You know I find it so weird how much avarice and rancor there is over PETA. Are they really any different than any other special interest group out there? People go out of their way to do 3 things, ask if it’s healthy, ask why I do it and then proceed to tell me they could never do it. It’s never changed in the 7 years I’ve been vegetarian. I know there are some obnoxious people out there, but most of us long term vegetarians don’t push our views on anyone, it’s too darned exhausting and the ridicule for being known as a vegetarian can be withering. I’ve had people try to sneak bacon in my food, tell me I’m a bad parent (We’ve got a VERY healthy baby girl), tell me there’s no reason and try all these tactics to trick me and find some flaw in my beliefs.
Plain and simple the reason most vegetarians I’ve met decided to become vegetarians is that they want to cause the least amount of harm they can. As humans we are uniquely in a position that many of us actually can make a choice in what we eat. Through one choice we could effectively slow global warming (meat farms are one of the highest greenhouse gas producers), we can lessen the amount of pain we cause others on the planet and improve our health if you eat properly (though I’m not exactly the thinnest guy in the area). It’s not the right choice for everyone, but even if you chose to have one vegetarian meal a week, say plain pizza, it would be like taking half a million cars off the road.
If something like that isn’t for you make sure you hold your meat producers accountable for poisoning the environment(I wish this was hyperbole)Swine farmers and chicken farmers are notorious for how badly they treat the environment causing huge fish kills in the Mississippi river delta and causing algae blooms that kill off other ocean life, some of which is foodstuff, which in turn raises the price of that seafood.
Didn’t mean to make that sound preachy, just sharing the reasons I chose to become vegetarian. So basically it all comes down to the same question, what choices are you willing and able to make to provide a better planet for the next generation. Any choices you make are ultimately yours make the choices you’re able to live with.