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Allison McCain
Instructor Name
English 1301
June 28, 2017
Argument Paper: Veganism

I love living on this Earth, do you? The oceans are dying, humans are overusing the land,

and we have killed off so many different species of animals. Moreover, humans are so much

better off without meat and dairy, your body will thank you. By going vegan, you can help

reduce rainforest destruction (statistics), pollution, and climate change while saving water and

other important resources.

Raising animals for food produces more than greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars,

planes, trains, and all other forms of transportation combined. Air pollutants generated by animal

farms can cause respiratory illness, lung inflammation, and increase vulnerability to respiratory

diseases, such as asthma. By replacing your regular car with a Toyota Prius the average person

can prevent the emission of about 1 tonne of CO2 into the atmosphere, but by replacing an

omnivorous diet with a vegan diet the average person can prevent the emission of about 1.5

tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, which is 50% more. Not only is it ruining the air but it is also

taking a staggering amount of land and food that could be used for humans (starvation resource).

In the US, 70% of the grain produced is fed to farmed animals. Imagine how many

people could have been fed with that food. Furthermore, nearly half of the water in the US goes

to the same thing. It takes more than 2,400 pounds to produce only one pound of meat, and only

25 gallons of water to produce one pound of wheat. To produce a day worth of food for a meat

eater, it would take over 4,000 gallons of water compared to a vegan who would only take 300,

to truly show how steep the difference is.

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Global warming is one of the most dangerous threats to the environment in human

history. Scientists have figured that the Earth will eventually die but they never thought so soon.

Humans are single handedly creating their own doom. Animals raised for food create almost 130

times as much excrement as the entire human population, in result it runs off and pollutes our

waterways more than industrial sources. Run-offs of animal waste, pesticides, chemicals,

fertilizers, and hormones that are typically injected into the animals are contributing to dead

zones in coastal areas, degradation of coral reef and health problems in humans.

The three main factors in going vegan are ethics, health, and the earth. For me the most

important is the morality of it. It is proven that animals have emotions and that it causes pain

when they are killed, just like humans. How can we pet a dog with one hand and eat a chicken

with another? One of the counter arguments to veganism is that god put animals here for

humans to eat. My question back to that is, why would he make them able to feel pain if their

only purpose is to be eaten? Thefactremainsthatallscripturalpassagespertainingtoanimal

welfareareviewedwithinthelargercontextoftheChristianmessageofgraceandmercy

developedthroughouttheBible,thereexistsanevenstrongerargumentthatpromotesthe

humaneandcompassionatetreatmentofanimals.Asamatteroffact,averystrongbiblicalcase

forcompleteabstinencefrommeatandallanimalproductshasbeentaughtforyears.

Ifyoureabletogovegan,Idontseeareasonnotto.Veganismgivesyouaclean

conscious,knowingthatyoudonthavetokillanythingtolive.Forme,thehealthbenefitswere

immediate.Myacnedisappearedinonlydaysafterquittingdairyandmeat,andthenslowlybut

surely,Ifeltalotmoreenergeticandoverallhappier.Iamabletodrivepastfarmsandnotfeel

guilty.Togetbacktothemoralityofit,inwhatworldisitokaytocramthousandsofliving,

breathing,feelinganimalsintoonetinymetalbuildingawaitingtheirslaughter?Ialwayshear
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peoplesayingthatitisokaytokillananimal,aslongasitisinahumaneway.Howistherea

waytomurderanythinginahumaneway?Imaginebeingmurderedsomewhereinyourtown

andtheyeventuallyfoundoutwhodiditbuttheylethimoffbecauseheclaimshedidina

humaneway,itsnotfair.

Meat causes so many different health problems, when cancer researchers started to search

for connections between diet and cancer, one of the most noticeable findings was that people

who avoided meat were much less likely to develop the disease. Harvard studies showed that

daily meat eaters have approximately three times the colon cancer risk, compared to those who

rarely eat meat.

Peopleatschoolalwaysclaimhowmuchtheyloveanimals,astheyarecarryingtheir

leathercoatsandwearingtheirmakeupstraightfromlabsfullofanimaltesting.Theyareso

hypocriticalwhentheymoanandcryaboutothercountrieseatinganimalsthatarecherishedin

Americabutthencanturnaroundandeathamburgersmadefromcow,whichisasacredanimal

insomecultures.Veganismisntjustadietanymore,itsanentirephilosophy,adifferentwayof

life.

Works Cited:

"Facts on Animal Farming and the Environment." One Green Planet. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June

2017.
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"Can Vegetarianism Save the World? Nitty-gritty." Stanford Magazine -

Article. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 June 2017.
Anonymous. "Meat Consumption and Cancer Risk." The Physicians
Committee. N.p., 02 Nov. 2015. Web. 29 June 2017.