Veg.

For this years season of Lent i have decided to give up meat. I gave up meat last year about this time (but not for Lent), but i ended up eating again (eating your feelings sucks.) But anyway, it has been going very well so far. Of course i have been tempted with meat, but God has been helping me so much and having accountability from my friends has also been a blessing. It's hard, but it's something that i want to continue for the rest of my life.

I recently watched the movie Food Inc. (if you haven't seen it already, you must). I was completely shocked by this movie. I had no idea that all of this stuff was going on. Chickens have been genetically altered so that they grow to an enormous size in 30 days. They are unable to take more than just a few steps because their bodies are too big. Pigs, cattle, chickens and other animals are restricted to small cages where they can hardly move their limbs. These animals are kicked and treated so poorly. I don't agree with this at all. They are God's creation. They are being oppressed and abused. The farm workers are the same way. A person running a chicken farm borrows up to 500,000 dollars and only makes 18,000. what the hell is that? How much more oppressed can they get in the meat industry? I don't see how someone can know all that is happening in this industry and not be compelled to act?

*Animals who die for your dinner table die alone, in terror, in sadness and in pain. The killing is merciless and inhumane.

* Every minute of every working day, thousands of animals are killed in slaughter-houses. Pain and misery are common. In the US alone, 500,000 animals are killed for meat every hour.

*There are millions of cases of food poisoning recorded every year. The vast majority are caused by eating meat.

Although there is a huge issue with the way the animals and workers are being treated there ore other reasons as to why i want to discontinue my meat consumptiont. such as...

*African countries - where millions are starving to death - export grain to the developed world so that animals can be fattened for our dining tables.

* If we eat the plants we grow instead of feeding them to animals, the world's food shortage will disappear virtually overnight. Remember that 100 acres of land will produce enough beef for 20 people but enough wheat to feed 240 people.

*Half the rainforests in the world have been destroyed to clear ground to graze cattle to make beefburgers. The burning of the forests contributes 20% of all green-house gases. Roughtly 1,000 species a year become extinct because of the destruction of the rainforests. Approximately 60 million people a year die of starvation. All those lives could be saved because those people could eat grain used to fatten cattle and other farm animals - if Americans ate 10% less meat.

*The world's fresh water shortage is being made worse by animal farming. And meat producers are the biggest polluters of water. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat. If the US meat industry wasn't supported by the taxpayer paying a large proportion of its water costs, then hamburger meat would cost $35 a pound.

With the issue with the farm workers, the animals, the environment and world poverty, i cannot eat meat anymore. I can't eat meat when vegetarianism could solve world hunger. I can't eat meat knowing that what i am in eating lived with fear, sadness and pain before it's life was taken. I can't stand idly by when farm workers are being oppressed and treated so unfairly. I can't eat meat anymore. I won't eat it anymore. I have no intention of ever eating meat again. There is always a chance of messing up, but i pray that i won't. Btw, as a disclaimer, i don't hate meat eaters. I have a plethora of friends who eat meat and i don't think any less of them for it. This is something that i want to do and i will not pressure anyone to do it too. Would i like everyone to stp eating meat? yes. But i know that's not realistic.

hope you enjoyed my rant.