Being a green vegetarian

Green.

Lettuce, broccoli, celery, spinach, arugula, avocado, cilantro, zucchini, asparagus, paint (well, that is green, but I wouldn't recommend eating it.), grass (well, you could try it I guess...) and many more vegetables and fruits are this olive-like color. This, however, is not the green I am talking about (with all respect to the delicious green vegetables). I am talking about the "eco-friendly" green. The "green" fad that seems to have invaded our society with reusable grocery bags and refillable water bottles. Being a vegetarian is "green" in more ways than one. Let's start with the economic factor. Eating plants is extremely economical. The process of "creating" meat takes so much time, energy, and resources. Plus, all of the nutrients from the food that the livestock eats is being cleared away. I recently watched a documentary called King Corn. It follows two college-aged guys as they learn about the corn industry. It talks a lot about how corn is influencing the eating habits of modern humans. The documentary starts with them getting their hair tested to see what it is made out of. It turns out that it is made out of corn. Basically all of the food that commercial livestock eats is pure corn. This means that the meat turns out to be mostly made of corn. King Corn is a great documentary and I recommend it to anyone. It really made me think about what I eat! Corn and other crops for livestock are grown on gigantic sections of land. The plants take up so much water to grow, just for the livestock, that is wastes tons of water. Here is a great website that explains the “Land + Water + Crops = Livestock” theory of the downsides to being a carnivore. http://www.enviroveggie.com/

This information is a great start to learning all about the environmentally friendly benefits of vegetarianism. This is just the first topic in a huge cache of knowledge of being a “green” vegetarian.

I hope you enjoyed my second post! I look forward to researching more!

~The Jolly “Green” Giant

(AKA Hannah)