I think most people agree that in general, we all like animals and we all want to help them. Working at animal shelters, I got to witness firsthand how amazing and kind some people can be when it comes to helping a cat or dog in need. However, I also witnessed that many people don’t know how to help or don’t think to in the first place. Unfortunately, humans have become so conditioned to believe that we matter more than our furry counterparts that we’re used to seeing animals lying in the road that were run over, we’re used to hearing about all the healthy companion animals that are “euthanized” in shelters every year, we’re used to hunting and killing animals for entertainment, and we’re used to eating animals without giving it a second thought. Kinda crazy when you stop and think about it, right? I mean, we’ve been controlling animals minds and bodies for thousands of years without ever really wondering what the true consequence of that is. We’re finally beginning to see some of those severe consequences.

What’s really going on?

Studies show that this current generation of children in America are the first that will shorter lives than their parents. That seems to sort of go against evolution… And it’s all due to the dairy, meat, gluten, and processed foods they are consuming. And it’s spreading across the world. Asia always had the lowest rates of cancer and heart disease because it’s a traditionally vegetarian area. But as soon as they began adopting Western eating styles, their rates of cancer and heart disease steadily rose.

Another scary fact is that we are running out of water, as well as farm-able land. Why? Because of factory farming. Eating cheap meat and dairy has become so popular that this world must sustain the billions of animals that produce this meat and dairy. That means water. Animals consume a lot of water. They also consume a lot of food. These animals are fed corn and grain (not what they’re supposed to be eating in the first place) and corn and grain need a place to grow. That means cutting down the rainforests and other natural habitats to grow these crops. Statistics shows that if we got rid of factory farming and instead used those resources to grow fruits and vegetables and healthy grains, we could easily feed all the starving people in the world. In fact, we would never have starving people. Oh, and animals on factory farms emit more methane gases than all the cars in the world combined.

That’s all the bad news. The good news is, we can do things in our daily lives to make a difference. And if everybody does little things that make a difference, then we can begin to reverse all the damage that’s been done and literally save the world. If we could save the world and also spare animals from the intense suffering they experience at our hands, why wouldn’t we?

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