Dear future President of the United States,

Every year more than 150 billion animals are slaughtered for the meat, egg and dairy industries. This number is so large it's impossible to comprehend. Animals are very similar to humans in ways which we both feel pain, misery and fear. These are regular emotions these defenseless animals feel daily. Not only do these slaughter houses take the lives of innocent animals, they often torture them before their death. There are videos leaked from slaughter houses of workers kicking and beating animals to death. Baby pigs often catch diseases from the poor conditions, so workers will pick the pig up from the back legs and smash it into the ground repeatedly until it dies. Veal calves are often forced to wear heavy chains to keep them from becoming overactive in their stalls. The calves are also kept in near or total darkness and suffer from forced anemia, for no reason other than to keep their flesh pale and attractive. It's disturbing to me that we live in a world where it is easy to survive without causing so much pain to animals, yet we do it anyway. Animals were never meant to be slaughtered for us. Not only is it morally wrong to treat animals like this, animal agriculture is destroying our world.

2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef. Most of the water in the country is for factory farming. 5% of the water consumed in the US is by private homes. 55% of water consumed in the US is for animal agriculture. Animal agriculture is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the combined exhaust from all transportation. Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of nitrous oxide – a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years. Animal agriculture is responsible for up to 91% of Amazon destruction. If we don't make a change, we are all in serious danger. The professional boxer Mike Tyson recognizes all of this, that's one of the reasons why he made the switch to a vegan lifestyle. This is an issue that should be fixed. It is pathetic that we live in a place where our own species is destroying our environment.

-Scott DeCarlo