Many people (meat eaters) try to argue against vegetarianism by saying that it is "unhealthy." They say that you need to get certain nutrients from animal meats, such as protein and iron, and that we eat animals for our survival. They also say that we are superior to other animals (that we are at the top of the food chain) and we have the right to kill them for food.
This is NOT the case.
Key arguments for vegetarianism/veganism:
Eating meat raises your chances of getting cancer, osteoporosis, high mercury levels, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, migraines, salmonella, type 2 diabetes, and many other deadly diseases. In plant-based foods there is much more iron and protein than there is in animal proteins. For example, spinach is made of 49% protein whereas steak is only about 23%. Now, onto the foodchain talk. People say that humans are at the top of the foodchain, but that is not the case. Humans cannot go out and kill a lion with their bare hands - we need weapons. We cannot eat an animal's body without cooking it first- and even then it raises our chance of catching diseases. TRUE carnivores and omnivores don't have to cook their meat in order to eat it, humans do. There's this saying, "kill an animal, eat an animal, get killed by the animal." What this means is that if you kill and eat an animal, it raises your chance of getting diseases and shortens your lifespan by about 6 years. So when you eat an animal, in all reality, you're giving that animal a chance to kill you. Another point that is FOR vegetarianism or veganism is that a plant-based diet is much more sustainable. It takes about 2,500 gallons of water to produce ONE pound of meat, and it takes nothing near that to produce one pound of plant food. Also, the main reason for deforestation is animal agriculture. We are tearing down the rainforests - at a speed of an acre per second - so that our cattle can graze. We would not need to cut down any trees to grow plant foods! Also, livestock is the main reason for air pollution. Livestock gives off literal tons of methane into the air, as well as nitrous oxide which is 300x more harmful than carbon dioxide per pound. The list goes on and on of why the world should be vegan/vegetarian. If you need anything else, let me know :)
