get the facts right

I first thought about becoming a vegetarian in eighth grade. I remember sitting in the lunchroom with Deena and Emma and I told them this. But I didn’t want to rush into things, so I waited. Then, my freshman year, I was almost sure I was going to become one, but I found out I was going to China that summer, and I wanted to be able to try everything there, so I decided to wait.  When I got back, however, I still put it off. Well the previous year I had made a resolution to become a vegetarian by the end of that year. So a week before the next new years I decided that I would follow through with it. I officially pledged my vegetarianism on December 31, 2007, just in time. I have been a vegetarian for one and a half years now, and it is seriously one of the best choices I have made. 

Since then, I have reflected on my choice. I rethink why I did it, and if I still believe in those ideals that I did when I made the decision. I first decided to mainly because I didn’t think that eating animals was right. If there are other ways to get nutrients, why should we have to kill an animal to do so. 

Sometime during my sophomore year I decided that that was stupid. Humans are animals, animals feed on others to survive. It’s natural, the circle of life crap, you know. But I still had a problem with the way in which we produced the animals, like they’re just a commodity, not a living, breathing thing that feels pain. I saw those horrid videos of the cows throat being sliced only to have to walk around for the last five minutes of it’s life, tripping on its own blood. That’s not natural, that’s cruel. We mass produce livestock, forgetting that they are living beings. And so although I no longer thought that eating meat was wrong, I didn’t agree with how we did it.

Earlier this year I was talking with one of my favorite teachers, Dr. P. Every time I talk with this guy we always have a really insightful convo, both of us sharing our views and analyzing each others’.  He’s a very open minded guy. He isn’t set on any issue really which allows him to present both sides mostly objectively. We somehow got on the topic of vegetarianism and he asked me why I chose to become one. I told him that I had a problem with how we treat our livestock. We talked about this for a while and then he brought up the point about how other animals kill their prey. 

Injecting chemicals into them so they die a slow painful death was the one that hit me the most. I guess I had never seen things this way. Animals use what they’re given, they are not concerned with the means in which they gain their sustenance. If we are animals, then is it really so bad for us to be producing our meat the way we do? I had never once before seriously considered stopping being a vegetarian. 

But I have taken A.P. environmental science this year and I learned that being a vegetarian is one way to live more sustainably. This year I have gotten crazy serious about going green. Running around recycling bottles in the trash, taking used poster boards to Garlock, just whatever. The small things count. So now I think that my prime reason for continuing my vegetarianism is because I care about our planet. It’s something small I can do quite easily. 

But anyway, I was in french class today and my friend was talking about this skit Carlos Mencia did about vegetarians. He pretty much says that being a vegetarian is bad for our earth. He believes that the carbon dioxide and methane produced from cattle is used by the plants. The people eating all of these plants are hurting the environment because the reduced amount of plant life is unable to absorb the harmful greenhouse gasses of methane and carbon dioxide. 

My friend told me this, and this really pissed me off. First of all, cows produce way more methane than carbon dioxide. Methane is way more of a harmful greenhouse gas. Secondly, plants don’t absorb methane anyway. Third, most of the plants grown are grown to feed livestock. Fourth, each trophic level you go up, you lose 90% of the energy, meaning that the cows that eat the plants only are getting 10% of that energy, and when we eat the cows, we gets .1% of the original energy. So technically, if you turn grazing land into farming land, you would have much more energy and would be able to feed much more people, plus there would be no livestock to produce carbon dioxide and methane. 

Now, all of that might be a bit confusing, but what it come down to is that he’s wrong. But what really makes me mad is that people think was he's saying is true. In the video, people are cheering for him while he says this, acting like this is true. They believe him, my friend believes him. People will use Carlos Mencia, a comedian, not a scientist, to justify their meat eating and to condemn vegetarians. And that really pisses me off. 

It’s people like him that say stupid shit that prevent change. I’m not saying you have to become a vegetarian, I don’t push my beliefs on anyone, but don't believe its the vegetarians killing this planet. Consider the source. 

peace.