10 Point Plan: 1 Consume fewer animal products
1. Consume fewer animal products
One of the most undesirable developments affecting the planet is our ever-increasing consumption of animal products such as meat, milk, eggs and cheese. You can, at the very least, reduce your meat consumption!
Why? Because eating meat initiates a chain of consequences:
a) Health:
Consuming too much meat has been shown to lead to many diseases of affluence, which now affect millions of people every year.
Meat consumption increases the risk of cancer, fatty liver disease, rheumatism, gout and other diseases of the joints.
Eating processed meat such as ham, sausage and salami is associated with an increased risk of illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.
b) Ethics:
Billions of people need a lot of meat, so meat products are produced industrially on a large scale.
In the overwhelming majority of cases (98%) livestock is raised under cruel and totally disgraceful conditions, only to be eventually killed in slaughterhouses. They live in a confined space, are pumped full of antibiotics and genetically modified growth hormones, which are then found in the meat we consume.
c) Ecology:
In order to produce meat, we need a lot of cereals and other feeds, which are then not available to humans.
Overall, it’s a terrible waste of resources.
Every year, many millions of people starve to death.
The need for large areas of arable land for animal feed not only means that plant food for humans is not grown there, but also leads producers to rob poorer farmers of their land, thus condemning them to poverty. Huge quantities of animal feces are spread on the fields and pollute the groundwater.
d) Climate:
Our high meat consumption is causing enormous damage to the climate. Cattle produce greenhouse gases. The production of one kilogram of cheese produces 15 kilos of carbon dioxide.
Added to this are the effects of long transport routes and the associated pollution.
Switching to a vegan diet would solve the climate problem sustainably and quickly.
Your Tasks:
- Inform yourself about the stated effects of eating animal products. Watch movies, read books and reports.
- Reduce your consumption of animal products in such a way that benefits your health. If you can, then become vegetarian (don’t eat meat) and later even vegan (don’t eat animal products).
- Become a role model for others. Don’t pressure them, but inform them and educate them. Foregoing the consumption of animal products is probably the most important contribution toward saving the world that a single person can make.
