Comparing Thoreau And Vegetarianism

I want to present two people, Henry David Thoreau and a vegan. Thoreau was an American Romantic who decided to go to the woods to live off the land, so he spent a year at Walden Pond hoeing beans and watching the water to show that anyone can sustain themselves on a small budget and nature while a vegan abstains from consuming any animal products. What do they have in common? Stereotypically, vegans are outspoken and obnoxious, and for some, Thoreau is annoying and irrelevant. Yet they share a common interest: the environment. They both gave something up to help nature and prove a point to the people with which they come in contact, and honestly, that is respectable. Global warming is featured on the news but there are many other issues right …show more content…
My belief is what history shows: Humans sustain animals, so in turn, they can sustain humans. The meat industry crosses a line, though. People should raise animals, and like fruits, raise them to be bigger and tastier. However, many companies are arguably cruel in attempts to raise the biggest and tastiest, and they erase much of the biodiversity of species. People must realize that animals are smart and like us; they have personalities, and they are social. Chickens are kept cramped in cages where they peck each other to death, then they are hung live to be speared by workers, but the practice continues to yield as many eggs as possible. Pigs are stressed because they cannot roam or interact with each other, and the stress leads to muscle deterioration. Likewise, cows are confined in fences and fed grain rather than grass, or in other words, companies prevent cows from eating grass as their bodies are equipped to do and feed them cheap corn. This diet gives them ulcers that are exacerbated by their lack of exercise, yet farmers continue because the grain bulks them up faster for quicker and better profits. These issues surround the food on people’s plates, and they are overwhelming to think about, let alone to try to solve. However, writer and environmentalist Wendell Berry conquered this issue much more profoundly in his essay “Think Little.” He knows much more than I do, but I love his solution. Rather than contemplate these large, complex problems or gripe about how the government should implement change, Berry calls for a revelation of thinking little, or finding small steps to solve