Buddha said “All beings tremble before violence. All fear death, all love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?” Humans have been at the top of the food chain for a long time, be we’ve taken advantage of that. Over 56 billion farm animals are killed yearly. These shocking figures do not even include fish and other sea creatures whose deaths are so great they are only measured in tonnes. It's time for us to change the way we see the other animals with which we share the planet. We need to stop thinking of them as just resources, and to start viewing them for who they are: individual sentient beings whose lives deserve to be respected and valued.

Animals in our world are taken for granted by many humans, especially in the United States. In 2012, we consumed 52.2 billion pounds compared to 9.9 billion pounds 100 years ago. Will these numbers keep rising? If so, the results could be disastrous. Meat is linked to many negative effects including disease, obesity and, of course, animal cruelty. Is this a risk we’re willing to take? Meat causes a variety of diseases many of then leading to death. Campylobacter, E. Coli, Listeria, Salmonella are all included. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) calculates that every year in the United States, there are approximately 76 million cases of food-borne illness, with 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths and at least one third of this can be attributed to meat and poultry. Most people infected with salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps within a couple of days of ingesting the bacteria and it alone causes 500 deaths a year in America. Meat also is leading factor of obesity. Population studies show that meat-eaters have three times the obesity rate of vegetarians and nine times the obesity rate of vegans. This really shows that avoiding meat will help you in the long run since it doesn’t put on extra fat. Not only that, but obesity increases the risks of a number of other chronics diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia and certain types of cancer. To top it all off, eating meat is cruel. Animals are fed anti-biotics to combat the infections they get from living in such close quarters and growth hormones to increase their size and weight in an unnaturally short period of time. They are put on machines and sent to be killed. How do people have the heart to do such evil?

My solution for you to be a role model to the people. If you become vegan or even vegetarian, they’ll learn from you. Only then will people try to change.I understand that meat is such an integrated part in American society but it is time to try something new. A no-meat diet will help you lead a much healthier life. In your high position, you have the power to express your opinion with these problems. Use it for a good cause. Also promote organizations like PETA who protect animal rights. With a good partnership, we can really bring awareness to citizens.

The consuming of meat has caused many deaths both of humans and animals. If you help us, we can inform people of how to prevent these disasters. With your help, we can save so many live. So take a chance and lend a hand to a paw.