Garden fresh.
As kids, we’re taught to turn off the faucet while brushing our teeth. We’re taught to keep our showers under ten minutes and carpool as much as possible. What they don’t teach you is that going one year without animal products will save more water than you’ll use showering over the next 55 years. With the New York Times reporting 2016 was the third consecutive warmest year on record, it’s unquestionable that man needs to take some action toward creating changes.
With the New York Times reporting 2016 was the third consecutive warmest year on record, it’s unquestionable that man needs to take some action toward creating changes. Global warming is happening and it is being accelerated by humans. If you disagree, you should stop reading now. To the other 99% of you who realize that the human race has a moral responsibility to help save the planet (but probably think veganism sounds crazy), you should keep reading. Eliminating animal products from your diet, popularly known as becoming a vegan, is the number one lifestyle change an individual can make to alleviate global warming.
The main link between veganism and alleviating global warming is that animal agriculture emits more Nitrous Oxide and Methane than anything else in the world. These two chemicals retain 300 times and 20 times more heat in the atmosphere than Carbon Dioxide, the greenhouse gas that we typically point our climate changing fingers at. Because of this, meat eaters emit up to seven times more greenhouse gasses than vegans do. Even the United Nations has asked that we reduce our animal consumption, recognizing it is a necessary step in saving the world from climate change.
Global temperatures have increased due to human behavior, so I’ve chosen to stop consuming animal products to do my part in saving the planet. I used to believe that veganism would be expensive, it would be unsatisfying and it would be difficult. I have learned, as you will too, that none of those things are true. Becoming vegan is proven to be cheaper and healthier than an average American diet. It does not change your day-to-day routine and it was actually easy to learn how to stick to. Organizations like PETA, Vegan Kit and countless others offer “How to be Vegan” guides, making the information easily accessible for anybody open to making the change.
We all have the choice to do what we can to help save our beautiful, blue planet from destruction. Or we can turn our heads the other way. But, as the Native American Proverb says, “It is only when the last tree is cut down, the last fish is caught, and the last river poisoned, we will realize that we cannot eat money.”
