samihaamin123-blog

[samihaamin123-blog]

The End. But what happened?: June 1-8

I did it. I finally made it through the excruciating and lousy 2 weeks of the eliminating meat sacrifice. Let me tell you already. I'm going to go home and just eat chicken for the rest of the week to fill up the days I haven’t. However, doesn't that just defy the point of doing this project and sacrifice in the first place? Well, it does. That's the sad reality. Like I mentioned in my previous blog post, as humans we favor our wants more than everything else's needs. And yes, I admit that I believe you come first before anything else, but will there be anything you could possibly want, when you have no environment safe enough to reside in due to your unruly and unnecessary wants? Well, then the question rises of what can we do. The simple answer, if you are reading my blog is ,don't eat meat or anything that releases horrible emissions or dangerous gases like carbon dioxide to the environment. But, clearly that's not effective because you have the opportunity to quit anytime you'd like.  It's also something that is a bit extreme, considering you may lack important minerals only found in meat, like zinc and more. But, most importantly we need to take incentive. RIGHT NOW. Why? Well, already thousands of places all over the world have become so polluted and unsanitary due to meat production, its insane. Our world is slowly falling apart from its lush lands and green grass, to dark murky lakes and rivers and foul air. Therefore, I have an idea. I believe if we raise the prices of any meat, drastically, people may decrease their purchase of meat. This will also decrease the pollution from cultivation of animals massively. Now, I know that my ideas are not the best nor are they something people will agree with, but it's a start.

To clarify my ideas a bit more, think about this. According to,www.greeneatz.com, it states,“a meat lover has the highest carbon footprint at 3.3 tons of greenhouse gas emissions...You can reduce your foodprint by a quarter just by cutting down on red meats such as beef and lamb”.

{Graph is showing statistics of how much emissions are produced based on your diet.}

Well, that’s where my idea comes in. Think of it like this, when the prices for something is raised greatly at a nonsensical rate, you are less likely to buy it considering there are many more better alternatives for much cheaper.

{Graph shows the increase of meat over the span of 13 years} 

For example, spinach actually has more iron in it than red meat! In Nestle-Family.com, they state, “100g of spinach contains 2.7 mg of iron versus 2.6 mg found in 100g of meat”. The only difference? Spinach does have lower absorption of iron in the body, but dont worry! You can eat as much spinach as you want. It's quite healthy! It does not release any harmful gases into the air when it is being cultivated nor when we prepare to eat it,and etc, unlike meat which raises many health concerns as well as environmental . I mean, who wants to live in a world where “animal agriculture generates a significant amount of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, and the increased frequency and severity of flooding, droughts, and other weather events expected to follow” [www.jhsph.edu]. Honestly, that’s terrible and these type of things just stress even more that as guests on this planet we have to be kind to the hostess, who is constantly meeting our needs and wants, and forgetting about her own. We need to help. And the only way change can occur, is if we all struggle and maybe even get mad. Getting mad is a sign that change works. Raising money on poultry and other meat items is just the first step into something that could help our earth.

However, I understand that when prices of normally cheap things rise, it's hard for people to adapt to the change, I mean my parents would get quite upset, considering we are avid meat eaters. But, its all worth the money. Why? Well, have you ever thought about how your meat ended up in the  beef and poultry section of the supermarket? No, I'm not talking about food order shipments or anything, Im talking about the real deal. In Annie Leonard’s “My Story Of Stuff”, she also discusses the issue of how her “stuff” got here.. so, while I was doing research on what happens to the environment when raising animals, this is what I found out. “More than 90 percent of all Amazon rainforest land [has been ]cleared since 1970 [and] is used for grazing livestock”. Furthermore, “it takes an enormous amount of water to grow crops for animals to eat… [as well as] give animals water to drink. A single cow can drink up to 50 gallons of water per day- or twice that amount in hot weather” (www.peta.org). And, if you do the calculations, you can save approximately 219,000 gallons of water per year by not buying meat and adding it to your diet. What does that make you think? People are LITERALLY losing their homes, others are deprived of water in a bunch of different nations,just so us ungrateful city people could enjoy a chicken leg for dinner when the lettuce in our fridge is literally growing fungus, just waiting for us to make a salad.

{Bar graph depicts approximately how much water is used based on what you eat or is in your diet}.

I also understand the money issue. Yes, this is the way that many people make money and I know my idea also raises many economic apprehension, however isn't there any other way you can make money in the same field? Grow crops! In my previous paragraph, I had a quote about the insane amount of water wasted on animals for food purposes. Referring back to that, if we raised a lot of crops and little amount of meat for consumption purposes, we would save so much more water and pollution in farms would decrease intensely. To prove my point, in www.fao.org, they state that, “livestock account for 40% of global emissions…[and] crop residues for about 18%”. Clearly, no matter what we will always have pollution issues, but getting rid of meat in our diet, is just the beginning clearly shown everywhere.

And don't worry. You can still make a lot of money with crops. According to, work.chron.com, it says, “ [farmers make]$33.66 per hour or $70,010 per year as of May 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compensation could sink below $15.38 per hour or $31,980 per year, or rise above $53.92 per hour or $112,150 per year”. And guys, that's only CROP FARMERS. Also, making about $33.00 an hour is an extraordinary amount of income for a farmer.. Most farmers barely get paid enough, so raising crops just gives the benefit. So, in the end, no we are not hurting the economy in any MAJOR deal breaking way. Sure, we may have lost a bit of money, but that's NOTHING compared to how much money the government will have to gather up when the world is basically ruined due to pollution from things like meat production and even consumption.

To conclude this blog post, as well as my journey, I’d just like to say, meat is awesome. I know this because I literally HATE vegetables and fish and other things. But, ever since I actually started researching my topic about meat industries and how it affects the environment, images of people losing their homes, putrid air, and etc. due to animal cultivation, always pop into my head when I pick up a chicken leg. Sure, change is going to take time, but everything just needs to start. We can't complain about how long something will take if we don't even begin it. We are wasting time and wasting our precious earth.

Let's get together and help bring back the earth that it used to be thousands of years ago, when people weren’t crazy for some type of meat and actually ate things that HELPED the environment. So, yeah be more mindful of what you eat and try at least to help our world in some way through the things you do.

[samihaamin123-blog]

I’m trying: May 28 - 29

   These two days I’ve been trying. I’ve really been trying to be more conscious of what I eat and constantly thinking about how this will eventually help a bigger cause. But, to be honest, me doing this for only 2 weeks won’t make any difference. That may seem like a waste of time but it’s true. I’m only 1 person out of 7.6 billion and counting. I cant be the only one doing something, and although you must have heard 1 person can make a HUGE difference, its honestly not true at all. 

According to “TIME.com”, “The environmental impacts of a dietary shift could be just as dramatic. Livestock alone account for more than 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and by 2050 the food sector could account for half if cuts are implemented in other sectors along the lines that countries have committed to doing. A vegan or vegetarian diet could cut those emissions by 70% and 63%, respectively. [And] changing dietary patterns could save $1 trillion annually by preventing health care costs and loss productivity”. Basically what i’m deciphering from this is if everybody somehow reduces their meat consumption and tries to switch to a more environmentally friendly diet, we would actually not just be helping the earth, but also be saving money.

 But, one question I still have is, why is this important? Well, when I did some research on PETA.org, I found out. “ it takes an enormous amount of water to grow crops for animals to eat, clean filthy factory farms, and give animals water to drink...it takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef, while producing 1 pound of tofu only requires 244 gallons of water. By going vegan, one person can save approximately 219,000 gallons of water a year”.

Well, if becoming vegan or vegetarian is so great for all of us, why cant we do it? To answer that question we just need to look at the people around us. 

While I was researching, I found this blog. Here’s is a snippet of Rachel Krantz blog post, titled “6 Things I Have To Admit Are Hard Being Vegan”. “I totally understand where my friends and family are coming from when they consume animals, because I've been there...  I'd be lying if I said it didn't cause me pain to witness them continue to consume suffering when I now know there is another way to live...  I just feel lonely, and hope that one day, they'll join me on the other side of cynicism, and choose compassion.” And, honestly I couldn’t have said it better. 

Although, i’m only eliminating meat from my diet for 2 weeks, I still feel like nobody can relate. also, it just makes me want that thing even more because I see my family and friends having it, I just crave it even more.

I mean these few days I haven’t really had any mishaps yet, but earlier in the week, I did make a few mistakes based off of my unnecessary want. I talked about this experience in my previous blog post. Anyways, I hope as I continue this journey, I will be able to come up with a way as to how maybe we could be a bit stronger and enforce maybe a law about meat consumption. Maybe this seems a bit atrocious and far-fetched, but its possibly a start to something greater.

[samihaamin123-blog]

The Journey Begins: May 24-27

    So, to quickly introduce myself, I’m Samiha. I am a 7th grader at Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School in Forest Hills, NY. In my opinion, MELS has very intriguing and engaging ideas, however the one I am currently executing has been one of the weirdest by far. To clarify, in ELA we are doing a case study. The case study is called, “My story of stuff”, which discusses how our everyday usage of things like eating food and more leaves a carbon footprint behind. Since, my topic was meat industries, I have to sacrifice meat for two weeks! 

Why? Well, according to a meat industry text, it states, “producing 1 calorie of protein from meat requires 8.5 times as much as fossil fuel energy - releasing 8.5 times as much as carbon dioxide”. [Carbon dioxide is terrible for the environment It is a “harmful gas released... [due to] negative impacts left on the environment”]. So, if maybe I reduce the amount of meat I consume that might help reduce maybe just a bit of the problem our environment is facing. I think this may work because, in the same meat industry text it says, “if the world adopted a ‘climate carnivore’ diet, in addition to the technology, for example, then agricultural emissions would drop to 4.9 billion tonnes in 2050″. Even that may not be as much as we will need to stop whats happening to our earth, but its a start to a more eco-friendly environment

Now, as amazing and helpful that might be for the environment, actually putting this idea into action is quite difficult. I LOVE CHICKEN, so to me becoming a vegetarian is like the dreaded yearly appointment to the dentist office. However, not going to lie, the idea is a really fun and new opportunity for me to try a new lifestyle that might possibly help contribute to a bigger cause, and maybe it will teach me something. I’m not sure exactly what i’ll learn, but I know that it will be valuable and might stay with me forever as a certain reminder of ways I can actually help my earth. 

But, for now I just want to say, I already messed up. Last night, my aunt had made chicken pot pie, and let me tell you chicken pot pie is one of my all time favorite dishes. I really tried to resist it and eat some really flavorless veggies, but its honestly very difficult watching your family eat something you like, when you cant have it. So, i’m ashamed to say I ate it. it was so hard to resist and honestly I didn’t once think about helping my earth at all. To me at the moment my wants were bigger to me than the need for all people. All people live on this earth and I cant hurt the earth. But, with every single bite of that delicious dish, the thought of saving the environment faded away.

Basically, I have to try harder and think about the long term consequences of my actions that can merely be avoided. 

“Cutting your carbon footprint” [TEXT] - “each American uses roughly 20 tons of [carbon dioxide] per year” = not good.

“Reduction to 4 tons ... per year ...[can help] stop the global warming and dangerous weather patterns caused by climate change’”. That is what we strive for.

 Therefore, I will try harder and honestly be more mindful of the things I do and how that ends up hurting me back again along with a whole other community.

But, wait ! Before, I end this blog post, i just wanted to say, I personally know how tough it can be to make such a drastic change to your diet, so i have something that might help. 

Sometimes we may be more willing to eat something only if it actually looks really appetizing and colorful. So, recently I found this website that has delicious vegetarian recipes that might even taste better than that big mac at McDonalds.