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Vegetarian & Vegan Choices: 10 Reasons
- 1. VEGETARIANISM AND VEGANISM: THE RIGHT CHOICES Content: Purpose & definitions Reason 1: God’s Commandment Reason 2: Global hunger Reason 3: Global warming Reason 4: Health Reason 5: Animal welfare Reason 6: Conditions in the meat industry Reason 7: Cost & food security Reason 8: Human nature Reason 9: Spiritual development Reason 10: Aesthetics Famous vegetarians & vegans Quotes about vegetarianism Videos, reports and other resources
- 2. PURPOSE & DEFINITIONS The purpose of this presentation is to help people make more informed choices of food and beverages, leading to a reduction in the overall consumption of animal products Vegetarian: a person who does not eat meat Vegan: a person who does not consume or use any animal products, such as meat, fish, eggs, cheese, milk and leather
- 3. REASON 1: GOD’S COMMANDMENT The 6th Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill” "He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man“ (Isaiah 66:3) According to the Bible, the first people were vegetarians "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food” (Genesis 1:29) "What I want is mercy, not sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6)
- 4. REASON 2: GLOBAL HUNGER Raising animals for food is extremely inefficient. Animals raised for food have to eat as many as 16 pounds of grain to create just 1 pound of edible flesh. There is more than enough food in the world to feed the entire human population. While more than a billion people are chronically hungry, 40% of the world’s grain is fed to farmed animals. It takes about 300 gallons of water per day to produce food for a vegan, and more than 4,000 gallons of water per day to produce food for a meat- eater.
- 5. REASON 3: GLOBAL WARMING More than 50% of greenhouse gas emissions come from raising animals for food and dairy (or “livestock production”) The dairy sector accounts for about 4% of man- made global warming; the rest is due primarily to the production (and consumption) of meat These figures do not account for the consumption of “seafood,” estimated at about 110 million tons annually
- 6. REASON 4: HEALTH Vegetarians and vegans have a significantly lower incidence of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, gallstones, obesity, food-borne illnesses, and mortality. Meat has a lot of toxins. Soy provides all essential amino acids in addition to proteins. Over 70 animal diseases can be transmitted to humans through meat-eating, including mad cow disease, swine flu, bird flu, salmonella, and e-coli. “Regular” milk is very harmful for humans.
- 7. REASON 5: ANIMAL WELFARE About 58 billion land animals are killed every year worldwide. The figure does not include sea creatures, wild animals killed by hunters, animals killed for fur or leather, and wildlife displaced by animal agriculture. In 2006, the global “production” of fishing and aquaculture reached approximately 144 million tons, of which 110 million tons (76.4%) were used for human consumption. All living creatures, including for example lobsters and mice, can feel pain. Some animals have senses that humans do not. Insects also have senses that are triggered by stimuli and a nervous system that translates stimuli into a response. “He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” ~ Immanuel Kant
- 8. REASON 6: CONDITIONS IN THE MEAT INDUSTRY The money-hungry farm animal industry exploits poor people, immigrants, and children. According to figures from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly one in three slaughterhouse workers suffers from illness or injury every year, compared to one in 10 workers in other manufacturing jobs. Killing animals is inherently dangerous work; the fast pace, filthy killing floors, and lack of training make working at a slaughterhouse "the most dangerous factory job in America," according to Human Rights Watch.
- 9. REASON 7: COST & FOOD SECURITY Generally meat is more expensive and takes more time to prepare. Staples such as rice, corn and beans can make trips to a grocery store less expensive. The biggest savings most likely come later from health-care costs. Vegetarianism also enhances a nation’s self- sufficiency in food production and overall food security. For example, depleted fish stocks in many countries will not be sufficient to meet rising demand.
- 10. REASON 8: HUMAN NATURE The American Dietetic Association notes that most of mankind for most of human history has lived on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets The prominent Swedish scientist Karl von Linne states, "Man's structure, external and internal, compared with that of animals, shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food” Our teeth, saliva, stomach acid, and intestines are most similar to other herbivores, and dissimilar to carnivores and true omnivores Our so-called "canine teeth" are not at all comparable to the really long and pointed teeth of carnivores
- 11. REASON 9: SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT “The most merciful shows mercy to those who have mercy on others. Show mercy to those on earth, and the One above the heaven will show mercy to you." ~ Prophet Mohammed "If a man eats meat, he will take on the qualities of the animal he eats and once those qualities enter, the man's anger, his hastiness, and his animal qualities will increase. If he does not kill anything on the inside he will not kill anything on the outside." ~ Islamic Holiness M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen “The eating of meat extinguishes the seed of great compassion.” ~ Buddha "I do feel that spiritual progress does demand, at some stage, that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants." ~ Mahatma Gandhi "When one becomes a vegetarian, it purifies the soul“ ~ Isaac Bashevis -- singer, author, Nobel laureate
- 13. FAMOUS VEGETARIANS & VEGANS Listing every famous vegetarian could fill a town's phone book. Here are some names of people who are vegetarian and/or vegan: Bryan Adams, Casey Afflek, Vishwanathan Anand, Pamela Anderson, Aristotle, Alec Baldwin, Brigitte Bardot, Drew Barrymore, Kim Basinger, all members of the Beatles, Victoria Beckham, Pierce Brosnan, Buddha, Jackie Chan, Deepak Chopra, Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Phil Collins, Confucius, Jennifer Connolly, Penélope Cruz, Leonardo da Vinci, Darwin, Peter Deunov, Danny DeVito, Princess Diana, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dr. Dre, Bob Dylan, Clint Eastwood, Thomas Edison, Einstein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Ford, Benjamin Franklin, Mahatma Gandhi, Richard Gere, Supreme Master Ching Hai, Thich Nhat Hanh, George Harrison, Anne Hathaway, Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Imbruglia, Michael Jackson, Samuel Jackson, Mick Jagger, Steve Jobs, Kafka, Abdul Kalam, Immanuel Kant, Coretta Scott King, Dexter Scott King, Lenny Kravitz, Lisa Kudrow, Tommy Lee, Sean Lennon, Avril Levigne, Carl Lewis, Lincoln, Tobey Maguire, Mahavira, Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley, Ricky Martin, Steve Martin, Paul McCartney, Alyssa Milano, John Milton, Moby, Demi Moore, Alanis Morrissette, Mya, Martina Navratilova, Petra Nemcova, Newton, Sinead O'Connor, Rosa Parks, Guy Pearce, Pink, Brad Pitt, Plato, Plutarch, Natalie Portman, Prince, Prodigy, Pythagoras, Sade, Seal, Steven Seagal, Jerry Seinfeld, George Bernard Shaw, Brook Shields, Alicia Silverstone, Socrates, Queen Sofia of Spain, Tabu, Henry David Thoreau, Justin Timberlake, Tolstoy, Tina Turner, Mark Twain, Shania Twain, Liv Tyler, Mike Tyson, Van Gogh, Voltaire, Alice Walker, Vanessa Williams, Kate Winslet, Reese Witherspoon
- 14. QUOTES ABOUT VEGETARIANISM “As long as Man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.“ ~ Pythagoras "As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.“ ~ Tolstoy "Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.“ ~ Thomas Edison "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.“ ~ Einstein "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.“ ~ Gandhi
- 15. VIDEOS, REPORTS AND OTHER RESOURCES “Animal Agriculture: The Facts” (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcjyn2GFJxk&feature=player_embed ded “Why Animal Milk is a Deadly Poison” (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIn_ZjDoTYo "A New Global Warming Strategy: How Environmentalists are Overlooking Vegetarianism as the Most Effective Tool Against Climate Change in Our Lifetimes“ (article) http://www.earthsave.org/globalwarming.htm “The Case Against Meat” (article) http://www.emagazine.com/archive/142 “Meat the Truth” (film) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uTJsZrX2wI “Earthlings” (film) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gqwpfEcBjI “A Cow at my Table” (film) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zn3j1aRses
Editor's Notes
- Animal sacrifices were never a law of God. In fact, God prefers that we don't sacrifice animals. This is what is meant by "To do charity and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice" (Proverbs 21:3).
- If we stopped intensively breeding farmed animals and grew crops to feed humans instead, we could easily feed everyone on the planet with healthy and affordable vegetarian foods. Producing the grain that is used to feed farmed animals requires vast amounts of water. You save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you do by not showering for an entire year.
- “We are in a planetary emergency.” ~ Al Gore, former US Vice President The amount of land used to grow crops to feed livestock is 10 times we need to grow crops for human consumption. As a result, land is in great demand, leading to the decimation of enormous swaths of rainforest and other wilderness. In fact, 70% of the former Amazon rainforest is now used for pastureland. Food for a vegan can be produced on only 1/6 of an acre of land, while it takes 3 1/4 acres of land to produce food for a meat-eater. If we added up all the arable land on the planet and divided it equally, every human would get 2/3 of an acre – more than enough to sustain a vegetarian diet, but not nearly enough to sustain a meat-eater. Producing a calorie of meat protein means burning more than 10 times as much fossil fuels and spewing more than 10 times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide as does a calorie of plant protein. 80% of the water used and 70% of the grain grown in the States goes toward animal agriculture. In the United States, over 90% of all agricultural land is devoted to livestock agriculture in some form. Deforestation throughout Central and South America — as well as in the United States — is largely the consequence of clearing forests to create grazing land for cattle. In its 2006 report “Livestock’s Long Shadow. Environmental Issues and Options,” the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimated that livestock alone is responsible for 18% of all global GHG emissions (number 1 cause of global warming)
- Albert Levie in The Meat Handbook says that over 70 animal diseases can be transmitted to humans through meat eating. According to William Castelli, MD, director of the Framingham Heart Study, vegetarians live 3 to 6 years longer than meat eaters. He said, "vegetarians have the best diet. They have the lowest rate of coronary disease of any group in the country and they have a fraction of our heart attack rate and they have only 40% of our cancer rate.“ According to John Robbins, author of “The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World,” vegetarians live 6 to 10 years longer than meat-eaters. "In my view, no chemical carcinogen is nearly so important in causing human cancer as animal protein“ ~ Dr. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Director, The China Health Project The evidence for the link between the consumption of animal products and diseases such as cancer and diabetes can be found in numerous scientific publications. Here are some of the ill effects: Suppression of immune system and damage to formation of memory and ability to learn Rheumatic diseases through the ingestion of arachidonic acid in fish and meat Osteoporotic fractures due to sulfurous amino acids which can cause demineralization of bones Tumours due to the increased concentrations of an insulin-like growth factor Diabetes Milletus
- Factory farms and slaughterhouses set up shop in the poorest regions of the United States, where they can use poor and uneducated people to do their dirty work for low wages. The farmed-animal industry often lures immigrants far away from their homes with false promises of good jobs, knowing that these undocumented workers will likely not report unsafe conditions for fear of being deported. Kids in their early teens have even died while working in animal-processing plants, and Multinational Monitor called Tyson Foods one of the world's "Ten Worst Corporations" because it hires people in the United States who are too young to work legally.
- Meat-eaters have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding, while humans have no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding. Meat-eaters have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly, while humans have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length. Meat-eaters have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat, while humans have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater. Unlike meat-eaters, humans have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains. Our so-called "canine teeth" are not at all comparable to the really long and pointed teeth of true carnivores and even to those of other plant-eaters (like gorillas, horses, and hippos) and chimps, who are almost exclusively vegan. Vitamin B12 isn't made by animals, it's made by bacteria. Our need for B12 is tiny -- 3 micrograms a day; not milligrams, micrograms. The amount of B12 one needs for an entire life is smaller than four grains of rice.
- Aggression levels are much higher in meat-eaters than in vegetarians. Fruits and vegetables have a higher vibrational aura than animal products. “You are what you eat.” When animals are slaughtered, fear and aggression enzymes are shot into their cells from their glands and other organs, just as in humans, and are part of the dead carcass that goes on to the food store.