Green Minds
By Frolic Tan Lopez
PUBLISHED: JANUARY 2009

GOOD FOR ALL Becoming a vegetarianisn't only good for the health, but also, as PETA states, for the environment.

Admittedly, vegetarianism is not perfect. For example, since “vitamin B-12 is primarily found in animal sources, vegans need to take a multivitamin or B-12 supplement to get ample B-12,” Baker says.  “But it is still possible to get most vital nutrients from a vegan diet – (after all) vitamin B-12 is also found in nutritional yeast, and many fortified cereals and soy milks.”

Beyond choosing to be healthy, however, turning vegetarian is, according to PETA, also “compassionate to the animals and the environment.”

“It is estimated that each vegetarian saves at least 83 animals every year,” Baker says, with “most factory-farmed animals (that end on the dining tables) never seeing the sun, breathing fresh air, or feeling grass under their feet.  They are torn from their loving mothers, overcrowded in filthy cages, warehouses, and sheds, fed drug-laden diets, mutilated, and then slaughtered.”

He adds: “The world’s livestock account for 15% to 25% of overall global methane emissions — and methane is 24 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.  In the US, nearly half of the water, more than a third of raw materials and fossil fuels, 80% of agricultural land, and 70% of grain are used to raise animals for food. The animals, in turn, produce a whopping 87,000 pounds of manure every single second – (a quantity) 130 times the excrement of the entire human population, leaking into streams and rivers, and contaminating water sources.”

Thus, a vegetarian diet is, therefore, “not only healthy but also humane and environment-friendly,” Baker says.

CHOOSING GREEN

“Going vegetarian seemed difficult at first — I had loved bacon double cheeseburgers,” Baker recalls.  “But I made the switch overnight.  It’s just a matter of learning new food.”

Turning vegetarian, he notes, is “easier than ever before these days since there are many more options.  In the Philippines, soy products are everywhere; you don’t go to the taho (tofu), the taho goes to you.”   

Tofu, a soy product long promoted by Seventh-Day Adventists as “mock meats” that is cholesterol free and generally lower in fat, can now be cheaply bought in wet- or supermarkets.  “You can buy soy hot dogs and soy cheese in a local supermarket, and you can even have soy ice cream in the movies,” Baker says.

Recognizing a growing market, even shopping chain Rustans added a new section (called Taste) in its supermarkets, carrying various soy products from sliced soy meat, tofu cream cheese, soy cheese, mock tuna, and dairy-free chocolate.

There are now also more dining venues either exclusively catering to vegetarians, or re-configuring their menus to offer vegetarian menus.  In Quezon City alone there are about five all-vegetarian restaurants.  Pizza companies, such as Yellow Cab and Greenwich, make vegetable pizzas without cheese.  And even fastfood giants like Wendy’s and KFC now have vegetable salads for the health-conscious.

“I want to be clear: I’m not against steak because of how it tastes; I’m against the suffering that went into it.  I still like the smell of Burger King, but there are so many great-tasting vegan alternatives that there is no justification to cause animals to suffer,” Baker says.  “Compassion will never go out of style.  We show people that vegetarianism isn’t just about losing a few pounds; it’s about being humane and healthy.”