Published Letters and Op-Eds from
COK’s Writers Group

Eat Vegan

Baltimore City Paper
March 12, 2008

As a longtime vegan, I enjoyed reading Robbie Whelan's March 5 EAT feature about the Yabba Pot. Peace may indeed begin in the kitchen as declared by a sign on the wall inside this popular vegan eatery: Our food choices impact not just our personal health but everything around us.

A vegan lifestyle typically requires fewer resources to sustain (less oil, water, and land) while also causing less pollution than a meat-based diet. In fact, a 2006 report by the United Nations reveals that raising animals for food causes more greenhouse-gas emissions than all forms of transportation combined. Another study suggests that if Americans reduced our meat consumption even by just 10 percent, the grain that would otherwise be used by animal agribusiness could be redistributed to feed the 60 million people who die of hunger each year.

A meat-based diet is also responsible for causing tremendous animal suffering. More than 10 billion birds, pigs, and cows are slaughtered each year in the United States for us to eat—that's more than 1 million animals killed every single hour.

Each of us can help create a kinder world simply by choosing vegan foods. And finding delicious animal-friendly fare in Baltimore has never been easier—just visit VegBaltimore.com.

Lynda Cozart
Takoma Park