Why do people choose to eat meat? It's not a physical need for most, we are not truely equipt as carnivores. It certainly isn't good for the world, check out these facts:
-each vegetarian saves 1 acre of forest a year
-1/3 of the fossil fuels in the US are used for raising animals as food - the cattle and chickens who are tortured throughout their short lives only to be killed when pumped with anti-bacteria and hormones to speed up the death process
-producing a single hamburger patty takes as much fossil fuel to drive a car 20 miles and enough water for 17 showers - think of those people who suffer from drought the next time you want to bite into a succulent piece of ground up animal flesh
-55 sq feet of forest dies for 1 quarter pound hamburger
-More than 260 million acres of US crops have disappeared to make room to raise animals as meat - meat we don't need
-1 acre of trees disappears every 8 seconds to make more room for animals to be raised for meat
-the
tropical rain forests disappear even more quickly, 1 acre every 2
seconds, mainly to grow genetically modified soybeans to feed the animals that you'll be feeding on later.
-more than 80% of corn and 95% of oats is given to animals to be eaten in meat in America - that's food we could be eating, or better, giving to countries that live in starvation
-the
world's cattle being raised for meat consume a quantity equal to the
caloric needs of 8.7 billion people, more than the world's population - if noone ate meat there would be enough food for everyone on earth
Think about that the next time you choose to eat meat. Rant over.
Now this isn't to say that I don't respect the people who hunt for their own meat because of climate and cultural beliefs. It's just that there's a large group of people out there who have the choice to eat whatever they feel, and to them I say, as long as it doesn't inflict pain on others, go for it. Problem is, if you eat cows or pigs or birds or even fish, you're doing harm. It's difficult to deny your body of mental temptation, believe me, I know. But if you had yoga teachers like I did to remind you everyday of the slaughter that happens to innocent victims (being the animals) you'd be making a post like this too!
And don't forget practicing yoga will ease the pain!