases, the number of animals bred will decrease. Farmers will stop breeding so many animals and will turn to other types of agriculture. When there are fewer of these animals, they will be able to live more natural lives.

Life on factory farms is so miserable that it is hard to see how we are doing animals a favor by bringing them into that type of existence, confining them, tormenting them, and then slaughtering them.

Yes. We feed so much grain to animals in order to fatten them up for consumption that if we all became vegetarians, we could produce enough food to feed the entire world. In the U.S., animals are fed more than 80 percent of the corn we grow and more than 95 percent of the oats. The world's cattle alone consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people—more than the entire human population on Earth.

In the West, our problem is that we get too much protein, not too little. Most Americans get about seven times as much protein as they need. You can get enough protein from whole wheat bread, oatmeal, beans, corn, peas, mushrooms, or broccoli—almost every food contains protein. Unless you eat a great deal of junk food, it's almost impossible to eat as many calories as we need for good health without getting enough protein. By contrast, too much protein is the major cause of osteoporosis and contributes to kidney failure and other diseases of affluence.

Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Dietetic Association have endorsed vegetarian diets. Studies have also shown that vegetarians have stronger immune systems than meat-eaters and that meat-eaters are almost twice as likely to die of heart disease, 60 percent more likely to die of cancer, and 30 percent more likely to die of other diseases. The consumption of meat and dairy products has been conclusively linked with diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, clogged arteries, obesity, asthma, and impotence.

Actually, we have evolved not to eat meat. Carnivorous animals have curved fangs, claws, and a short digestive tract. Humans have evolved without claws or fangs. Our so-called "canine" teeth are minuscule compared to those of carnivores. We have flat molars and a long digestive tract suited to a diet of vegetables, fruits, and grains. Eating meat is hazardous to our health; it contributes to heart disease, cancer, and many other health problems.

In order for a cow to produce milk, she must have a calf. "Dairy cows" are impregnated every year in order to keep up a steady supply of milk. In the natural order of things, the cow’s calf would drink her milk (eliminating her need to milked by humans). But dairy cows’ babies are taken away within a day or two of birth so that humans can have the milk nature intended for their calves. Female dairy calves may be slaughtered immediately or raised to be future dairy cows. Male dairy calves are confined for 16 weeks in tiny veal crates too small for them even to turn around in.

The current high demand for dairy products requires that cows be pushed beyond their natural limits, genetically engineered and fed growth hormones in order to produce huge quantities of milk. Even the few farmers who choose not to raise animals intensively must both eliminate the calf (who would otherwise drink the milk) and eventually send the mother off to slaughter after her milk production wanes.

There are healthy and unhealthy vegetarians. But doctors agree that vegetarians who eat a varied, low-fat diet stand a much better chance of living longer, healthier lives than their meat-eating counterparts.

No, but you hired the killer. Whenever you purchase meat, that means that the killing was done for you and you paid for it.

I don’t know. Humans will go to extremes to save their own lives, even if it means hurting someone innocent. (People have even killed and eaten other people in such situations.) This example, however, isn't relevant to our daily choices. For most of us, there is no emergency and no excuse to kill animals for food.

First, you eat plants too; you have no moral ground on which to stand and criticize vegetarians' eating of plants.

I see the morality of what we kill as a sliding scale. Most everyone agrees that killing other humans is wrong. Almost no one thinks that killing malignant bacteria is wrong. So there's a line in-between the two somewhere.

Anywhere you draw the line, it will be arbitrary to some degree. What I've done is to make what I hope is the least arbitrary ranking of living things, and try to keep my killing as low on that list as possible. The least arbitrary place to draw a line on almost any hierarchical ranking of life forms is between plants and animals. But I'm also open to the idea of making a gray-area near that line. Mussels are extremely simplistic, plant-like creatures, and it's hard to argue that they belong on the same plane as humans.

On the other hand, pigs feel pain in pretty-much exactly the same way we do. They also experience complex emotions and can exhibit a high level of intelligence. Killing a pig seems to me very similar to killing a human being. Killing a spinach plant just doesn't seem to rank on the same level. I certainly can't

empathize as much with the nearly-inanimate spinach plant as I can with the pig that is screaming and trying to get away as people are trying to kill it.

Is empathy a good basis for determining morality? I don't see why not... it's a lot less arbitrary than reading some book written by a bunch of primitive desert nomads a few thousand years ago.

Is the scale I reference above with humans on top and plants on bottom correct? No, I don't think anything is absolutely right or wrong, but that scale is as un-arbitrary as a human can get, to date. I don't see anyone offering any alternative except: "Kill anything which is weaker than you for any reason whatsoever (and maybe don't kill humans because you might go to jail)." I think the vegetarian mentality is blatantly more moral.

Why should you? There is no compelling reason to eat meat, while morality, health, and the environment are all reasons not to kill animals for your pleasure and convenience.

Additionally, vegetarianism is a non-action. It takes no real effort to not eat meat. Being a vegetarian is one of the most dramatic ethical improvements you can make in your life compared to the amount of effort it takes. All you have to do is stop eating meat and you are suddenly leading a more healthy, moral, eco-friendly life.