Arguing text -The problems of meat eating

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When it comes to the matter of eating meat or avoiding it, most of the discussion is about animal rights. Many vegetarians give priority to the animals welfare and they condemn the modern way of treating animals in the meat industry. Those who advocate animal food are disagreeing that animals have the same right as humans and they often do not hear about any other arguments not to eat meat. In fact there are several other reasons to keep a vegetable diet, one of them is the health-aspect. Animal products contain a lot of saturated fat and proteins and too much of those contribute to heart diseases, obesity and other health problems. But the most important argument against animal food as I see it is the insanely huge waste of sustenance. That angle of the question is far too rarely paid attention to.
Few people know how much the meat production contributes to the global starvation. The world’s population is increasing faster each year and there is not enough of the earth to hold and feed us all. In 50 years we are going to need six to eight times more land than today to keep our standard. Soon there is not going to be any more forests to devastate, and breeding meat animals enquires huge land arias. A patch of land that can feed 12 people with grain can only feed one person with meat. Today some of the meat animals are actually made into fodder for larger meat animals, so that we have even more waste of sustenance. The longer food-chain the larger waste.
38% of the world’s crop is used as fodder to meat animals. Most of it is exported from poor countries to North America and Europe so that we can have our meat food. Poor farmers in starving countries are forced to sell their crop instead of eating it. If the land should be used to grow vegetable food for humans in stead, at least 10 millions of the starving people could be fed (the calculation is made by Council for Science and Technology in the USA). With these figures in mind, anyone could agree that the production of meat is an extreme waste. Even so, the very majority of people in the western world choose to keep an animal diet.
Humans do not need meat in order to survive, not with today’s possibilities to transport crops between areas with different climate. There is very possible for us to provide ourselves with all the necessary nourishment through all kinds of vegetables. Many experts claim that animal food is an important part of a varied, healthy diet, and I am willing to agree that some people may feel better eating that way. That, however, does not mean that it is reasonable to eat meat products three times a day in the amount that people do today. Most people could easily restrict their meat and fish consuming at least to two meals a week and profit the rest of their needs from other provisions. Vegetarian food is often known as dull and tasteless, but that is in my opinion without reason. It is only about what you are used to, and if you are only willing to make an effort there is many ways to vary the menu. It is true that vegetarian meals in general take a little more time to prepare than “ordinary” food, but not excessively. I am getting concerned about the human race when people are too indolent to try some small changes that can make great difference to their own health, the environment and the global situation.
For me a meat-free diet has been a matter of course for six years. It was for the animal’s sake that I quit eating meat. I found the meat industry evil and disgusting, I placed animals in level with human beings and I declined me the right to eat other living creatures. Today I have changed my main reasons for my diet. It is not mainly about animals but about human rights and world equality. I think that it is totally incongruous and indefensible that some people are living in such abundance while the rest are starving. If we together can solve a great part of the global famine only by changing our food habits, I think that it is no less than our responsibility to do so. Culinary dissatisfaction, made-up health issues and shortage of time are lousy excuses for avoiding this uncomfortable but very simple matter. I find it rather ironic that some people pay money to organisations that...