June 5, today, is a day that is used by the United Nations to stimulate worldwide awareness of environmental issues and encourages political action. This year’s World Environment Day is about kicking the CO2 habit.

No, it’s not about smoking. Well, maybe partly smoking, but not all of it. All of us are addicted to CO2 in some way; driving our cars as much as possible, consuming electricity from fossil fuel power plants. Many of the things we do result in pollutants entering the atmosphere. All of us have a ‘carbon footprint’, an indicator of how much carbon we output directly or indirectly.

Forget about the ‘global warming is a myth’ spiel. Pollutants are pollutants, either way. I myself take steps to reduce my carbon footprint. I use my bike instead of my car if I can, and get exercise at the same time. I try to save on my electricity bill by making sure what I don’t need isn’t turned on.

Countries are doing their part, too. New Zealand has vowed to be carbon-free and Australia may be next. Many cities around the world planted trees and staged festivals for environmental awareness today.

How about you? What part do you play in all of this? Are you a polluter or not?

A friend told me that humans were meant to eat meat. That may be true, but we have free will! We can eat what we want, and I chose to be a vegetarian. I know you’re tired of hearing the whole health benefits spiel, so I’ll give you different reasons why veggies are the way to go!

1. More people will be fed! Animals who are farmed for meat consume a lot of grain. You could feed the entire world if you fed 100% of it to people! Also, Soil and Water journal states that one acre of land produces 250 pounds of beef…or 50,000 pounds of tomatoes.

2. You spend less. Switching to vegetables saved my friend a few thousand a year on food expenses. That’s a few thousand more you can spend on a vacation or new clothes!

3. You can drink cleaner water. It only takes 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat. It takes a hundred times more to produce a pound of beef! Nitrate from manure is also one of the leading water pollutants in the US.

I’m not blaming non-vegetarians, since it’s what they chose, but for me, this lifestyle is better. What do you think?