What to eat is a question that haunts us all day long. Whether we are in class or running errands, food is always on our minds. Since we live in a nation where supermarkets are abundant and food is rather cheap, we have trouble making choices.

And because we have big, complex brains and are able to make decisions we should really think about what we eat more often instead of going through life being ignorant.

As Americans we value three basic principles and they include freedom, equality, and rights for all, but what about animals? They too are living creatures that have families, are engaged in different relationships, and most importantly they are able to feel pain. We are no different from animals.

The way we treat animals in the slaughterhouses raises huge moral issues because of the way we use hormones to make them grow faster and the way we kill them.

Not only in PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) videos do we see animals being beaten to death by metal pipes and employees taking out their rage on innocent animals, but researchers and writers have written and produced movies about the disgusting meat industry.

One of those books is called “Slaughterhouse: the shocking story of greed, neglect, and inhumane treatment inside the U.S. meat industry” and is written by Gail Eisnitz. Eisnitz has been exposing animal abuse for more than 15 years and for this book she interviewed countless employees at the biggest slaughterhouses in the U.S.

“The slaughter figures were staggering. One hundred and one million pigs are slaughtered each year in the United States. Thirty-seven million cattle and calves. More than four million horses, goats, and sheep. And over eight billion chickens and turkeys,” she writes in her book.

The numbers are not so surprising since we are big meat eaters and we have more than 311 million people to feed in America. What is surprising is that the bosses of these slaughterhouses sometimes have access to USDA stamps and they often times know when federal meat inspectors or veterinarians are coming to check on the animals.

Not only are animals abused, but so are workers because often times they are illegal immigrants with no rights. Human Rights Watch has said that slaughterhouse workers have “the most dangerous factory job in America.”

In general, eating meat, especially red meat, is not healthy. But it causes a variety of other problems and the environmental impact of meat production is astounding. According to an article published on scientificamerican.com, our meat consumption has a huge effect on the environment. Environmental Working Group (EWG), stated that the “production, processing and distribution of meat requires huge outlays of pesticides, fertilizer, fuel, feed and water while releasing greenhouse gases, manure and a range of toxic chemicals into our air and water.”

For one decade Kelly Hunter, 26, a Chicago resident, hasn’t eaten meat and she is still healthy and passionate about vegetarianism.

“I originally became a vegetarian because I was opposed to killing animals. I don’t feel it’s necessary to take an animal’s life to sustain my own. I’ve stuck with being a veggie for 10 years now because it became a lifestyle for me. I understand I can’t stop other people from their choice to eat animals, but I can do my part and be cruelty free,” Hunter said.

You don’t have to be an animal lover to quit eating meat, but you should do it for your own health and for the earth.
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