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I was a vegetarian for 3 years. I started because I just wasn't enjoying meat. I'd look at it and think about what it was, and get really grossed out. So I decided to try going veg for a week, and it stuck for 3 years.
I didn't do it for any animal rights reasons - I grew up on a farm, and food with a face doesn't bother me ethically as much as it bothered me just mentally. Dead muscle. Bleh.
The thing that most made me want to be a vegetarian was 1. how badly most animals are treated before they're killed, and 2. how bad cattle farming especially is for the environment. Factory farming has completely devalued animals and placed financial gain above all concerns for animal or human health or comfort. Pack as many critters as you can into the smallest space possible, then pump them full of antibiotics to keep disease from spreading and chop off their beaks to keep them from pecking each other to death. Nasty. And environmentally, it takes far more land to grow enough corn to feed a cow than it's worth - if you used the same land to grow, say, soy beans, you could feed many more people with the soybeans than with the meat from the cows fed by the same acreage. It's just not an efficient use of resources.
About a year ago, I started craving meat again, and I figured that my personal protest against farming practices and environmental damage wasn't doing much good to change the system, just through one abstention. I decided that it would be at least as effective to just eat the meat and buy from free-range and sustainable farmers whenever possible, and just donate time and money to environmental causes. I still don't eat a lot of meat - maybe 2-3 times/week - but it is nice to have the option.
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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