New Year, New Beginning

Hi, I'm Katie and I'm new to this- blogging, being vegetarian, everything. So please bare with me.

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to become vegetarian.
It all started out a little before exam week last semester- I was shopping for meat for the week and was just disgusted by how big the chicken breasts were compared to the real, organic ones that happened been hit up with hormones. I decided I wanted to treat my body better, eat healthier. I'm not fat by any means, I'm actually on the small side of the healthy range, but I don't want to get cancer by eating all these hormones! I've already had a lot of family members die of cancer and I don't want to suffer the way they did.

At first I wanted to eat organic, but I'm a college student and I'm on a budget so I knew I wouldn't be able to afford that very often. So I was thinking I might just limit my meat consumption and up my fruit/vegetable consumption. But then I started thinking about it and doing some research.

I was raised by a hippie. My mom tried being a vegetarian for a while, but she's allergic to corn, beans, and soy...so obviously it was a bad choice for her. But on the other side of this, I've been raised to respect the environment- reduce, reuse, recycle, buy local/in season produce when possible, go paperless with bills, etc. And a lot of my friends have had similar values my whole life. I know a lot of vegetarians. I don't have the same allergies as my mom, so why not try it out?

I'm majoring in meteorology. I'm not a climatology kind of girl, but I have taken a couple classes in the subject and know that despite the leaked e-mails, the science behind the studies is real. Our Earth is warming and it is, in fact, our fault. From my research, I've learned that livestock farming, slaughtering and distributing emits so many greenhouse gases that I'm doing more for the environment by becoming vegetarian than someone buying a hybrid car. The meat industry emits 40% more greenhouse gases annually than all forms of transportation combined. The meat industry is also tainting our water supply and taking up most of the space in the torn-down rainforests. This is a major reason behind my switch.

Of course in my research I came across those PETA ads about the animal abuse and cruelty. But as I'm sure you've all heard this and may be sick of those ads, I will spare you the details and assume you can find that information yourselves if you choose to. I will just mention that as I love my pets, I wouldn't want to eat them. :)

So there you have it- my resolution and my reasons.

Happy New Year!