"The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men" -Leonardo DaVinci

I have been vegetarian since April 17 98. Three main reasons 1. The Environment.. As the hungry poplulation grows and the number of plants used for food and oxygen increases, we need to be worried abouthow effectively we use our resources. A vegetarian actually kills ten times less plants than a meat eater because of all the rainforest cleared for cattle raising and all the food fed to animals (i.e. eight pounds of grain used for chicken feed yeild one pound of poultry) There are tons of statistics to back me up 2. Why Kill? Meat is completely unnencessary for the human diet, so why kill things if we don't have to. A main carnivorous argument is that we are entitled to kill because we are above the animals. I agree that we are at the top of the food chain, so let's excercise this distinction between us and the animal kingdom and not follow our primal urges. Some people have also argued that following my logic it would be unjust to eat plants- this is absurd. Plants do not feel any pain or have any sort of consciousness- they are merely reproductive machines. Animals do feel pain- anyone who has had a pet knows that. Why it is that people would be disgusted at eating their hampster, yet will eat pork without a seconfd thought is beyond me (a pig is actually as smart as a dog). Other people polish of a hamburger after ademantly protesting hunting- these peole are hippocrates. 3. Health. Vegetarians have longer life spans and decreased rates of everything from all types of cancer to heart disease to impotence. This is due to simply much less fat and cholesterol (all cholesterol comes from animal products). I have found I have more energy and generally feel better (I have not been sick since)/ You can get all the protein you need through other means- I have a jar of soy protein and I put a scoop of it in my orange juice every day. The average american teenager gets 3 times as much protien as they need. Animal protein carries a ton of calories and cholesterol- I also read somewhere that it impedes metabolism

LINKS Vegetarian Webring Lots of links The Vegetarian Youth Network Sites for teens Teen Vegetarian The Vegetarian Pages Lots of info The Vegetarian Resource Group The Crazy Vegetarian Cool statistics, famous vegetarians, etc. Ethiopian Vegetarian Recipes I love Ethiopian food The Vegetarian Times The most famous vegetarian periodical Jesus was a Vegetarian interesting Discussing Vegetarianism with a meateater Vegetarianism from a hindu perspective Vegetarian Info Page Good basic info and reasons to go veg. for newcomers Mollie Katzen Online Mollie Katzen has a vegetarian cooking show on PBS Really Good Statistics Great information

"Being a vegetarian is not merely a symbolic gesture. Becoming a vegetarian is a highly practical and effective step one can take towards ending both the killing of nonhuman animals and the infliction of suffering upon them" -Peter Singer

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"I got lost on my wedding day Typical, the police came O but virgins always get backstage No matter what they've got to say" Tori Amos Jackie's Strength