When it comes to diet what could be more eco-conscious or “green” than eating vegan? Plain and simple, a well balanced plant based diet is healthy and harmless. Living a green lifestyle shouldn’t stop with what we eat, it should extend to what we wear, which products we purchase and which companies and organizations we support.

All over the world, farmed animals are kept in the most appalling conditions and exploited to the limits of their endurance. Deprived of their basic freedoms, separated from their children, closely confined, forced to undergo stressful and often painful procedures, neglected, abused, ignored. Then slaughtered and butchered and eaten. You can help end their suffering today by adopting a plant based diet!

Your Daily Diet – It’s s very important to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables daily. These foods are naturally low in calories and provide essential nutrients and dietary fiber. They may also play a role in preventing certain chronic diseases. When compared to people who eat only small amounts of fruits and vegetables, those who eat more generous amounts as part of a healthy diet tend to have reduced risk of chronic diseases. These diseases include stroke, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, and perhaps cardiovascular disease and hypertension. Some heath experts believe that certain diseases can actually be reversed by eating a plant based diet. It’s also important to eat whole grains and to cut down on, or preferably, to eliminate processed foods especially hydrogenated fats. Generally, the more processed a food is the less nutrients it contains.

Agriculture — Agriculture in general is one of the most resource-intensive and environmentally damaging aspects of industrialized living. What this means for us as individuals is that if we are trying to reduce our car use, limit the amount of water we waste, become more ‘energy-efficient’ and generally lessen our environmental impact, then we should also examine our eating habits.

People are increasingly becoming aware of the direct correlation between what they eat every day and the health of the planet. Environmentally conscious consumers are concerned not only with food miles, over-packaging, pesticide use and GM foods, but also question the environmental sustainability of modern animal husbandry. Farmers used to be seen as ‘custodian’s of the countryside,’ but the overriding image of modern industrial farming is one of destruction and waste.

World meat production has quadrupled in the past 50 years and livestock now outnumber people by more than 3 to 1. In other words, the livestock population is expanding at a faster rate than the human population. This trend contributes to all of the environmental problems already outlined.

A report commissioned by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank concluded that factory farming, “acts directly on land, water, air and biodiversity through the emission of animal waste, use of fossil fuels and substitution of animal genetic resources. In addition, it affects the global land base indirectly through its effect on the arable land needed to satisfy its feed concentrate requirements. Ammonia emissions from manure storage and application lead to localized acid rain and ailing forests.”

Each year billions of animals are killed for food. The vast majority of these animals will have spent their brief lives in the cramped, distressing conditions of the factory farm. Their close confinement and the overworking of their bodies will have led to increased susceptibility to injury and disease. They will have been reared on an unnatural diet designed to increase productivity and many will have undergone various painful and traumatic procedures.

Those that make it to the slaughterhouse (and many do not – dying of neglect, exposure, disease, and starvation) must endure a final journey in over-crowded, under-ventilated vehicles, by land or sea, before they are killed and butchered.

The obvious way to help stop this suffering is by giving up meat. There is another step one can take which is to give up dairy. Dairy cows and laying hens are amongst the most ill-treated of all farm-animals. With their bodies being viewed as factories for food production, they are often over-worked and neglected. When they have been worked to the point of exhaustion, they end their days in the same way as those raised solely for the meat trade. No farm animal can avoid the slaughterhouse and the plate. Eating a vegan diet is the best way to prevent their suffering.

INSERT HERE INFO ON DISEASES DAIRY CREATES

Commonly Asked Questions

Where Do I Get Protein From?