Being Vegetarian, Vegan or Pescatarian!🍅

I'm pescatarian, and have been since I was 7 years old (I'm now 12). A pescatarian is basically a vegetarian who eats fish, but not meat. There are lots of people who say "but that makes no sense, fish is meat, so you're basically not helping." I think fish is different, because (although we have been over-fishing) they aren't cutting down trees for farmland to grow the crops you need to feed cows etc. 

Why is not eating meat better?

1. In 2018, a research showed that we could reduce 75% of global farmland use and still feed the world, if we stop eating meat and dairy. I personally could not see a life without milk and stuff, but it was really easy to give up meat. 
2. Also, just 18% of calories and 37% of protein are provided by meat and dairy, but uses 83% of farmland and produces 60% of greenhouse gasses. Way more than it's worth. You can get protein from nuts, seeds, pulses, beans etc, so you don't need to eat meat to get protein!
3. Per 100g, beef results in 105kg of greenhouse gasses, but tofu produces less than 3.5kg (and tofu's delicious, my family use the brand Tofoo). 
4. Factory farming is a major contribution to to deforestation and water and air pollution. The  animal welfare due to this is very low, and the animals are hurt and not cared for. The meat that comes from here is usually cheap, and sometimes the writing on the packaging lies, saying it's '100% natural' or something, when it's definitely not. 
5. Eggs - getting free range is way better! They get 100 square feet space at least and are allowed to find their own food and live naturally. Whereas caged hens are kept in cages that are usually the size of an A4 piece of paper, and are stacked up on top of one another. They get stressed, their bones are damaged but not cared for and they usually never see the light of day in their life. 

I know it's really hard for some people to give up meat because it's basically in every meal for them, so what you could do, and have probably heard about, is a Meat-Free-Monday (which is self-explanatory) or Veganuary, where you go vegan for the month of January. You could also be a flexitarian, where you eat meat occasionally, but you usually eat a plant based diet. 

Thank you for reading this blog! I hope you liked it, see you next Sunday!

Violet

         xxx