Veganism shouldn't be that big of a deal

If you clicked the related source, you would have seen that it includes information on all of the greenhouses gases, including human's effect on the environment. I use the word "contribute" to describe animals effect on all of these things - that means that there are other factors for each point I'm making. It was just irrelevant for a debate about veganism because veganism deals with animal products/meat, not human products or waste. When any animal defecates, their waste sits on the ground. The rain comes by and washes the waste away. The water is either A) absorbed by the earth, so the waste can pollute the ground and underground water sources, or B) runs into a waterway and directly pollutes the water. That's just how the water cycle works. "Third, human obesity is caused by humans and what they eat." You directly stated that human obesity is caused by what humans eat. Humans (with the except of vegetarians and vegans) eat meat. You seem to place humans on a pedestal, but scientifically we are still classified as an animal. Livestock's food supply is laced with antibiotics so that the animals get fatter, for butchering later. We use antibiotics make these animals fatter: cows, chickens, pigs, turkeys, sheep, and goats. These are the most common livestock to raise. If these livestock get fatter from antibiotics in their food, we can get fatter from antibiotics in our food - and the antibiotics are in the meat. Of course, there are some farmers who realize the detrimental effects antibiotics have, so they refuse to add it to the feed. I thank them for supplying untainted meat for us to consume. Erosion is caused naturally as well, by water and wind primarily. If you are in a desert, yes, sand blows around and things start to erode. In a grassland or the plains, if animals trample all of the plants, they expose the dirt to the wind and what was once solid ground can be blown away by the breeze. That's also erosion, and it's still from a natural source - animals. Animals killing themselves is natural, including humans killing any other animal. Again, the debate is over veganism, and the animals that vegans are boycotting include commercial livestock. Livestock are herbivores, and herbivores may kill each other for territory, but in the wild they wouldn't kill each other for food. You're saying that animals "would still kill each other" as if the same amount of livestock would be getting killed in the natural wild by predators, which isn't true. The primary predator for livestock to worry about is us. If we didn't eat these animals they would not be getting killed in such depressing numbers. I said "any logical person... [knows that humans won't stop eating meat]"; I didn't say everyone would go vegan. Why are you acting like I did? Most vegans are aware of this fact too. Only those who are fanatical do and say horrible things to attempt to convert everyone. I don't know where you live and what the population is like there, but I can tell you that there are more vegans that understand human nature than those that believe that you should be punished for eating meat on this planet. And have YOU thought about the fact that hunting elephants for ivory is not only a disgusting, awful thing to do, but it's ILLEGAL? Elephants are endangered, and it's perfectly reasonable to want those who hunt endangered species for fun and greed to be punished for their crimes, vegan or not. I'm sure you just gave a bad example, but everyone should care about endangered species being killed! Not to mention the fact that even with weapons, humans are not good hunters. Humans miss, and when they miss they often hit the animal in an area that unnecessarily injures them, and then they have to be chased down while bleeding to kill, causing unnecessary pain. This won't stop us from hunting - but, again, if we were all vegan (which, to reiterate, logical people know isn't going to happen), these animals would be alive. That's what vegans care about! This is the reason they went vegan. They want animals to be alive, and they want us to stop hurting them. That's what I'm saying when I tell you that slaughterhouses are bad - they brutally kill and abuse animals for human consumption, which is why vegans don't like it. Vegans want animals to be in nature, but science tells us that animals cause certain types of damage. I'm just providing the counterpoint that animals also cause environmental damage, along with contributing to obesity. But, this is NOT what vegans are concerned about, they care about animal rights. In order to debate well, you should look at all of the factors of a situation and consider them equally. Animal raising causes a portion of the problems I'm addressing, and you're not wrong when you say that other things contribute to as well. It's just that you're ignoring the facts that you don't agree with - cherry picking out anything that stands in opposition to your opinion that you can eat meat if you want. In the beginning, I told you I'm not a vegan; I couldn't care less what you eat. All I'm doing is playing devil's advocate, and all you're just repeating the same things over and over and completely disregarding anything that gives a legitimate reason to be a vegan. My point is that there are perfectly logic and moral reasons to not eat meat or use animal products. This doesn't mean that veganism should be a big deal, or that you should be harassed for not being vegan. All I'm saying is that they have a reason to do what they do, and all of those reasons are backed by facts and science. Veganism isn't wrong. It's just a lifestyle choice.