In a land close by,

 there was a boy named Timmy. He lives in a world where almost everybody loves to eat meat, but sometimes a little too much. Around 70-75 percent of Timmy's world eats meat, and they are beginning to see how too much meat is bad for the world. Some of the problems with the overuse of meat are poor health for people, bad effects on the environment, and the poor treatment of animals. 

I love to eat meat, but there are so many problems recently. I need to get to the bottom of this. 

This used to be Timmy's world,

But now it's this. 

        Timmy decided to start his research about people's health at the library, and he started with processed and unprocessed meat. Unprocessed meat is like steak and fresh chicken, and processed meat is like hotdogs and bacon. He also read about red meat, the main ones being beef, lamb, and pork. 

     As Timmy was researching, he found studies that linked red and processed meats to a higher chance of type 2 diabetes. Eating half a deck of cards worth of meat a day can higher your chances of getting the disease by 48%.  Another study also showed that eating 50g a day of unprocessed meat can boost the chance of diabetes by 32%.

    Unfortunately for Timmy, diabetes wasn't the only issue his world was facing. He also found that eating 100g of meat a day of unprocessed meat makes you 11% more likely to get breast cancer, 17% more likely to get colorectal cancer, and 19% more likely to get advanced prostate cancer.  

This meat tastes good, but at what cost?

    Even after finding all these health issues the overconsumption of meat can make, Timmy still found more. Data has shown that red meat is linked to high cholesterol, creating a higher chance of heart attacks and stroke. Eating lots of red meat, especially processed meat, is highly associated with cardiovascular disease. People who eat 100g a day of unprocessed meat are 17% more likely to die from heart disease, and 50g of unprocessed meat a day higher that chance by 24%.

    After Timmy finished his research on people's health, he realized that humans weren’t the only ones suffering from the overuse of meat. Around 25% of global climate change problems are because of the food we eat. The percentage of carbon emissions that comes from livestock is equal to the amount that comes from all the cars, trucks, planes, trains, and ships in the world together, 14%. 

Plus, animals like cows and sheep are very gassy, and they make a greenhouse gas called methane that is 25x worse for our environment than carbon dioxide.

    He also learned that because of fertilizers, livestock is responsible for over 60% of ammonia emissions caused by people. These emissions can lead to acid rain and the acidification of ecosystems. 

    Timmy also read that it takes a lot of land to raise these animals just for us to kill them and use them for food when we can be using it to grow fruits and vegetables that are better for the environment anyways. By doing so we also help with food security because more food is going straight to people. Around 30% of available land is for livestock production whereas only 8% is for food consumed directly by humans. 

    After learning so much about people and the environment, Timmy wondered what was happening to the animals. Due to supply and demand, animals that are used for food are stuffed into tight and unsanitary places like windowless sheds, wire cages, metal crates, and other bad spaces. Many of these animals don't even see the sun until they are getting moved to a slaughterhouse.

    Timmy also found that over 29 million cows go through terrible things and die because of the meat and dairy industries a year. On top of that, 9 million chickens are killed for their meat and 305 million are used for their eggs a year in the US alone.    

Out of the millions of pigs that are killed every year for people to eat, over a million die and at least 40,000 are hurt during transportation to the slaughterhouse. All these poor animals suffer just for us to eat them. 

    After all his research, Timmy wanted to find a way to help people. Eating meat wasn't the problem, eating too much meat was. He studied people in the Mediterranean who mostly ate fish, grains, and vegetables and only ate meat rarely. A single serving of beef emits 330g of carbon into our atmosphere, while fish only emits 40g. By switching to this diet people can eat the foods they like in moderation while helping the planet.

    Now that Timmy's research is over, he knows enough about meat to help his world. Researchers suggest that you should limit eating red meat to one or two times a week, or 6 ounces. By limiting the world's use of meat, we can better our health, help the environment, and take better care of our animals. Timmy helped his world, now it's time to help yours.

                                    Glossary

Acidification of ecosystems- When pH levels of an environment go up which is bad

Advanced Prostate Cancer- Cancer in an organ near the bladder

Ammonia Emissions- A chemical going into the atmosphere

Atmosphere- Layers of gasses that protect our planet

Carbon Emissions- Carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere

Cardiovascular- The system of the heart

Climate Change- A change in weather 

Colorectal Cancer- Cancer in the large intestine

Consumed- ate

Data- information collected

                                    Glossary

Diabetes- A condition where there is a lot of sugar in the bloodstream

Disease- A condition that doesn't allow the body to work properly

Emits- Puts out

Industries- A group of businesses that are similar

Issue- A problem, something bad

Livestock- Farm animals raised for profit

Overconsumption- The overuse of something

Production- To create 

Stroke- When blood stops going to the brain

Unsanitary- Not clean