Why Go Vegetarian?

Here are just a few of the key facts:

Vegetarians, on average, are the longest living people in the world.
Vegetarians have much lower rates of heart disease, certain cancers, stroke, high blood pressure and diabetes, the most serious diseases facing western society.
Vegetarians also face lower risks of other diseases such as osteoporosis, asthma, hemorrhoids and even appendicitis.
Many athletes are turning to a vegetarian diet, as they find they can improve their performance by improving their diet.

Scientists have determined that animals feel pain and can suffer in much the same way as we do.
Most farm animals today are raised on factory farms, where they are treated if they were objects in a factory. This results in very harsh conditions including extreme over-crowding and other unnatural and unsanitary conditions.
Both traditionally raised and factory farmed animals wind up at a slaughterhouse. Many exposés have documented inhumane treatment in slaughterhouses, giving substance to the old saying that if slaughterhouses had glass walls we’d all be vegetarians.

The raising of livestock generates more global warming gases than all the cars, trucks, trains, ships, and planes put together
Livestock is the biggest cause of deforestation, soil erosion, and a leading source of water pollution.
Raising livestock consumes vast amounts of non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels compared to producing vegetarian food.

Feeding grains and other crops to animals instead of people wastes 90% of the calories and 96% of the protein.
This inefficiency is a leading cause of global hunger, and as global meat consumption rises, it’s only going to get worse.
For every one meat meal, twelve vegetarian meals could be raised on the same land and resources.

Vegetarian diets are considered a perfectly acceptable option in all the world’s major religions. For many, a vegetarian diet represent voluntarily going beyond minimum requirements.
A surprising number of religious leaders throughout history were vegetarians. Today, many religious leaders and members of various religions and traditions consider vegetarian diets to be spiritually enhancing.