Imagine being born to die. This is not a horror novel; this is reality. Every year, eight billion animals are killed for food. The only life they know is a cruel one. Being a vegetarian not only saves animals from sadistic slaughterhouses, but keeps you healthy and protects the environment. Is a life for a lunch really fair?

Slaughterhouses are cold blooded. As Ingrid Newkirk once said, “Recognize meat for what it really is: the antibiotic- and pesticide-laden corpse of a tortured animal.” During transport for cramped farm to death-house, animals are packed in trucks, barely with enough room to breathe. Some state laws order that they should at least have enough room to walk around. Torture is not in short supply. Chickens, cows, pigs, and everything else that ends up on your plate know suffering quite well. Workers break cows’ legs so they cannot run away from their impending death. They rip eggs not completely delivered yet from hens and throw them at other employees, laughing. When it’s time for the defenseless creatures to be killed, they do not receive the peaceful death we all hope for. No, instead they have their throats slit and are allowed to bleed to death. Or, the animals are hung upside down and have their organs cut out. While they are still fully conscious. Animal cruelty is wrong ; it’s illegal. Why should slaughterhouses be the exception to the rule?

A meat free life is a healthier life. Contrary to popular belief, meat is not needed to maintain a balanced diet. You can get all the vitamins you need to stay healthy from a good vegetarian diet. Vegetarian food is lower in fat and carbohydrates. This keeps your heart healthy and fights off diseases. Food poisoning and stomach-related issues are less likely – there’s no bad meat to cause problems! Have you ever wondered what cows and chickens eat? Yeah, well, it’s not the organic grass, grown lovingly on the farm that we all hear about. Hormones and chemicals – that’s how they survive. These things transfer. Poison, yum.

Saving the animals also saves the planet. Two thousand and five hundred gallons of water are used to produce a single pound of beef. One percent of that is used to grow one pound of grain. At this rate, we’ll be out of water before we know it. One third of fossil fuel worldwide is used to grow animals for food. That fuel could be used for something better than murder. A United Nations report states that raising animals to be killed generates more greenhouse gases than all of the worlds’ automobiles combined. All of them.


If the United States alone reduced meat consumption by ten percent, we would be able to produce enough grain to feed sixty million people. So, save a life, save a tree, save yourself. Go vegetarian.