 George Bernard Shaw, an Irish playwright, once uttered, “Animals are my friends...and I don’t eat my friends,” forever altering how individuals perceive animal life around us. These words of wisdom and compassion precisely sum up the essence of veganism. To be characterized as a vegan, one must omit meat, dairy, eggs, honey, or any other product derived from an animal in their diet. The food we put into our bodies directly affects how we feel and coincides with our health, coming as no surprise that people have begun to pay increased attention to the vegan lifestyle. By looking at human health, the environment and inhumanity, we can see that consuming animal products has a negative effect, therefore our intake of meat and dairy must be limited. Subsequently, upon making this change, we are more in tune with nature and begin to see animals as creatures with feelings who live for their selves, not for our sake, befriending the world instead of being against it.

It is implanted into our minds that eating abundant amounts of milk and meat are essential components of a healthy diet, when, in actuality, filling our plates with dairy products, animal protein, and eggs can be detrimental to our well-being. As we grow up, we are instructed to consume these foods if we desire to obtain the essential nutrients needed to become “big and strong.” A vegan lifestyle goes beyond animal rights by providing a lifetime of exceptional health. On average, herbivorous eaters live six to ten years longer than their carnivorous counterparts and are protected against some of the largest diseases currently impacting our country. Implementing a vegan regimen provides us with needed nutrients, minus the heap of saturated fat, cholesterol, and contaminants found in animal products. As research by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals, “greater than 40 percent of all cancer cases are preventable, and the American Cancer Society reports that one-third of all cancer deaths in the United States can be attributed to unhealthy eating habits” (PETA). Certain attributes of a vegan diet may offer protection against breast, prostate, colon and various other cancer types. Those who adopt a vegan cuisine of vegetables, grains, fruits and other foods made only from plants are between 25 and 50 percent less likely to develop these malignancies. The consumption of carcinogenic foods, for instance, beef, pork, lamb, and chicken, are noted to promote cancer within the population. Heart disease is the number one health dilemma in the United States. According to the American Heart Association, it is the “single leading cause of death” (Craig 11). Meat, eggs and dairy, each high in cholesterol and saturated fats, compile lardaceous substances within the walls of the arteries, blocking blood flow and impairing normal bodily functions. Strokes arise analogous to that of heart attacks as the fatlike elements being consumed clog the arteries supplying blood to the brain. This particular apoplexy is the third leading cause of death in America, succeeding only that of heart disease and cancer. Obesity, the silent killer, is gradually becoming the sole acclaimed cause of preventable death in the Country, avoided by factors within our dietary control. It is by no means astonishing that animal products contain a higher fat content than plant-based foods, reinforcing the statistic that meat-eaters have three times the obesity rate of vegetarians, whilst nine times the obesity rate of vegans who shed the pounds and maintain a balanced weight. Adult vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than those who consume meat. George C. Wang, doctor of internal medicine epitomizes “Open your heart and minds to the importance of veganism for personal health as well as the health of the planet,” further outlining its values. 

Of course, it is plausible to be an overweight or obese vegan similar to the possibility of existing as a thin meat-eater. Many beginners of this lifestyle see the word “vegan” on a label and assume it’s nutritious, but it’s imperative to examine the ingredient list and alimental information to see how much fat, sugar, and salt a product contains, potentially equaling that of an animal by-product. Veganism may demonstrate positive results for some, but yield ineffective for others, justifying the need to work with your unique body form. Consequent to eliminating central food groups from one’s diet, the potential risk of missing out on needed nutrients and micronutrients escalates, jeopardizing the proper intake of calcium, vitamin D, iron, vitamin B12, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids received daily (Dwyer 2). If you do choose to follow a vegan diet, apply all the same principles that you would to any healthy balanced diet: eat plenty of different fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, and make sure you are aware of the nutrients you may be at risk of developing a deficiency for. 

When envisioning where the animal products we consume derive from, what comes to mind are cows grazing leisurely in acres of luscious farmland, pigs rolling around in the mud, and chickens comfortably laying eggs within the comfort of their coops. The truth is, farms similar to this depiction rarely exist anymore. Few are aware of the magnitude of energy, water, food and land that goes into raising these animals for consumption, which in turn, causes them immense suffering. 

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has shown that animal agriculture is globally the single largest source of methane emissions and that, pound for pound, methane is more than 25 times as effective as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in our atmosphere (Angle-Traegnee 68).”

 Methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide join forces, causing a vast majority of climate change and reducing your carbon footprint can be as simple as cutting out animal-based foods from your diet. Climate change, humanities ultimate challenge, and the world’s gravest environmental hazard, impacting agriculture, human health, ecosystems, water supplies, and the livelihood of individuals. Conscientious people believe that in order to combat climate change, driving fuel-efficient cars and using energy-saving lightbulbs proves adequate, but these measures frankly aren’t enough. “For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of the forest has been destroyed,” and it’s not just the rainforests, “In the United States, more than 260 million acres of forest have been clear-cut for animal agriculture. With increased per capita meat consumption, and an ever-growing population, we can only expect to see more deforestation in the future” (Vegan Outreach). The intense, resource depleting process that requires feeding considerable quantities of grain and water to pasteurized animals then killing them, processing, transporting, and storing their protein ultimately does more harm than value. Forests, absorbers of greenhouse emissions, are demolished with the purpose of supplying grassland and cultivating crops to nourish farmed animals. The animals themselves and the manure they render emits all the more greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. According to the U.N., the meat, egg, and dairy industries account for an astonishing 65 percent of worldwide nitrous-oxide diffusion and is approximately 300 times deadlier as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (Vegan Outreach). Our countries factory farms generate roughly 89,000 pounds of chemical and bacterial waste each second all without the use of treatment systems, allowing harmful toxins from the sewage to poison our air and water every day, making it no wonder our environment is in serious trouble. 

There was, however, a point in our evolution where consuming meat was necessary for survival and is credited as one of the many reasons we’re here today. We have evolved as an omnivorous species, born with innate abilities to devour other animals’ flesh and predator characteristics of forwarding pointing eyes and four sharp teeth called “canines.” Archaeologists assert “eating meat made us human, enabling the brains of our prehuman ancestors to grow dramatically over a period of a few million years,” making it biologically implausible for humans to evolve such a large brain on a raw, vegan diet (O'Neill 18-19). Farmers and scientists have found effective ways to obtain a larger quantity of meat from every cow, resulting in a decreased cattle inventory. As the population and appetite for meat continue to grow, livestock keepers are obligated to improve animal diets, so they can produce more protein with better feed, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Though meat consumption in the U.S. has dropped off slightly in recent years, at 270.7 pounds per person a year, we still eat more meat per person here than in almost any other country on the planet (Wang).  If we continue this mass level of food production, the environment won’t be able to support our habits for much longer. 

Many people consider themselves as animal lovers and advocates but are quick to turn a blind eye towards the inhumane animal practices currently transpiring. Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher once synopsized, “The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" To say the least, the lives of these animals raised for slaughter are miserable and people tend to forget these creatures sense pain identical to the means humans do. Today’s factory farming exhibits some of the most obscene practices, housing over eight billion helpless animals who are confined to uncleanly crates, sheds, and cages. Investigations and industry whistle-blowers have revealed abuses on farms and in slaughterhouses so horrific, most people cannot even bear to witness them. The phrase “time is money” reigns as a central motive for production companies with the primary focus on profit, endeavoring the task of slaughtering, skinning, scalding, and dismembering as many animals as possible in a single day. It’s a frequent occurrence for manufactory lines to be moving at such a fast pace that the methods applied to kill the animals rarely holds effective and causes a plethora of pain and suffering. Production animals, such as the particular used for dairy and eggs, are forced to spend a prolonged period in these horrendous conditions. A cow can potentially exceed a lifespan of 20 years, but are typically killed by the age of four and marketed as beef for carnivorous consumers. Calves birthed from dairy cows vary in purpose depending on their gender: females commence their lives at 13 months of age as dairy cows, while males are butchered within a time span of a few hours to four months (PETA). Chicks bred for egg production endure a similar separation process: females become egg-laying hens while male chicks are killed upon hatching due to their lack of use. They are kept stored in cramped warehouses with little room to simply turn around, often debeaked to prevent cannibalism within the flock. 

The Animal Legal Defense Fund actively pursues developments concerning legal strategies that allow improvements to be made regarding the current law. Aside from their ample numbers plus the severity of abuse they suffer, activists are awaiting a day when farmed animals receive better protection under our legal system, lessening the suffering of millions, even billions, of animals. Despite popular belief, there are zero federal laws that set humane care standards for animals in factory farms and let’s face the facts, there is no such thing as humane meat.

“Even when farmed animals are covered by state anti-cruelty laws, prosecution for abuse is rare, due to factors like limited investigative resources and the fact that most abuse occurs behind closed doors at windowless facilities” (PETA).

If equivalent anti-cruelty laws protecting house-hold pets were enforced on farmed animals, many routine U.S. farming practices would be illegal in every single state. Jay Bost, The New York Times writer, began with the premise that “ethical” should be “defined as living in the most ecologically benign way,” the foundation is to cause the least amount of suffering possible (King). Humans have a duty to protect and care for animals and humans because both have the ability to experience pain and fear. It has been argued that modern ways of harvesting for cropland motivate more animal deaths than eating grazing cows. The animals who die for plant crops, comprising of mice, moles, rabbits, and other creatures, are run over by tractors or lose their habitat to make way for farming. In spite of these assumptions, they simply don’t hold true. The novel, Ninety-Five: Meeting America's Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs, theorizes that “95 is the average number of animals spared each year by one person's vegan diet and that each meat-eating individual consumes 7,000 animals over their lifetimes,” (King 17). 

As the global population and appetite continue to grow, it’s imperative to acknowledge the animal-free ways of consumption that are benevolent and far more beneficial in sustaining our planet’s increasing society. Healthy lifestyles currently dominate mainstream media and social functioning with more and more people realizing their duty to leave meat off their plates for good by embracing a healthy and humane vegan diet. It is of the essence to take responsibility for our individual choices because every decision counts, and the choice to eat animal products can have a bigger impact than one might realize. Feeding a larger quantity with fewer resources through following a vegan diet will not only maintain our well-being but will lighten our ecological footprint while minimizing harm to wildlife. Ultimately, it is in the hands of individuals to decide what is important and how they wish to use the power they possess. 
