Dear Editor,

(Re: “Loyola students vegging out,” Life & Times, March 23.)

Thanks for your article on vegetarianism. When young people learn there are more than one million animals slaughtered for food every hour in the U.S. alone, they understandably want to avoid being part of that violence by choosing a vegetarian diet. Who really wants to wake up every morning knowing that they are going to pay for animals to be crammed into cages, beaten and bled to death?

As your article mentioned, the good news is that one in four college students feel vegan options are important for reasons ranging from cruelty to animals, environmental protection and better health.

Colleges are rapidly increasing their vegetarian-friendly options due to student demand for healthy meals that do not contribute to animal suffering. From faux barbecue “ribs” to soy cheese pizzas, vegetarians can eat all the delicious food they want without supporting cruelty to animals. Furthermore, in these days of increasing concern about global warming and the environmental impacts of our daily choices, I urge readers to think about the effects of eating animals. A recent United Nations report said raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined.

Moreover, in the U.S., every second, chickens, turkeys, pigs and cows in factory farms produce nearly 89,000 pounds of excrement, often contaminated with the antibiotics and hormones that are pumped into these animals. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency runoff from factory farms pollutes our waterways more than all other industrial sources combined.

Eating a healthy, humane diet is the best way to help animals, the environment and our own health.

Sincerely,

Pulin Modi

College Campaign Coordinator, peta2.com