10 Things I Hate About Meat

Here are the 10 reasons everyone should hate meat.

1. Climate Change


Consider yourself an environmentalist? Think about this: Animal agriculture is one of the largest contributors to climate change and deforestation. In fact, according to the World Bank, animal agriculture is culpable for nearly 91 percent of Amazon destruction. What’s more, the meat industry emits more greenhouse gases than all modes of transportation in the world combined. Still think it’s OK to eat meat?

2. Extreme Confinement


To maximize profit, factory farmers keep animals in cramped, disease-ridden conditions. Many animals won’t see the sun until they’re on their way to the slaughterhouse. This is just plain wrong.

3. Painful Mutilations


Factory farmers routinely and legally mutilate animals. Cows have their horns sawed off and their tails cut off. Chickens in industrial egg and poultry farms are debeaked—that is, the tips of their beaks are painfully sliced off, usually with a hot blade. Male piglets have their tails chopped off and teeth ripped out. They are also castrated. Farmed animals endure all these excruciating mutilations without painkillers. This is seriously f*cked up.

4. Disease


Eating meat is linked to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and even cancer. In fact, the World Health Organization reports that processed meats are just as hazardous to your health as cigarettes. Also, the world-renowned Mayo Clinic found that long-term vegetarians live on average 3.6 years longer than their meat-eating counterparts. Is eating meat really worth your health?

5. Cruelty


Did you know that the pork industry slams piglets headfirst onto concrete floors if the babies are too sick or aren’t growing fast enough? Or that the egg industry grinds up male chicks alive? That’s right: Since they will never lay eggs and don’t grow quickly enough to be raised profitably for meat, they’re killed within hours of hatching. This cruelty running rampant in the pork and egg industries should make everybody sick.

6. Abused Workers


Factory farms aren’t just awful places for animals; they also hurt people. From sex abuse and unsafe work conditions to slave labor, factory farms shamelessly abuse their employees. Just last year, an Oxfam report revealed the terrible conditions suffered by factory farm employees. Workplace hazards include injuries, respiratory illness, and PTSD. Workers are also at risk for infection by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

A recent report revealed that on average, one Tyson employee a month is injured by equipment and loses a finger or limb.

7. Superbugs


Factory farmers use antibiotics to make animals grow faster and keep them alive in conditions that would otherwise kill them. Bacteria can develop resistance to these antibiotics, making it virtually impossible to treat humans who become infected by these “superbugs.” These antibiotic-resistant superbugs should scare everybody.

8. Tearing Apart Families


In dairy factory farms, newborn calves are typically taken away from their mothers within hours of birth. After forcible separation from their calves, cows often bellow for hours or even days, pacing and searching for them. Tragically, this also happens on pig farms. In nature, mother pigs sing to their young while nursing, but farmers take the babies away within days of birth. Heartbreaking, right?

9. Wildlife Destruction


Care about wildlife? A report by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London found that animal populations declined by 58 percent between 1970 and 2012, with losses expected to reach 67 percent by 2020.

This should come as no surprise, considering millions of wild land animals are killed each year to protect the meat industry. Wild animals are a big threat to the meat industry, so the U.S. government has an entire department dedicated to killing them.

Also, according to Whale and Dolphin Conservation, more than 300,000 whales, dolphins, and porpoises die every year as a result of being caught in fishing gear and nets. Messed up, huh?

10. It’s just unnecessary.


More people than ever are ditching animal products, and delicious plant-based foods are readily available. So now is the perfect time to make the switch. When you go vegan, an entire new world of culinary delights opens up! Heck, some of your favorite foods are probably already vegan and you don’t even know it. Want to try making a vegan meal? Check out our Pinterest for hundreds of savory vegan recipes and ideas.

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Meat sucks. Join the growing number of people who are taking a stand for animals, the environment, and their own health by transitioning to a vegan diet.

Click here to order your FREE Vegetarian Starter Guide.