Persuasive Essay On Vegetarianism

Old MacDonald had a farm, 
E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm, he had cows, chickens, sheep, pigs, and everything else that he needed to run a livestock farm. Despite the average carnivorous diet, I believe that vegetarianism is the right approach in solving issues with our environment, such as global warming, habitat destruction and water conservation. Meat-eaters participate in the destruction of the earth, and I will prove that switching to vegetarianism and foregoing meat in the everyday diet, helps the environment in more ways than one. A vegetarian diet comes with several benefits, where land, air, and water can be preserved, while simultaneously slowing down the process of global warming.

As the turn of the twentieth century approached, the livestock industry became increasingly more powerful than ever before, and meat became much more affordable for working class families (Best). That was, until Francis Moore Lappé’s book, Diet for a Small Planet was published in 1971, and exposed the grave danger that the meat industry set upon the environment and specifically the earth’s land (Best). With a population that grows as rapidly as the human civilization does, it is imperative that changes are made to ensure habitat conservation for years to come, and it seems that a vegetarian diet is the way to help. Livestock farms and land to grow feed for those animals has taken the space of some of earth’s most wonderful resources, using up recreational land, wildlife habitat, and wilderness. The average American diet consists of 270 pounds of meat each year, and that rounds up to approximately 20 acres of land (Vidal). Livestock is said to take up 30% of dry land on earth, and 80% of the agrarian land within the United States. Becoming a vege...

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...y the size of a deck of cards, and people can still eat three of these portions weekly while reducing pollution from meat production, and improving our health at the same time (Thomas).

With such a simple solution to environmental issues right in front of our eyes, what’s the hold up? More and more people should turn to a vegetarian diet in order to save the environment from the destruction that we cause each and every day. With statistics such as the fact that we can help more with a vegetarian diet than we get by riding a bicycle, it seems like we as a civilizations are choosing the wrong answers. Vegetarianism is proven to be a better diet for our environment, and to choose this diet is to choose a reduction of greenhouse gases, as well as habitat and water conservation. Take action against the damage we do to our own earth, and choose a vegetarian way of life.