Save the Earth: Be a Vegan?

I woke up this morning, eager to do research about this word that we all have heard: veganism.  Today is my big day where I will interview Joel a somewhat novice to veganism, but he has been going it for a whole year. As I have spoken with several other "vegans" they often tell me that it is a slow process, many of them were meat eaters at some point in their life, and the transition is slow and a steady process.  Thus, I began my journey into veganism.  I googled the word, veganism, to see what pops up in the search engine.


It was quite fascinating the grandiose stats I found that were related to our class lectures in Dr. Hanes Monday and Wednesday Geography 125.  I am a meat eater and love meat, but after reading all these astounding statistics I was taken aback and of course am cutting down on my meat intake..


Take a look at these FACTS:


The world is growing, people are in dyer need of food and the Earth's resources are running out. This equation is perhaps on the down slope. But, there is HOPE!


Fact 1: The meat industry is a very complex industry that has many facets.  First, there is the factory that takes up a lot of space in order to house the animals.


Relates to GEO 125: this takes away deforestation where the forested land was now taken over by a large farm factory.  Farm owners have cleared the land for production of meat, but the forested land is ruined now due to the large farm factory sitting on the old forested land.  There is a large loss of biodiversity and an increased risk of endangering species due to the destruction of habitats and of certain animals homes (forest).  Lastly, because the forest was cut down and a new factory was built on it, wild animals that came to that area before for grazing would now create crazy breeding patterns and confuse the poor animals!


This is a great website for anyone who is intrigued/fascinated about the Vegan World or anyone who wants to read up on it! Do check this out!


http://www.vegan2050.org/Article-14-Frequently%2Basked%2Bquestions%2Babout%2Bveganism.html#heading1question3




* I decided to write this because while working our group started talking about food while at the Urban Ecology Center one evening near 5 pm.. Hmm perhaps we were all hungry, but at any rate while picking reeds out in early October, we had a good discussion about food and about health etc. Thus, Joe our advisor for the volunteers at the Urban Ecology Center talked about his experience as a vegan. Thus, I wrote a blog page about it to inform others! *




-Posted and Written by: Callie Beth Angsten-