Category: English

The natural wellbeing of the earth has declined at an exponential rate within the last century. The Greenhouse effect is melting glaciers and ice caps. As a result, sea levels are rising (Luntz “Greenhouse Gases”). In addition, with the increase in carbon dioxide levels and pollution, our health is adversely affected (“Air Pollution”). The general health of humanity is suffering due to excessive and unhealthy consumption. Veganism is a solution to environmental and health issues that we face today. Veganism is defined as a “way of living which seeks to exclude…all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose”. (“Definition of Veganism”) This lifestyle can help address health and environmental issues through the cutback of livestock production and a consequent reduction of methane and carbon dioxide, the betterment of personal health through consumption of more natural foods,
and cultivating greater peace and respect for the environment.

As an example, by not consuming meat or anything from the animal industry, vegans positively contribute to the environmental wellbeing of the planet. It is the case that livestock cultivation is directly correlated to the emission of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse emissions are composed of gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide. Carbon dioxide represents 82% of greenhouse gases and methane 10% (“Overview of Greenhouse Gases”). The animal industry accounts for approximately 65% of nitrous oxide emissions, 37% of methane emissions, and 9% of human-induced carbon dioxide emissions (Gerber). Through the process of enteric fermentation cow, sheep, and other grass-eating livestock produce methane. Cows specifically produce 70-120 kilograms of methane yearly (“Time for Change”). Not all the emissions in the industry are the animals fault, however. Many wooded landscapes are cleared to make room for livestock. Each acre of cleared land results in “10,000 lb./acre/year of CO2 equivalent GHC” (Searchinger). The effect that this has is that there are less trees around to absorb the issuance of greenhouse gases. In addition, the processing, cooling, and transport of meat, eggs, and dairy contribute additional greenhouse emissions (“Beef or Cars”, “Fight Climate Change”). As a result, by not partaking in and encouraging the industry, vegans directly affect the amounts of greenhouse gases being put into the atmosphere.

Yet another example in which veganism combats environmental and health issues is by the exclusion of certain food groups. One of these is dairy. From an early age, we are taught that we need dairy products in our daily diet for strong bones and good health. However, this assumption is not correct. Dairy products of all kind cause a higher risk of prostate and breast
cancer caused by an insulin likely growth factor included in cow’s milk (“Health Concerns”). Furthermore, animal-based food contains a lot of cholesterol, which aggrieves our body’s well being. A too high cholesterol level in your blood can heighten the risk of heart attacks caused by
atherosclerosis (“About Cholesterol”). Additionally, proceeded milk is not clean, as it is full of different contaminants such as hormones, veterinary drugs, heavy metals, and pesticides. This pollution can occur during breeding of the animals, production, or packing of the final product
(Khaniki). These substances can damage health. Hormones such as estrogens can cause problems during puberty of young girls (Malekinejad). Vegans avoid dairy and get their protein from plants such as hempseed, quinoa, and buckwheat (Cirino). This allows them to moderate their protein intake and ensure that they consume as much protein as their bodies need. Their health is further benefitted by this as an excess of protein consumption typically found in an omnivore diet can lead to osteoporosis and impaired kidney functioning (“Protein Myth”).

Another way in which veganism is beneficial to the environment and health issues is in the manner in which it addresses other life. The vegan lifestyle is a life without remorse and compunction, through respecting nature and other living beings sans exploiting them for humanity’s good. Industrial farming is knee-deep in animal abuse. It has been found that “over 99% of farm animals in the U.S. are raised in factory farms, which focus on profit and efficiency at the expense of animal welfare” (“Farm Animals”). Chickens especially are subjected to cruelty within the egg industry. In battery farming, they vegetate, crammed into confined spaces and their own feces. In the U.S. alone, approximately “9 billion chickens are killed for their flesh each year, and 305 million hens are used for their eggs” (“Chickens”). Male chicks are killed right after birth, because they have no use to the industry (“Used for Meat”). They are thus ground up and put into dog food. Consumers of animal-based products have to decide if they can
live with the blood being on their hands when they buy the product. Christine Korsgaard says, “Can we still imagine ourselves as a natural link in a chain of life when there is nothing natural about the way we raise and eat our food?” (Evensen). Vegans have not only answered this question, but taken action to personally prevent it. This demonstrates their initiative in
cultivating greater peace and respect for the environment and all the creatures in it.

One may contest that while veganism is beneficial to the health of the environment and humanity, it is not necessarily a logical option for everyone. For many, it is needlessly expensive and impractical. Organic groceries and vegan health supplements are often the double or triple of
the prize of average food. Companies that produce vegan food items have somewhat of a monopoly on the market and as such overcharge their consumers. This is unreasonable for many in poorer countries who eat whatever they can to get by. These special vegan foods are not needed to be a vegan. In fact, some of the largest vegan and vegetarian populations in the planet are in developing countries such as India, where an average of 7 pounds of meat are eaten per person annually (“Living Below the Line”). Fresh fruit and vegetables can be cultivated in a city or outside of it, whether on large expanses of land or in the shared garden of a living complex. Local farmers offer produce options worldwide that are often organic and much cheaper than the special “vegan” produce that you will find in developed countries. Thus, there are many alternatives for vegans worldwide and the ability to continue to protect environmental and personal health.

In conclusion, veganism is very advantageous and beneficial to the environment and man. It can address health and environmental issues through the reduction of livestock production, the improvement of personal health through consumption of more natural foods, and nurturing greater peace and respect for the environment. The disadvantages of this lifestyle can be reduced by proper research for alternatives and information. As Pythagoras said, “For as long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings, he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.” (Ryan). There is a long while to go before the cessation of animal consumption. A difference can only be made when people face the consequence of their actions.

Rina Tiyu

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A boat is quietly sliding over the soft water stuffed with numerous bodies. Young men with visions, strong mothers pregnant or with child and elderly with dreams.

The moonlight makes your dark skin lustrous. Your clothes are thick yet you are shaking in the cold.  Your eyes are sharp yet you will miss what is about to come.

One wave. The power of the sea. That is all it takes for your boat to capsize. A trunk full of souls gulped down by the hungry mouth of the darkness.

You never learned how to swim, you never thought about dying so young. The cold water hugs you, drags you, swallows you. You are shaking. You are panicking. You are trying to gasp for air but there is only the cold water around you. Adrenaline shoots through your veins. SWIM. SWIM. SWIM. You reach the surface and you catch your breath. Your lungs fill with oxygen. You feel relief. One look around shows your companions drowning. The body of the toddler who was sitting next to you is floating motionless between bags and shoes. Some try to swim and reach the land but they are too far away to make it. The only hope is rescue. Will it come? In the middle of the night the hope of help is small. How long will you be able to fight the cold, the anxiety and the sorrow?

Another wave. You are under water again. You try to look around but the ocean is too nervous to be able to see. I WANT TO BREATH, scream your lungs. I WANT TO SEE, screams your brain. I WANT TO LIVE, screams your heart.

Your mother is sitting at home. Right in this moment she is thinking about you. She is thinking, hoping and praying her son will come back to her. She wishes only the best for her child. She never asked him to leave yet he did. He did it to make her proud. To have a better future for his children. To one day come back and make a difference. But soon nobody will remember his ambitions.

You are tired. Your sight starts to become cloudy. Your muscles cramp and your lungs fill up with water. The pain is unbearable. You have saved money for years only so you can suffer greatly. You try to fight, you try to not give up. Nobody is hearing your choked screams.

Your mother will cry yet she will never know you died in the colds of the sea. Friends will joke and hope you made it yet your body is rotting in the depths of the ocean.

Nobody will ever know you died that day. There will not be a body to burry nor a grave to cry on. The earth keeps rotating and life goes on and on only you will not be part of it anymore. You will share your grave with thousands of cold bodies.

Why all this misery? Because the people who have everything do not want to give or share anything. Europeans, wake up! What about humanity? We would not lose a bit by sharing what we have. We are sitting in front of our televisions with chocolate and ice creams while a child is drowning. We are laughing with friends in a bar while a young woman takes her last breath and vanishes in the sea with her unborn child. We are crying over bad grades and missed busses while thousands of mothers do not even know their beloved children are deceased. What right do you have to look away?

What makes you better than others?

Imagine your family on this boat and slowly drowning. Would you care then?

Rina Tiyu

A blast. The earth vibrated. My heart threatened to break out of my chest. My pulse drowned everything around me. My eyes fixed on a lady, who was pacing from table to table in small steps, babbling the same phrase over and over again, much like a broken record. “Terror alarm”.

A deafening drone shook the group of people, which had found one another in the courtyard of the library. Panicked glances were cast up into the sky. Helicopters circled just a few feet above our heads, freezing us in our steps. Shots. Loud, fast, endless shots cut through the hot city air. Grave silence followed the noise.

Jakarta seemed to hold its breath. The metropolis of Indonesia had become the target of a terrorist attack. The IS flag blew in the wind after minutes of bloodshed. Within hours, the news of the assassination attempt was to go around the world.

I was stunned. As if in a trance, I gazed into the eyes of my friend. These shimmered furtively. She picked up her cellphone and hopped through various social media to find out what had happened. Seconds later, she showed me pictures of mutilated corpses scattered on the roadside of the Sarinah mall. Blood decorated the walls and granite like a wild piece of deathly art.

Like a marionette controlled by strings I slid my fingers across the screen of my cellphone and wrote to all the people that were close to my heart. I wrote to my mom, with the dull feeling that this could be the last thing she heard from me. With bitter sarcasm I tried to take the wind out of the sails of my inner panic. I downplayed the gravity of the situation, joked.

In the evening, the story of a Sate-seller made the rounds. The hero who defied the assassins and sold his meat skewers in bold silence, as masked men on mopeds drove along the streets and shot down everything that moved. In a later interview, he emphasized the importance of not being intimidated by such people. Not to give them what they thirsted for: panic. Anxiety. Fear. We have to stay strong and go through difficult times together! I admired this embodiment of strength, while my soul seemed to be breaking on this event.

The decision to skip school that day to go to the mall nearly cost me my life. Minutes separated me from the explosion. Later, Starbucks coupon in my hand, I stared at the pictures of the bloodstained rubble of the trendy store on TV. I still felt Death’s cold hand on my shoulder.

In memory of the victims of the attack on January 14th 2016 in Indonesia.

-Rina Tiyu