When I became a vegetarian about six months ago, I wasn’t really thinking about the environment. I became a vegetarian for animal cruelty reasons, not to save the environment. However, about three months after becoming a vegetarian, there was a speaker at my school who came to talk about global warming. He talked extensively about global warming and the fact that it was happening now, to our generation. He listed ways that he was helping to save the environment, and one of those reasons was becoming a vegetarian.

He explained to us that becoming a vegetarian was a great way to make an impact on the wasting of fossil fuels, because even though it only takes one calorie of fossil fuel to produce one calorie of soybean, it takes 78 calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of beef. He also said that becoming a vegetarian could help conserve rainforests. Rainforests are destroyed everyday partly because of the need for livestock grazing area. By not eating meat, the demand for livestock will be less and therefore there will be less rainforest destroyed.

So, by becoming a vegetarian, I am doing my part in helping to conserve the rainforests and fossil fuels, among many other things. Becoming vegetarian is one of the best ways to save the environment.