While veganism may feel like just a trend for instagram celebrities, it has the potential to help the planet and the people. As nutrients go through the food chain they lose their value. So while you can get some nutrients from the grass a cow eats when you eat a hamburger, you would get more nutirents from just eating a plant to begin with. What this means is that people do not need to eat as much, or spend as much money on food, to get the nutirents we need to survive. Cutting meat and other animal prducts out of your diet may not sound like it could impact ut environment, but when thousands of people make an effort it has the potential to help the planet. First, while our demand for meat is increasting exponentially, we are taking land to give animals the space they need. "According to scientists at the Smithsonian Institution, seven football fields’ worth of land is bulldozed every minute to create more room for farmed animals and the crops that feed them"(PETA.org). Going vegan, not as an idividual, but as a human race would give us much more room for plants. These  would not just be for food, but also as CO2 sinks which could help lower the levels all around the world. 80% of agricultural land in the US is devoted to animals and food for them even though the suggestion is to eat only about 19% of meat. Additionally, meat diets produce more CO2 than vegetarian diets, thus directly working to slow climate change through a simple dietary change. Forcing a diet on humans as a whole may not be an option, but encouraging people to cut down on animal products has the power to help save the planet by cutting down less trees and using less space on land for the meat industry.

I think that veganism would help, but I know a lot of people aren't willing up to give up all animal products, and I think that vegetarianism would also make a difference. People would be more willing to give up meat, and I think that meat is more of the problem anyways, because in order to get meat the animal has to be killed. Then more animals are required in order to produce enough meat. I think that because you don't have to kill the animals to get products like milk or eggs, the same animal could supply more food, and therefore less animals would be needed.

I am vegetarian and it is my opinion that it is better for the environment, but I just read this article from the Washington post that was pretty surprising. According to them, having a vegetarian diet causes energy use to go up 38%, water use to go up 10%, and increases greenhouse gas emissions by 6%. Kind of interesting.

I also agree with this. Unfortunately, I have also discovered a side effect of becoming vegetarian. According to an article published by Harvard Medical School, Vegetarians engage in diets that lack Omega-3 Fatty Acids. This is unfortunate because Omega-3 Fatty Acids are one of the key substances that help people to keep a healthy brain. This could be dangerous to people as it can lead to mood swings, depression, and undue anxiety.

I agree with this. Although, I have researched that there are some affects of being a vegetarian. A site I found online called MNN or Mother Nature Network has stated that a review by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that vegetarians have a lower incidence of all cancers than meat eaters, but have a higher incidence of coloteral cancer than meat eaters. They have a 39% chance og getting coloteral cancer.  Also, another side affect of becoming a vegetarian is that you could have lower bone density. This was found on the same site.