Everyone should eat vegetables because they are healthier, more economical, and reduce animal suffering. Many people hesitate about whether to eat meat if animals feel like they are being eaten, but I argue that there are more benefits to eating only vegetables compared to eating meat.

First of all, eating vegetables will stop animal suffering because livestock cannot be slaughtered or tortured. It is torturous to cage animals in confined and crowded spaces where they have little freedom compared to living in the wild. In a Chinese book called 'Fox Dila,' the main character Dila felt depressed when he witnessed a cow living on a crowded, dirty farm being whipped by the farm owner. Eating vegetables can save animals from being raised in poor conditions in the first place and thus save them from being tortured.

Second, eating vegetables is healthier than eating meat because they contain less fat. Eating vegetables can reduce obesity since they provide a healthy amount of calories and fat, while meat contains too much of them than people actually need. People can lower their weight and become physically healthier by eating vegetables. In a popular podcast, Scientific American, the host revealed that vegetables such as lettuce, onions, and tomatoes contain much less fat than beef and lamb. This will benefit overweight individuals, as they can use a bowl of fresh vegetable salad to replace a bowl of oily lamb.

Third, vegetables are more economical for customers. Vegetables are cheaper because growing them requires less investment than raising livestock, and they can be harvested in a shorter period of time. In a shopping experience at a Walmart in Shanghai, I found out that rice costs $1/kg, whereas chicken sells for $5/kg. With a limited budget, middle-class families could afford to buy more vegetables than meat. It is shown that consuming vegetables is more affordable than buying meat for poorer customers.

Overall, eating vegetables is beneficial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions because they absorb a huge amount of carbon dioxide. It is shown that cattle account for 17% of global overall carbon emissions. If more vegetables were consumed instead of meat, there would be fewer greenhouse gases emitted.