About 5 months ago I went Vegan and have loved every last bit of it and I feel great being a vegan so I decided to create this post since it is “Green”.

What is a Vegetarian/Vegan?

Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian: One whose diet excludes meat and fish but permits milk and eggs.

Lacto Vegetarian: One whose diet excludes meat and fish and eggs but permits milk.

Ovo Vegetarian: One whose diet excludes meat and fish and milk but permits eggs.

Vegan (Strict Vegetarian): One whose diet excludes all animal products.

Why go Vegetarian/Vegan?

• Eating a vegetarian or vegan diet is healthy because you can prevent many diseases and cancers like heart attack, strokes, prostate and colon cancers and can even lower your cholesterol levels, lower your blood pressure, lower type 2 diabetes.
• You are less likely to become obese and you will lose weight and keep it off with exercise.
• You will discover you have more energy to do things, need less sleep and need little to no caffeine to keep you awake during the day.
• Raising livestock for food accounts for about 1/3 of all the US fossil fuels and about 50 of all the water in the US is used by the meat industry.
• Going vegan/vegetarian stops cruelty to the animals you eat because they feel pain too.

(Taken from http://www.sugarrocket.com/vegan/why-i-am-vegan.php)

Daily water usage in the US for…
An omnivore : 4,200 Gallons
A vegetarian: 1,200 Gallons
A vegan: 300 Gallons

Yearly land usage in the US for food…
An omnivore : 3.3 Acres
A vegetarian: 1/2 Acre
A vegan: 1/6 Acre
To make one pound of “food”…
Pound of beef = 2,500 Gallons of water
Pound of apples = 49 Gallons of water
Pound of lettuce = 23 Gallons of water

But don’t take it just from me do plenty of research at your local library, search on the internet on what vegetarians and vegans can eat and what items you can order when you go to a fast food/restaurant.

Also you don’t have to go completely vegetarian/vegan by incorporating a day or meal each week to be vegetarian/vegan friendly.

In conclusion: Going Vegan/Vegetarian reduces animal suffering, consumption of natural resources, makes you healthier and reduces your carbon footprint!

Posts by the Green Girls you may like:

Veganism – Part 1 (The Reasons)

Guest Editor: Vika Lebedeva - 10 myths about vegan

Useful Links:

http://www.goveg.com/environment-globalwarming.asp

http://www.goveg.com/healthConcerns.asp

http://www.tryveg.com/img/vsg0501.pdf

http://www.goveg.com/feat/chewonthis/index.asp

http://www.backwardshamburger.com/

http://www.veginity.com/

http://www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk/index.php

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/

http://myhq.com/public/s/u/susanv/

http://www.viva.org.uk/goingvegan/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD67tltFyAw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05zhL1YUd8Q

Movies/Documentaries to see:

Earthlings

Fast Food Nation

Super Size Me

The Future of Food

Some Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in poorer countries support the use of GM crop. These NGOs see it as another problem: the gap between the rich and the poor, between people that grow in order to survive, and those that grow for profit.

Corporate names like Syngenta and Monsanto have become dirty words for opponents of GM crop. Sometimes options are limited, drought, pest resistant GM crop? or famine? Some can not afford the choice. GM producers need vision to survive. If they want to help create the future perhaps they could identify ways to work closer with local communities to tackle food and environmental challenges together. Perhaps they could grow back the rain-forests, or grow plants on the moon? All companies can pursue ethical profit.

World food prices are on the up. Globally this means more people starve to death. But with that comes resource wars, famine, and mass immigration. Oh and the price of bread goes up in your local shop. (Ahhh - That’s why developing countries like GM crop).

GM food could still provide solutions. such as better use of natural fertilizers and local crop varieties. A UN report in April 2008 called for more local food production (1) . Developing countries will need to adapt quickly to survive in a world without the same levels of trade in cash crops with developed countries addicted to unseasonal, flown in food. I only hope that the World Bank accounts for this in their policy making.

Why do we hate those GM crops so much? Well at heart we’ve always been a nation of farmers in the UK (and many other countries). We can still afford the luxury of non-GM varieties. For the moment I prefer vegetables that haven’t been produced so intensively. Those that have used natural fertilizers, as opposed to those generated from oil.

Developed countries don’t have the same concerns as non-developed ones. We do not have wide-scale hunger and nutrition problems. But we do have a legitimate concern for our environment.

I love those local varieties of crop, those that help regional agriculture and resist the development of crop mono-cultures. They make me feel humble. I’m proud of Jersey Potatoes and British Strawberries. I support fair-trade for our farmers. I don’t want to see one type of wheat, I want choice.

The argument against GM is not one against feeding the needy, its one against the alteration of our national natural environment.

(1) UN report demands urgent action on soaring food prices. The Independent, April 2008.

I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to buying the stuff. Ironically I only buy bottled water for the bottle. One for the gym, one for a walk… I keep them knocking around until I lose them or simply get fed up of the sight of them.

It’s crazy when you think about it. Many developed countries, where most of the bottled water is sold, have safe tap water. Over a billion people on this world do not have access to safe water (2), yet when it is flowing freely in our own taps we still find the need to buy it.

Just as crazy is the bottled rain water featuring on the show. The pleasantly named ‘Cloud juice’, comes all the way from King Island, New Zealand. According to the Cloud Juice website the water comes from ‘11,100 km off the Great Southern Ocean where trade winds evaporate pure, clean water into rain clouds that don’t touch land until they meet King Island’ Sounds like a dream doesn’t it? That’s because that’s exactly what they want you to think. Advertising often attempts to link our emotions to a product. Just read a book on Neuro linguistic programming or advertising, and you’ll find that out. However that doesn’t stop London’s Claridges Hotel selling it for £9 ($18) per bottle.

Here’s my own poetic skew on the sales basics of the bottled water industry…

Plastic comes from oil,
Water is free,
Wrap the water in oil,
And sell it to thee.

It’s worth pointing out at this stage that our America uses more than 70 million disposable plastic bottles a day. Just over 60 million of these end up in landfill (3), and the the market in Britain alone is worth £2 billion.

According to the National Geographic if you imagine your water bottle a quarter filled up with oil that’s how much oil it takes to create the bottle. (4) Recyclenow.com reports that recycling one plastic bottle can conserve up to enough energy to light a 60w light bulb for up to 6 hours. (5)

There are pioneers like ‘Belu’, (6) that have started to make bottles out of corn. Not only that they are the first bottled water manufacturer that doesn’t contribute to climate change, but all their profits go to clean water projects as well. If you feel compelled to buy water, even after the World Heath Organisation has given the water supply in your country the green light, buying from companies like Belu is a step in the right direction. Next time I go to the gym I’ll think twice about the volcanic energy, my drink alleges to give me.

(1) BBC Panorama – Bottled water – who needs it? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7247130.stm
(2) WaterAid - Charity Number 288701 http://www.wateraid.org/
(3) Container Recycling Institute - http://www.container-recycling.org
(4) National Geographic Kids - http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Stories/SpaceScience/Water-bottle-pollution
(5) Recycle Now - http://www.recyclenow.com/facts/interesting_facts/index.html
(6) Belu, Penguin approved natural mineral water - http://www.belu.org/home.asp