Will vegetarianism sustain human life in the long run? Yes, it is true! Let us understand this truth from nature!
Earth is our home planet which looks so beautiful from the outer space as a colorful blue and white ball and according to manmade science it has been in existence since 3500 million years!!
After sunlight, in all probability water was the first key ingredient that was made available to planet Earth and green algae are considered to be one of the first major living micro-organism which used sunlight & water helping release of oxygen.
Once oxygen got saturated in water it rose upwards into the atmosphere paving the way for the plant, animal, and human life to appear on the surface of Earth.
Once oxygen got saturated in water it rose upwards into the atmosphere paving the way for the plant, animal, and human life to appear on the surface of Earth.
If we consider a small fish to be the first creature that originated in water, this small size fish had to thrive only on green algae.
Therefore 'vegetarianism' was the beginning as far as food habit was concerned right from the beginning stage of life form. Flesh-eating came much later perhaps due to the fact that large size fishes were not fully filled eating algae only!
Therefore 'vegetarianism' was the beginning as far as food habit was concerned right from the beginning stage of life form. Flesh-eating came much later perhaps due to the fact that large size fishes were not fully filled eating algae only!
However, when we consider large size land animals like mountain gorillas they are principally vegetarians and very rarely eat small invertebrates and this happens mostly when there is a shortage of vegetation. Obviously, mountain gorillas require large quantities of food due to their massive size(180 Kg) and surprisingly, they do not need much water because they obtain it from the plants they eat. Studies have shown that over 75% of the mountain gorilla's diet is shoots, stems, and leaves.
Gorillas spend about a third of their day feeding, a third traveling, and the remainder resting.
Gorillas are usually very gentle creatures. Their only effective predators are humans. They are often thought to be "slow" or "dumb" because of their sluggishness, but in fact, they are quite intelligent and are capable of learning sign language.
Gorillas are peaceful creatures and will only attack to defend their group.
Humans, are considered to be the most 'superior species' but the question is why are we are not gentle and peace-loving like our so-called ancestors?
Although there are several million humans who are vegetarians a great majority of the world's population eat meat and flesh!
However, the truth is that in case humans continue to consume meat and flesh at the current rate it is likely to lead more and more problems and it is high time that we all should get enlightened about what is happening to something dear to us - ‘Mother Earth’.
There is a great disaster waiting for all of us, especially our children and all the future generation if we do not realize this truth!
If we think about 'evolution' it is really amazing because right from the tiny species like algae and bacteria the earliest living form in the ocean, and others such as coral reef, small aquatic species, small creatures on land like bees, butterflies and birds, all these little creatures have made big contribution to the development of planet Earth by providing us with the precious gas like oxygen, the green plants and trees, flower and fruits.
Unfortunately today small sea creatures mainly fish population is gradually getting depleted because of the commercial fishing which is being carried out on a very large scale.
The quantum of commercial fishing done has reached a mind-boggling figure of 100,000,000,000 Kilograms (100 million tons) per year, roughly 1 billion tons perish every decade!!
As the fishing activity is increasing every year this will be lead to severe destruction to the very cycle of their life’s existence because the 'species does not get sufficient time to reproduce'.
Therefore it is the indiscriminate action of the human race which is going to cause the depletion of marine population and one day we will find a great majority of our marine species extinct.
The quantum of commercial fishing done has reached a mind-boggling figure of 100,000,000,000 Kilograms (100 million tons) per year, roughly 1 billion tons perish every decade!!
As the fishing activity is increasing every year this will be lead to severe destruction to the very cycle of their life’s existence because the 'species does not get sufficient time to reproduce'.
Therefore it is the indiscriminate action of the human race which is going to cause the depletion of marine population and one day we will find a great majority of our marine species extinct.
It has been estimated that around 3.5 billion people of the world are involved in agriculture. Out this about 2.6 billion till the land manually and use cows & buffaloes and these cattle produce the deadly methane gas after ingestion of food and roughly each cattle produces around 80-120 Kg. of methane gas per year depending on how much grass and grains they consume.
The methane gas is a deadly green house gas which causes 23 times more harm than Carbon dioxide. Therefore one can say one cow or buffalo is releasing an equivalent of 2300 Kg. of CO₂ every year.
On the other hand, when a person uses a Car it releases CO₂ but he or she has several other alternatives like using a bipedal bicycle or take a walk if it is a short distance or takes the public transport like the train or bus.
Unfortunately, a small-time farmer cannot avoid using the cattle because he cannot survive without agriculture and he has no other option because a small time farmer cannot afford a tractor and its fuel cost.
The methane gas is a deadly green house gas which causes 23 times more harm than Carbon dioxide. Therefore one can say one cow or buffalo is releasing an equivalent of 2300 Kg. of CO₂ every year.
On the other hand, when a person uses a Car it releases CO₂ but he or she has several other alternatives like using a bipedal bicycle or take a walk if it is a short distance or takes the public transport like the train or bus.
Unfortunately, a small-time farmer cannot avoid using the cattle because he cannot survive without agriculture and he has no other option because a small time farmer cannot afford a tractor and its fuel cost.
But in reality, the Carbon dioxide problem is not going to come from the agriculture dependent farmer but the flesh eating humans because the greatest threat comes from humans eating Beef and Pork.!!
Humans all over the world consume close to 45 million tons of Beef and 80 million tons of pig every year. Right now lamb consumption is only around 4 to 5 million tons.
Unlike farmers who would use one or two cattle for at least 10-15 years for production of milk or tilling his agricultural land, the meat producing industry slaughters millions and millions of cattle every year. These cattle before being killed not only release green house gas during its breeding time but each animal also is using a huge amount of water in the process of being maintained, slaughtered to be finally converted as a food product for humans to enjoy the flesh without knowing the consequences !
To produce 1 Kg. of beef around 13,000 Liters of Water is used during the entire cycle. In contrast the production of 1 kg. Potato requires only 100 liters of Water and to produce 1 kg. Wheat or Rice around 4,000 Liters of water is required.
To produce 1 Kg. of beef around 13,000 Liters of Water is used during the entire cycle. In contrast the production of 1 kg. Potato requires only 100 liters of Water and to produce 1 kg. Wheat or Rice around 4,000 Liters of water is required.
Therefore the equivalent of CO₂ released into the atmosphere is 34.6 Kg. for production of 1 Kg. beef and 17.4 Kg. for 1 kg. lamb and 6.35 Kg. for 1 kg. pork.
Therefore one can see breeding cattle to be killed and consumed is not only pathetic and detrimental for the Human kind but we are also creating a much higher quantity of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
The consumption of water is also much higher for production of beef or pork compared to production of rice or potato or for that matter any other agricultural product.
The other big tragedy is that 50% of the world's production of food grains are used for cattle consumption and it is a fact that nearly 1.2 billion people live without daily bread.
Around 60% of them are children who go hungry and therefore it would make better sense for wiser human beings to feed the hungry rather than feeding the cattle which consumes much more resources.
Even if 25% of the food grain is saved by avoiding the unnecessary production of cattle and killing them to feed emotionally habituated humans to satisfy their palate the starving poor can be fed with these grains avoiding hunger and death.
"Therefore it is high time that these intelligent humans become wiser" because primitive homo-sapiens had to resort to hunting and killing animals for sustenance because agriculture was unknown to them several 1000 years ago but this is not the case today!!
Therefore the need to kill other species is due to the auto functioning of the mirror neurons inside the human brain but we humans DO HAVE THE CAPACITY to think afresh and do what is good for human society who are no longer the primitives of the olden times !! (to understand the meaning of 'mirror neurons' please read the blog- WHAT WILL LEAD TO TRANSFORMATION OF HUMAN SOCIETY)
Therefore the need to kill other species is due to the auto functioning of the mirror neurons inside the human brain but we humans DO HAVE THE CAPACITY to think afresh and do what is good for human society who are no longer the primitives of the olden times !! (to understand the meaning of 'mirror neurons' please read the blog- WHAT WILL LEAD TO TRANSFORMATION OF HUMAN SOCIETY)
Therefore please take a break as much possible from eating animal products and if possible please refrain from eating animal products and convert your food habits to gradually become 100% vegetarian.
Your 'vegetarian habit' will also keep you healthy as well as indirectly help distribution of food grains to starving young and old in the poor countries instead of feeding the grains to animals which get killed anyway.
Your 'vegetarian habit' will also keep you healthy as well as indirectly help distribution of food grains to starving young and old in the poor countries instead of feeding the grains to animals which get killed anyway.
I plead to your fellow men and women to take this as an important initiative in your life and also tell your friends about the grave danger we are all facing by eating beef, pork, lamb, fish and chicken and let us hope that this drive will help our planet to preserve water, have less contamination of air and also make food available for all the population that is likely to touch 9 billion by 2050.
"Please allow animals to live their own life and if required feed them and keep them for peaceful use and not indulge in merciless killing"
.............................................An initiative taken by Jayaraman C.Krishnan
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