What do Food and Climate Change have in common? Well if you look at this Cars=13% of all carbon emissions and Livestock=18% of all carbon emissions eating less meat or even going Vegetarian/Vegan is better than switching to a hybrid car and even better if you go vegan and own a hybrid!

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

Looking forward or wanting to get rid of one of your old computers? There are several ways you can do go get rid of your old computer(s) First you should know that everything electronic contains harmful chemicals and materials that can be recycled like glass, plastic, gold, copper, aluminum. Now to properly dispose of your computer you will need to bring it to many places that will recycle recyclable parts and dispose of the harmful chemicals carefully. There are many ways to properly dispose of your computer.

One way you can recycle your computer is to ask where you had bought your computer and see if they have a recycling program and sometimes they may only take your old computer when you buy a new computer from them.

Next see if a company like Dell or HP has a free recycling program or see if you can recycle your computer with them when you buy a new computer. Also I know Apple has a recycling program when you buy a new computer from them and you can recycle your old computer and when you buy a new ipod you can recycle all of your old ipods and cell phones for free.

Next you can try going to your local recycling center and ask if they have a recycling program for computers and or other electronics most of the time they should have a recycling program but it varies in different towns or see if there is a recycling program in a nearby city that would take it.

If the first few didn’t work or if your computer is still usable you can do one of these two. You can advertise your computer/electronics in the buy and sell/newspaper. Or you can donate it to a local school, shelter, organization and you will know your computer will be used for a good cause and a lot of the time you may even get a tax deduction for donating your computer.

There may be many other ways to recycle your computer but when you do recycle your computer you may have to pay a small free or sometimes it may cost you nothing.