THEY TOO FEEL

When the butcher goes to catch a lamb to slaughter it , does the lamb readily offer itself? No, Never. It tries all possible ways to escape death, though all in vain.

Animals want to live. They love Life and fear death and above all, they feel mental and physical pain no less than we humans. They feel joy, affection, and pleasure, as well as fear, grief, and pain. Like us, they form deep friendships and emotional bonds and like us they seek to preserve their lives and, like us, they will fight and plead for their lives till their last breath. Like us, they also have an individual and social life.

-When we love our pet dogs and cats, why don't we extend this compassion to other animals as well? Farm animals also feel pain and emotional stress the same as humans, and certainly as much as your domesticated pets do.

It is imperative that we should abstain from non-veg items. The basis of temperance could be logical, personal health-concern, environmental. Or better it could be visceral, ethical or spiritual.

WORLD HUNGER:

1. LAND: Meat production is actually taking food out of people's mouths. A large percentage of land is used to grow crops in order to feed the livestock industry .This land could have been used for agriculture to feed human population. Forest are cleared for Cattle ranches.Twenty-six percent of the Planet’s ice-free land is used for livestock grazing and 33 percent of croplands are used for livestock feed production. Livestock contribute to seven percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions through enteric fermentation and manure.

2. WATER : Raising animals for food requires up to 10 times more water than growing crops for direct consumption. Already limited freshwater supplies are diverted to animals for their hydration, sanitation, and the cultivation of the forage used to feed them. a cow will drink up to 90 liters of water every single day. Grain-fed livestock consumes 100,000 liters of water for every kilogram of food they produce. It takes 100 litres of water to produce 1 kg of potato; 4000 litres for 1 kg of rice and 15000 litres for 1 kg of Beef. Not to mention the Oil guzzled in the production process of meat and its transport.By eating a vegan diet, National Geographic says an individual saves an average of 600 gallons of water.50 percent of the grain trades around the world is used for animal feeds or biofuels. Some 38 percent of the world's grain crop is now fed to animals, as well as large quantities of soybeans. There are three times as many domestic animals on this planet as there are human beings.It takes twenty-one pounds of protein fed to a calf to produce a single pound of animal protein for humans. The output to input ratio is so less.

HEALTH:

one of the single most significant causes of heart disease is dietary cholesterol. Our bodies make all the cholesterol we need, so consuming animal products contributes excessive levels. (There is no cholesterol in plant foods). Animal products are also loaded with saturated fats, which, unlike unsaturated fats, cause the liver to produce more cholesterol. Scientific research shows that saturated fat and cholesterol clog arteries. X-rays show that giving  up meat and dairy and adopting a low fat plant and starch based diet can re-open those arteries. Fortunately, for most people, preventing coronary heart disease is as simple as eliminating animal products, eating a healthy plant-based diet, exercising, and avoiding cigarette smoking. But beyond prevention, a plant-based diet is the only treatment that has been scientifically proven to reverse heart disease.

ENVIRONMENT:

According to the 2006 United Nations report Livestock's Long Shadow, "the livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." The livestock sector is probably the largest source of water pollution (due to animal wastes, fertilizers, and pesticides), contributing to eutrophication, human health problems, and the emergence of antibiotic resistance. It accounts also for over 8% of global human water use. It is by far the biggest cause of land use, as it accounts for 30% of the global land surface. It is probably the leading player in biodiversity loss, as it causes deforestation, land degradation, pollution, climate change, overfishing, and invasions by alien species. Livestock is also responsible for 20% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main cause of the current climate change. This is due to feed production, enteric fermentation from ruminants, manure storage and processing, and transportation of animal products.

Some 60 billion land animals and another approximate 60 billion to 1 trillion marine animals are slaughtered each year globally. It is a pity that billions of innocent lives are dependent just on food Choice made by humans. If we can live healthy lives without harming anyone, without inflicting pain, why wouldn’t we? Is our craving for taste and tongue pleasure more important than a being's life?