The first question people ask me when they find out I'm a vegetarian is, "Why?" I guess I understand why people would be curious, we live in a very meat dominated society, but at almost two years in, I sometimes forget that being a vegetarian isn't the norm.

One disclaimer because this is the second most asked question: no I don't eat fish. If I ate fish I would be a pescatarian.

Now, without further adieu, there are two main reasons why: the environment, and the ethics.

Ok so I think at this point it's no secret that mainstream meat production is like REALLY bad for the environment. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Livestock farming contributes to 18% of human produced greenhouse gasses. That's more than the emissions from ships, planes, trucks, cars, and all other transport combined. That's INSANE. The amount of pollution that meat production causes is so easily avoidable if we just didn't eat meat. I get that everyone not eating meat anymore is probably not going to happen, but imagine if everyone was a vegetarian one day a week? That's a big change. If you want more information on the damage meat causes to the environment, I encourage you to Google it. It's flabbergasting and upsetting.

Perhaps the more obvious reason to be a vegetarian is the ethical one. I just got to the point where it grossed me out to think about putting a cow or a chicken in my body. And the mainstream meat industry treats them SO horribly. They smash them into tiny cages by the thousands and treat them like trash. Perhaps its better that way than to butter them up and show them love just to kill them, though. I don't know... either way, I don't want to be a part of it. When I think about it my heart constricts and I just feel sad. I don't think food is supposed to make you feel that way. Again, take a quick trip down Google lane if you want more info or pictures. If I talk about this for too long it get sad.

So, yeah. That's pretty much the gist of it. If you're thinking about becoming a vegetarian, try it! You could try it three days a week at first and work your way up; it doesn't have to be cold turkey transition. If you think I'm crazy, do some more research, I think you'll be surprised by what you find.