New Years Resolution: NO MORE MEAT!

I have always wanted to become a vegetarian, and I am finally making it official as my New Years Resolution of 2009. I have never liked red meat, and usually when looking through a menu, something with poultry or pork is the last thing I would pick. So I know it won't be hard for me. But I guess I am considered a semi-vegetarian, or "pescetarian", since I am still allowing myself to eat fish and shellfish, as long as they are not farm raised.

There are a number of reasons I have decided to do this. I have always been an animal lover, and Earth freak. My biggest reason is ethics. I believe that the production and slaughtering of animals is unethical, and I have seen first-hand behind the scenes in farming facilities and slaughterhouses, and it was really awful to me. Chickens are penned up in pens no larger than their own bodies, and their feet actually grow into the pen. Their beaks have to be cut off so they don't peck at each other, and they can't even turn around. They live like this until they are killed. Then when they're slaughtered, they are dipped in boiling water to loosen their feathers, and sometimes they don't even fully die, and suffer. Same goes for cows. They are kept in a stall so small they can't turn around, and after seeing how they slaughter them in an animal science class in 2004, I never wanted to eat meat again... That lasted 6 months, but when I worked at Reds Meadow, since all they really serve are meaty meals and I was working 11 hours a day with no rest, I needed the extra protein.

Another reason is environmental. I believe the production of meat and animal products for mass consumption, especially through factory farming, is environmentally unsustainable. According to a 2006 United Nations initiative, the livestock industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation worldwide, and modern practices of raising animals for food contributes on a "massive scale" to air and water pollution, land degradation, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. In addition, animal agriculture has been pointed out as one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases – responsible for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalents. By comparison, all of the world's transportation (including all cars, trucks, buses, trains, ships, and planes) emits 13.5 percent of the CO2. Animal farming produces 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide and 37 percent of all human-induced methane. The habitat for wildlife provided by large industrial monoculture farms is very poor, and modern industrial agriculture has been considered a threat to biodiversity compared with farming practices.

Another reason is health. Studies have shown vegetarianism significantly lowers risks of cancer, heart disease, and other fatal diseases. It's been said that vegetarians tend to have lower body mass index, lower levels of cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and less incidence of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, renal disease, osteoporosis, dementias such as Alzheimer’s Disease and other disorders.


I am still eating fish as long as they are not farmed, and dairy products, just less of them. I will still be getting an adequate amount of proteins and iron, as I know what to subsitute meats for. So don't be worring about me! I know what I'm doing, and I'm proud to do it.