For the past five years, I have been a dedicated vegetarian. At first, it was for ethical reasons because I do not support the cruelty to animals within the factories of meat production.  After completing the carbon footprint calculator, I began to research more on the effects meat production has on global warming. Today, global warming is an extremely serious threat to the our environment. One way to reduce the the rate of global warming is to become a vegetarian. In a 2006 report, the United Nations stated that raising and producing meat emits more greenhouse gases than all of the car and trucks in the world combined. The raising of livestock emits a large amount of carbon dioxide, which increase the rate of global warming. In addition, the livestock industry leads to a large amount of methane and nitrous oxide emissions, which also contribute to the pace of global warming. Therefore, changing to a vegetarian diet would reduce the production of these gases, which would lead to the deceleration of global warming. Furthermore, the large amounts of waste from meat product ion factories is polluting many bodies of water, which leads to the detriment of our environment. Meat production causes such a large amount of destruction to the Earth and all for just a piece of steak. By becoming a vegetarian, you are no longer supporting the industry of meat production and making a step towards a more sustainable lifestyle. In the beginning, it is challenging to stay committed to a vegetarian diet but in the long run it is worth it. Vegetarianism is more healthy and sustains the Earth, it's a win win situation!

Marie-Claire, I think it is very inspiring that you made the personal choice to become a vegetarian at a young age! For a long time, I have been slowly educating myself about the impacts that eating meat and dairy have on our environment and health. Unfortunately, I have not been successful in completely changing my own diet, but I do make a conscious choice to limit how much meat and dairy I eat, which is one of the reasons my carbon footprint is able to be lower then most people. Some of the most influential statistics I have learned regarding the meat and diary industry come from the documentaries "Food Inc." and "Cowspiracy." I find it appalling how animal livestock is responsible for 65% of human-related emissions of nitrous oxide. I also find it scary how the World Energy Outlook predicted in 2014 that energy-related emissions will increase by 20% by the year 2040. For these reasons, I am going to continue being cautious of how much meat and dairy I eat, and hopefully shift to a completely vegan lifestyle one day!

Marie-Claire, I loved reading about your decision to be vegetarian and how it has changed since when you first started it. It is really interesting how you first decided to be a vegetarian because of the inhumane treatment of animals, not having any knowledge on how detrimental the meat industry truly is on the environment. I also liked the information you included, for example, I had no idea that producing meat has more emissions of greenhouse gases than all of the cars and trucks combined. I now understand why so many Americans and people across the world are becoming vegetarian and vegan. Aside from making a stand against animal cruelty and exploitation, people choose to be vegan in order to limit their carbon footprints. For example, it takes a lot of water and crops to feed the animals, and the transportation of the meat to a table is very costly. Another side affect of the meat industry is deforestation, with companies removing species' habitats just to crea te farms for their own financial gain.  I had never seriously considered becoming a vegetarian before, but reading your post and looking up more information on vegans has really changed my mind on the topic!