Being Vegetarian Helps the Environment More than not Being a Vegetarian.

Reasons why being a vegetarian would aid the environment:Livestock farming has environmental impacts. By buying and eating meat products, you are continuing to be an incentive for livestock farming to expand.-In many areas of the world, the expansion of Livestock farming has farming has had environmental impacts such as the destruction of tropical rain forests in South America. "Nearly 80% of land deforested in the Amazon is now used as cattle pasture."[2] The tropical rainforest in South America arguably contributes to a large quantity of needed oxygen that animals and ourselves both rely on in order to stay alive.That is merely one section of the globe though. Huge areas of trees and bushes are cut down or burnt. "A staggering 25% of the planet"s land surface is used for the grazing of domestic livestock."[1] It is a statistic that represents the issue as a problem for all environments of our planet.The population of endangered species are also affected by this expansion.- In Australia, "...the native brigalow vegetation has been extensively 'pulled' - again, to facilitate cattle grazing - contributing to the severe decline of the critically endangered bridled nailtail wallaby" [1], which needs the native brigalow vegetation in order to eat. A vegetarian diet would be contributing for how it lessens the incentive for farmers to take away land that wildlife relies on.There are other various effects on the environment that livestock farming has in relation to other environmental costs. "To produce one pound of animal protein vs. one pound of soy protein, it takes about 12 times as much land, 13 times as much fossil fuel, and 15 times as much water." [2] Really, we do not need as much land as we are actually using in order to survive. Fossil fuels are a limited resource that has a negative effect on the atmosphere, and using a large quantity of fossil fuels on livestock farming along with the amount we are using for other necessities arguably just promotes ozone degradation even more. Regarding fossil fuels and emissions, " In 2006, the UN calculated that the combined climate change emissions of animals bred for their meat were about 18% of the global total " more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together." [4] That is an amazing statistic. We depend on cars and planes arguably every day to get around and that still does not equate to the amount of emissions generated from livestock farming.Livestock farming has adds additional costs to our and the environment's need for water.-" According to the Water Education Foundation, it takes 2,464 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef in California."[3] Taking into account that California is in a severe drought (I know this because I live there), using up water is unnecessarily wasteful since it could be used for other purposes and lessen the strain of the drought. "...a pound of beef needs around 9,000 litres " or more than 20,000lbs of water. Equally, it takes nearly 1,000 litres of water to produce one litre of milk." [4] That is water we could be using to farm soy produce or other types of produce. We do not need to use as much water and land to feed ourselves as we might believe we do. Livestock farmer's have the incentive of profit for using this large amount of water and land, so that incentive should not be given to the by becoming a vegetarian.Honestly, I am not a vegetarian and love to eat meat but I think I have convinced myself to consider becoming one for the sake of the environment.Sources:[1] http://www.lettuceleaf.org...[2] http://www.chooseveg.com...[3]http://www.vegetariantimes.com...[4]http://www.theguardian.com...