Should Everyone Become a Vegetarian free essay sample

I have always held the view that killing an animal for food is morally wrong due to having being brought up as a vegetarian. Although I will maintain this lifestyle for as long as I live, I have begun to understand why the majority of people find vegetarianism a mystery. Around two million land animals are slaughtered everyday in the UK alone to be devoured by humans #. Whether this is a surprise to you or not, this is a big proportion of livestock and there is bound to be millions of more animals being killed for the same reason in the rest of the world. Despite this fact, these two million animals will be fed to over two million mouths in the UK. If farmers had to cut down on how much meat they produce or completely stop it all together, they would not be able to sustain a good way of life due to poor income. We will write a custom essay sample on Should Everyone Become a Vegetarian? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A way to resolve this would be to encourage farmers to commence dairy farming and grow a wider range of crops. Even though I can fully appreciate a meat eater’s point of view, it also bothers me that some livestock have to live in inhumane conditions #. These conditions include a vast number of cattle being crammed into a very small and tight area. I strongly feel that theses animals should be able to obtain a peaceful life while they are still alive. Just because they are going to die anyway doesn’t mean they should be treated horrifically during their lifetime. Imagine the human race having to live in small rooms, being fed a spoonful of food a day until the day we die. Humans, animals or any living thing all have to die some day and shouldn’t have to suffer before then. Another way to look at it is animals have been used for meat for over millions of years that it is almost a natural way of living #. It is like any other animals, for example, if a lion kills a zebra, is that not just the same as humans killing cows for instance? If livestock were to be set free into the wild, would they be able to survive? Some animals were born to hunt and other animals were born to be hunted, it is just part of life. However, I think eating eggs from free running hens is acceptable as hens lay eggs naturally through the duration of their lives. Taking and eating the hens eggs does not seem to bother or disrupt the hens which is one of the reasons why I think eating eggs is tolerable. People are obviously beginning o understand why buying free range eggs is so important as most supermarkets and grocery shops now sell them. Correspondingly, I feel it is okay to eat other dairy products produced from cows and goats that have been treated well but these types of products are more difficult to come across. A lot of vegetarians would agree that vegetarianism is just as healthy as a meat eater’ s diet. We get all of our protein from diary products such as eggs and just the same as everybody else, we get our vitamins from fruit and vegetables. According to selected sources, vegetarians do not have a very healthy lifestyle at all. Apparently fruit and vegetables are contaminated with sewage, sludge, viruses and pesticides but aren’t all foods just the same? It has also been proven that being a vegetarian or eating vegetables do not increase or decrease the risk of colon cancer #. In fact eating too much meat gives you high cholesterol which contributes to cardiovascular disease. This can then result in heart attacks, strokes and sometimes leads to a much more serious disease #. Many people don’t realise the effects vegetarianism would or could have on the world as a whole and third world countries. billion people suffer from hunger and malnutrition in the world and over 40 million people die each year due to starvation – most of which are children#. Also, in the US, livestock consume 70% of all the grain produced, that’s more than one third of the worlds grain diverted from feeding people to livestock #. If people were fed this grain instead of the livestock the number of people who die of starvation and malnutrition would decrease dramatically and would make a big difference. This is how much vegetarianism could affect these third world countries. The last issue to discuss is ecology and the environment. It may sound bizarre but this issue plays and equally large part of how vegetarianism can make a difference to the environment. Raising animals for meat in the rainforest can lead to rainforest destruction. Since the 1960s, 25% of Americas rainforests have been burned and cleared to create pasture for beef cattle and the cattle are then made into hamburgers which destroys 55 square feet of tropical rainforest. Cattle also affect global warming as their gas is harmful to the atmosphere. To conclude, I fully appreciate both sides of vegetarianism. Vegetarians have as good a health as people who eat meat. They can obtain the vitamins and iron they need to have a healthy lifestyle just like meat eaters are able to do. Unfortunately so many people who eat meat do not realise what goes on behind the process of meat such as the abuse and mistreatment of animals before they are slaughtered. I believe that if this was revealed to people, a lot of people would convert to vegetarianism. Personally, although I have been a vegetarian all my life and have never tasted meat, I still think eating meat is erroneous and cruel but it’s something I’ll just have to ignore.