1. Helping animals also helps the global poor

While there is ample and justified moral indignation about the diversion of millions of tonnes of grain for biofuels, more than seven times as much is fed to farmed animals so that people can eat meat. Is the diversion of crops to our cars a moral issue? Yes, and a complex one, but not as pressing as the issue that meat-eating is.

2. Eating meat supports cruelty to animals

The green pastures and idyllic barnyard scenes of years past are now distant memories. On today's factory farms, animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy windowless sheds, wire cages, gestation crates and other confined spaces.

These animals will never raise families, root in the soil, build nests, or do anything else that is natural and important to them. They won't even get to feel the warmth of the sun on their backs or breathe fresh air until the day they are loaded onto trucks bound for slaughter.

3. Eating meat is bad for the environment

A recent United Nations report entitled Livestock's Long Shadow concluded that eating meat is "one of the ... most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."

For example, eating meat causes almost 40 per cent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks and planes in the world combined.

The report concludes that the meat industry "should be a major policy focus when dealing with problems of land degradation, climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity."

4. Avoid bird flu

The World Health Organisation says that if the avian flu virus mutates, it could be caught simply by eating undercooked chicken or eggs, eating food prepared on the same cutting board as infected meat or eggs, or even touching eggshells contaminated with the disease. Other problems with factory farming – from foot-and-mouth to SARS – can be avoided with a general shift to a vegetarian diet.

5. If you wouldn't eat a dog, you shouldn't eat a chicken

Several recent studies have shown that chickens are bright animals who are able to solve complex problems, demonstrate self-control and worry about the future. Chickens are smarter than cats and dogs and even do some things that have not yet been seen in mammals other than primates.

Dr Chris Evans, who studies animal behaviour and communication at Macquarie University in Australia, says, "As a trick at conferences I sometimes list these attributes, without mentioning chickens, and people think I'm talking about monkeys."

6. Heart disease and cancer are big killers

Healthy vegetarian diets support a lifetime of good health and provide protection against numerous diseases, including the United States’ three biggest killers: heart disease, cancer and strokes.

Dr T Colin Campbell is one of the world's foremost epidemiological scientists and the director of what The New York Times called "the most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease". Dr Campbell's best-selling book, The China Study, is a must-read for anyone who is concerned about cancer. To summarise it, Dr Campbell states, "No chemical carcinogen is nearly so important in causing human cancer as animal protein".

7. Fitting into that tiny bikini

Vegetarianism is also the ultimate weight-loss diet, since vegetarians are one-third as likely to be obese as meat-eaters, and vegans are about one-tenth as likely to be obese.

Of course, there are overweight vegans, just as there are skinny meat-eaters. But on average, vegans are 10 to 20 per cent lighter than meat-eaters.

8. Global peace

Leo Tolstoy claimed that "vegetarianism is the taproot of humanitarianism". His point? For people who wish to sow the seeds of peace, we should be eating as peaceful a diet as possible. Eating meat supports killing animals, for no reason other than humans acquired taste for animals' flesh. Great humanitarians from Tolstoy to Mahatma Gandhi have argued that a vegetarian diet is the only one for people who want to make the world a kinder place.

9. The joy of veggies

As the growing range of vegetarian cookbooks and restaurants shows, veggies rock. People report that when they adopt a vegetarian diet, their range of foods explodes from a centre-of-the-plate meat item to grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables that they didn't even know existed.

10. Sir Paul McCartney says so...

"If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That's the single most important thing you could do. It's staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty."

1.  幫助動(dòng)物的同事也幫助全世界的窮人

用數(shù)百萬噸的糧食制造生物燃料，在道德上我們有充分、正當(dāng)?shù)睦碛筛械綉嵖��？蔀榱俗屓藗兡艹陨先�，喂養(yǎng)農(nóng)場(chǎng)牲畜所需的糧食卻是制造生物燃料的七倍之多。拿糧食來“喂養(yǎng)”汽車，這是個(gè)道德問題嗎？是，而且是很復(fù)雜的道德問題，但遠(yuǎn)沒有吃肉這個(gè)問題更緊迫。

2. 吃肉就要?dú)埲痰貙?duì)待動(dòng)物

幾年前那綠油油的牧場(chǎng)、儉樸舒適的牲口圈都已成了遙遠(yuǎn)的記憶。今天的工廠化農(nóng)場(chǎng)里，大批牲畜擠在沒有窗戶、污穢不堪的牲口棚、鐵絲籠、妊娠板條箱等地方，不能自由活動(dòng)。

動(dòng)物不再繁衍后代，不再扎根土壤，不再搭建巢穴，不再做任何對(duì)它們來說既自然又重要的事情。除了裝運(yùn)上車送去屠宰的時(shí)刻，他們甚至不能再感受陽光照在背上的溫暖，呼吸不到新鮮的空氣。

3. 吃肉對(duì)環(huán)境有害

最近一篇名為《牲畜的巨大陰影》的聯(lián)合國(guó)報(bào)告說，“無論是地方還是全球范圍內(nèi)，”吃肉都是“導(dǎo)致最嚴(yán)重的環(huán)境問題的一個(gè)重要原因。”

比如，由于吃肉所釋放的溫室氣體，比全球所有汽車、卡車、飛機(jī)所釋放的總量還要多約百分之四十。

報(bào)告指出，“解決土地退化、氣候變化、空氣污染、水資源短缺與污染、物種減少等問題，應(yīng)該將重點(diǎn)放在”肉類工業(yè)上。

4. 避免禽流感

世界衛(wèi)生組織稱，如果禽流感病毒發(fā)生變異，食用沒有熟透的雞肉或雞蛋、食用與感染禽流感的肉或蛋在同一塊案板上切過的食品、甚至接觸感染的蛋殼，都有可能感染禽流感。人們普遍改吃素食，工廠化農(nóng)場(chǎng)經(jīng)營(yíng)所帶來的(從口蹄疫到非典等)其他問題也都可以避免。

5. 不吃狗肉，也就不該吃雞肉

 最近的研究表明，雞這種動(dòng)物很聰明，能夠解決復(fù)雜的問題，還表現(xiàn)出了自我控制能力和對(duì)未來的擔(dān)心。它們比貓狗更聰明，甚至還會(huì)做些只有靈長(zhǎng)類動(dòng)物才會(huì)做的事情，人們從未見過哺乳動(dòng)物能夠做那樣的事情。

澳大利亞麥考瑞大學(xué)研究動(dòng)物行為和動(dòng)物交流的克里斯·埃文斯博士說：“有時(shí)在會(huì)上我會(huì)玩一個(gè)小把戲，在對(duì)雞只字不提的情況下列出這些特征，人們都以為我說的是猴子呢。”

6. 心臟病和癌癥是最大殺手

健康的素食有利于一生的健康，可以預(yù)防各種疾病，其中包括美國(guó)三大殺手：心臟病、癌癥、中風(fēng)。

T·科林·坎貝爾博士是世界一流的流行病學(xué)家，是《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》所稱的“對(duì)飲食結(jié)構(gòu)與致病風(fēng)險(xiǎn)之間的關(guān)系所做的有史以來最復(fù)雜的大型研究項(xiàng)目”的主管�？藏悹柌┦康摹吨袊�(guó)研究》這本暢銷書是任何關(guān)注癌癥的人必讀的一本書。坎貝爾博士總結(jié)說：“動(dòng)物蛋白比任何一種化學(xué)致癌物都更容易引發(fā)癌癥。”

7. 讓你穿上緊身比基尼

素食主義還是減肥的最終解決辦法，因?yàn)榕c素食者發(fā)胖的幾率只是肉食者的三分之一，而嚴(yán)格的素食主義者發(fā)胖的幾率僅為肉食者的十分之一。

當(dāng)然，正像有些肉食者瘦的皮包骨頭一樣，有些嚴(yán)格的素食主義者也比較胖。但平均來講，嚴(yán)格的素食主義者比肉食者輕百分之十到二十。

8. 全球和平

列夫·托爾斯泰曾說過，“素食主義是人道主義的核心內(nèi)容。”這是他的觀點(diǎn)嗎？為了希望播下和平種子的人們，我們應(yīng)該盡可能食用“和平的”食物。吃肉就要屠殺動(dòng)物，而其原因僅僅是人類要品嘗動(dòng)物的肉。從托爾斯泰到圣雄甘地這些偉大的人道主義者都曾指出，吃素是想讓世界更加友愛的人們唯一的選擇。

9. 素食者的樂趣

五花八門的素食食譜和素食餐館都告訴我們，吃素其樂無窮。人們說，開始吃素后，食物種類大大增多了，不再只盯著盤子里的肉食，而是吃些谷類、豆類、水果、還有他們以前根本不知道的蔬菜等等。

10. 保羅·麥卡特尼爵士如是說……

“若要拯救這個(gè)星球，只需不再吃肉。這是你所能做的唯一的、也是最重要的事。想到這兒，會(huì)讓你大吃一驚。吃素，既有利于保護(hù)生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，又有利于防止饑荒和殘酷事件的發(fā)生。”