Kim 1

Herbivores Unite! Eating Green to Save Our Planet

Hold a fork with a steady grip. Focus on that green thing in front of you. Violently stab at
it, and take it to your mouth. Bite down on it and hear the thing crunch loudly in your mouth.
Swallow and repeat until you can see the bottom of your plate.
I know that these days its almost impossible to imagine being a vegetarian. Its hard
enough to eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day. So how are you supposed to maintain a diet
solely composed of fruits and vegetables? Do we even know what real vegetables look like? As
ridiculous as the question sounds, childrens answers are no. Jamie Oliver, a British celebrity
chef, went around schools in America for his television show Food Revolution. On one of his
stops, he held up a tomato and asked first graders to name the fruit. One kid shouted potatoes,
but the rest had no clue. When Oliver asked the kids if they knew what ketchup was, the answer
was a resounding yes. Oliver told the kids, Ketchups are made of tomatoes. Apparently that
was too much to take for one day. The whole class frownedexcept one. The boy stood up with
confidence and said, So tomatoes are made of ketchup. For most adults, fruits and vegetables
are almost like art. They may name them, look at them, admire the beautiful colors, but they
rarely consume them. A recent survey by the Center for Disease Control found that seven out of
ten adults ate fruit less than two times per day and three fourths of them ate vegetables less than
three times a day (Reinberg). Basically, the children of our society cannot recognize vegetables
and fruits while the adults refuse to eat them.
This may be the reason why whenever I tell people that I am a vegetarian, an involuntary gasp
escapes their mouths as they briefly try to imagine the impossible: life without meat. I politely
remind them that there are other food groups besides meat, and I point out that there are edible
plants.
Still, arent you going to miss Korean BBQ and bacon?
No, I dont think so. In fact, Im saving the world.
The Ecstatic Beauty of Impossible Acts
The American Heritage Dictionary defines impossible as incapable of having
existence or of occurring. We have a hard time grasping the concept of an impossible act. The
Queen from Alice in Wonderland particularly have the biggest problem. When Alice says, One
cant believe impossible things, the Queen promptly replies Why, sometimes Ive believed as

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many as six impossible things before breakfast. Just like the Queen, mankind is all about
making the impossible possible. Cant fly without wings? Lets build a plane. Cant see in
the dark? Heres a light bulb. Cant talk to someone when they are out of hearing range? Lets
make a telephone.
Even among my friends, impossible is not in our vocabulary. If an act is perceived as
impossible, its usually taken as a challenge. We fail to see that once an impossible act is
deemed possible, it is no longer considered as an impossible act. Also, if an act is truly
impossible, it is beautiful to see someone fail. Although our society was built on individualism
and success, we secretly enjoy watching people fail. Just look at the compilations and the success
of Americas Funniest Home Videos. Its just people failing at everyday activities, and it is
hilarious.
World Saving
If Im not Superwoman, how can I save the world? Simple. Get everyone to stop eating
meat, especially cows. Lets face it. We eat cows by tons. Before they are slaughtered, they are
gassy, and theyre not afraid to let it rip. At first, there were skeptics, but now everyone has come
to a consensus: This planet is too gassy.
Since we cannot take the greenhouse gas from our atmosphere, our best chance of saving
this planet is to eliminate the gas producers. There are about 1 billion cars (Tercer). There are
approximately 1.5 billion cows (Holy). Since cows produce more gas than cars in a year
(Rearing), they are a larger contributor to global warming. Also, cows produce methane while
cars produce CO2. Since methane has 23 times the warming effect of CO2 (Walsh), cows are
reasonably one of the top contributors to global warming.
Youre probably wondering how not eating cows would get rid of the 1.5 billion cows
that are currently living on this planet. I propose that we save the cows that are alive right now
and cut off the meat industry. Then the cows will die off by themselves when they are not taken
care of and we would cut off the future population of cows. This is the paradox that is presented:
we save the cows to kill them. I do support the cows of Chick-fil-A as they find ways to live, but
frankly, theyre a weak species that were able to survive to this day because we prized their juicy
flesh. Cows have been raised by humans ever since our ancestors began to settle down. So its
been a while since theyve been out in the wild. Also, cows are a bit too large for an average

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family to keep as a pet. Therefore if cows are not consumed, they would not survive in the wild
and eventually die out.
Getting rid of meat in our diet would not only prevent greenhouse gas, it would also free
up valuable resources like land and water. A recent article from Journal of Animal Science
published that it takes 6.7 pounds of grains and forage, 52.8 gallons for drinking water and
irrigating feed crops, 74.5 square feet for grazing and growing feed crops, and 1,093 kJ of fossil
fuel energy for production and transport is needed to produce a single quarter pound hamburger
(Barclay). America was built on life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, but at what cost are we
willing to waste our resources to satisfy our taste buds?
The Endangered 100%
Carrying capacity is a wellestablished fact in the scientific community,
and it only makes sense that we apply the
general knowledge that we know about
population growth to our own species.
Figure 1 shows that our population is
growing at an exponential rate. In the past
(from beginning of time to around 1800),

Figure 1

our population grew steadily. Recently,

toward the mid-1900s, the population has
been increasing at an increasingly rate. As
Figure 2 shows, population graphs of other
species such as bacteria shows that
a death phase follows an exponential growth
of a population naturally. Unless we use our
resources wisely, we will not be able to
stretch out the exponential or the stationary phase.

Figure 2

Our earliest ancestors (Mayans, Egyptians, Greeks, Chinese, Indians, and etc...) show
proof that they worshiped nature. It seemed so much larger and powerful than us. Somewhere

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along the way, we lost that respect for nature, and now we have manipulated, exploited, and
abused it for centuries. Although we use nature to our advantage, we must face the fact that there
are laws of nature for which we cannot overcome. These laws are formidable, but more than that,
they are impossible to break. Unless the population in the environment finds a way to recycle
and regulate the resources, the environment will reach its carrying capacity.
Carnivores, Im Addressing You
Everyone should cut out meat from their diet. Whenever individuals have enough time and
resources to go vegan, they should, even if its for brief periods of time throughout the year. We
share nature equally. Therefore we have equal responsibility. Scientists are not the only ones that
have to find a solution to this global problem. The rich are not the only ones that should be
purchasing eco-friendly products. Environmentalists are not the only group of people that should
educate others about the harmful effects of the products and services we use in everyday life.
Vegetarians do not have to be the only ones concerned about the impact our food has on the land.
We may have many differences due to culture, religion, sexual orientation, politics, and socioeconomic background, but the fact that we share our lives with each other by living on the same
planet is the common denominator. As Voltaire said three centuries ago, With great power
comes great responsibility. On an individual scale, our actions may not seem to have great
impact, but we do have the power to get that quarter pounder cheeseburger from the dollar menu
and support a mass system that drains our resources. Every meal, we exercise our power as
consumers; therefore we have the responsibility to think about the impact our food has on our
planet. The next time you step into a grocery store or a restaurant, think. What footprint will you
and your food leave behind?
Disclaimer: This paper is a response to Lee Kleins Libambulators Unite!: Walking +
Reading to Save a City. I paralleled the structure of his paper, and simply changed the
means of salvation (Kleins solution was to read and walk simultaneously and mine was
that cutting animals and animal products from our diet can save the world.)

Minjung Kim

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Works Cited
Barclay, Eliza. "A Nation Of Meat Eaters: See How It All Adds Up." NPR: The Salt- What's on
Your Plate. NPR, 27 June 2012. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
<http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/27/155527365/visualizing-a-nation-of-meateaters>.
Christian, David. Human Population Growth. Digital image. World History for Us All. San
Diego State University, n.d. Web.
<http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/themes/keytheme1.htm>.
"Holy Cow." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/holycow/>.
"Rearing Cattle Produces More Greenhouse Gases than Driving Cars, UN Report Warns."UN
News Center. UN, 29 Nov. 2006. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
<http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?newsID=20772>.
Reinberg, Steven. "Most Americans Still Not Eating Enough Fruits, Veggies." US News.
U.S.News & World Report, 09 Sept. 2010. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
<http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/diet/articles/2010/09/09/mostamericans-still-not-eating-enough-fruits-veggies>.
Tence, Daniel. "Number Of Cars Worldwide Surpasses 1 Billion; Can The World Handle This
Many Wheels?" Business-Canada. Huffington Post, 23 Aug. 2011. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/08/23/car-population_n_934291.html>
Thiel, Teresa. Bacterial Phases of a Bacterial Growth Curve. Digital image. Introduction to
Bacteria. University of Missouri- St. Louis, 1999. Web. 27 Jan. 2013.
<http://www.umsl.edu/~microbes/introductiontobacteria.pdf>.