When we think or meet a vegan, there is often a stereotype and stigma that comes along with it. When I inform others that I am vegetarian they often ask : “what do you eat? grass?”. Vegan and meatless alternatives are viewed as the less appetizing option to many; but in fact, these options are a lot cleaner, safer, and beneficial to the world as a while in the long run.

For the average American, meat is part of an everyday diet and in many cases can be consumed at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Since we are young we are told that meat is an important part of a healthy diet and it is advertised this way on television and in doctors’ offices. It would be ridiculous to claim that meat has no value of our diet, but while it may taste good or filling, it may be doing more harm than good.

By now many of us are aware of the dangers of greenhouse gases. When we picture greenhouse gasses, however, images of large factories and cars spewing out larges clouds of gas– not a hamburger. Greenhouse gasses keep heat trapped in the atmosphere which is the main concern for global warming or climate change. The image below shows the greenhouse gas emissions from production and transporting. It is obvious that much of the meat produces much more emission than the vegetables or tofu.

Plumer, Brad. “Going Vegetarian Can Cut Your Food Carbon Footprint in Half.” Vox. Vox, 13 June 2016. Web. 05 Sept. 2019.

The most common greenhouse gas emitted is carbon dioxide. Just like us, animals breath out carbon dioxide and breathe in oxygen. Where it differs, is simply due to the fact that cows are much more larger than us and therefore breathe out larger amounts of CO2.  Just as humans do, cows have flatus (farts) and burps which acts as a methane trap, also trapping heat. In a year one cow releases 70 to 120 kgs of methane per year, now multiple this by 1.5 million for all the cows on the globe. Due to the fact that beef is such a demand in the American food market, more cows are need then just to produce milk and other dairy products.

In addition to this, increasing our emission of greenhouse gasses as a society increases our carbon footprint. While the damage we cause to the environment is mainly a collaboration; each and everyone of us is responsible for our own individual carbon footprint (or in this case– our “foodprint”). Due to the fact that it requires much more greenhouse gas emission in order to produce and transport meat than is does lettuce, eating a steak would make your carbon footprint a lot larger than if you were to consume a salad. This is why, a vegetarian or a vegan’s carbon footprint can be less than half of an individual who enjoys meat at every meal.

Wilson, Lindsay. “The Carbon Foodprint of 5 Diets Compared.” Shrinkthatfootprint.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Sept. 2019. 

It is nearly impossible to ask the whole world to become vegan or vegetarian, but is not not a lot to ask yourself what you are eating everyday. Each and everyone of us has the ability to limit our meat and especially beef consumption. By doing this little by little it makes small yet impactful changes. If we work to reduce the amount of beef in the industry in turn we will see a cooler the planet, reduced stress of ozone layer , saving of water and ocean life, and the ability to conserve fossil fuels more easily.