| Ahimsa is a practice, implying that the process is important. Becoming more aware of the interconnectedness of our planet and all its beings is a gradual development. The practice of ahimsa is to strive to cause the least amount of harm, but you may not always be perfect. Having compassionate intentions and beginning to make small changes in your lifestyle is a good start. The following are some eye-opening statistics on the conservation aspects of vegetarianism: ...Raising animals for food causes more water pollution in the United States than any other industry because animals raised for food produce 130 times the excrement of the entire human population: 87,000 pounds per second! Much of the waste from factory farms and slaughterhouses flows into streams and rivers, contaminating water sources. ...Each vegetarian saves an acre of trees every year! More than 260 million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to grow crops to feed animals raised for meat, and another acre of trees disappears every eight seconds. The tropical rain forests are also being destroyed to create grazing land for cattle. Fifty-five square feet of rain forest may be razed to produce just one quarter-pound burger. ...Of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in the United States, more than one-third is used to raise animals for food. Producing a single hamburger patty uses enough fossil fuel to drive a small car twenty miles and enough water for seventeen showers. ...Of all agricultural land in the United States, 87 percent is used to raise animals for food. That's 45 percent of the total land mass of the United States. ...More than half the water consumed in the United States is used to raise animals for food. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat. A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, whereas a meat-eating diet requires 4,000 gallons of water per day. ...In the United States, animals raised for food are fed more than 80 percent of the corn we grow and more than 95 percent of the oats. The world's cattle alone consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people - more than the earth's entire human population. In addition to the devastating effects of a meat-eating population on the earth, the animals raised to produce food are treated monstrously. NOTE OF CAUTION: Some of the following statements illustrating the cruel treatment of animals in food production ARE DISTURBING. This kind of information is often swept under the rug, but perhaps reading these harsh facts will make us think twice about eating meat and using animal products. ...Chickens were the first animals to be factory-farmed. Male chicks are usually thrown into garbage bins; female chicks are stuffed into wire cages after their beaks are cut off with no anesthesia by a clipping machine. Many chickens die from shock during this procedure. ...Egg-laying hens are crowded into cages so tight that their feet sometimes grow around the wire. The cages are stacked on top of each other, and excrement from chickens in one cage often falls on the chickens under them. They live like this for most of their short, stressed lives. When they can't lay any more eggs, they are slaughtered for meat. ...Millions of the cats and dogs that are euthanized every year by shelters and veterinarians end up in rendering plants. Most brands of commercial pet foods contain these rendered ingredients. So does livestock feed, which eventually becomes your hamburger. Source: PETA. |
| "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." -Mahatma Gandhi |
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| Rabbits in stocks for cosmetic testing. -Source: PETA |
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| Ahimsa |