Hunting wounds, orphans and kills millions of animals a year. Veganism is the answer | Opinion

Meat is the problem

The author of a recent News Tribune op-ed that disparaged compassionate vegan eating seemed concerned that a lot of farmland is required to grow plant foods. However, if he’s worried about deforestation and the climate catastrophe (as we all should be), it’s time for him to go vegan.

University of Oxford researchers have found that we’d need only a quarter of the global farmland currently in use if everyone got their protein directly from plants instead of feeding enormous amounts of crops to farmed animals. The amount of land available for reforestation would be the size of the U.S., China, Australia and the EU combined.

The author stated that small animals are inadvertently killed when land is plowed and crops are harvested. Again, eradicating the need to feed farmed animals would prevent a great number of those unintended deaths. It would also eliminate the intended deaths: the estimated 39 million cows, 121 million pigs, nine billion chickens and countless other animals who are slaughtered for their flesh every year in the U.S. alone.

Hunting — which wounds, orphans and kills millions of animals a year; disrupts ecosystems and drives species to extinction — isn’t the answer, ending the exploitation of sentient beings is.

Deborah K. Metzler, Gig Harbor

Time to retire

Someone said that time is the best indicator of successes and failures in life; this also applies to the tumultuous and unkind world of politics, especially in Washington D.C.

Our members of Congress, rather than accepting responsibility for their constant defeats in delivering plausible solutions to our country, continue to seek votes under the premise of promised change. The old folks at Capitol Hill — those among the 538 privileged residents we, the people, have to pay — should call it to quit and let younger and more open-minded candidates do their job.

That legislative work is, and will always be, a minefield should not surprise anyone, but to have perennially-elected members that won’t ever quit deserves a closer look.

Congress needs newer people attuned to our country’s pressing needs, not long timers without a clue — other than seeking to be elected.

Erick Dietrich, Olympia

Guns in the U.S.A.

Not many truly understand the impact that gun violence has on adolescents in the United States. The mental and physical toll of guns is extremely detrimental and impacts those who directly and indirectly experience firearms.

Through the media and news sources, children are bombarded by images of school shootings and homicides. In many adolescents’ realities, they experience gun violence firsthand and/or live in a home with firearms.

The fact that the next generations are growing up in an epidemic of violence needs to change. There are steps we can all take to ensure these innocents are protected.

It is time to stand up. Here is the harsh reality of guns. Just being exposed to gun violence can lead to negative lifelong impacts on adolescents. Adolescent exposure to gun violence, whether direct or indirect, can cause anxiety, depression and PTSD. In 2020, firearms caused the death of 4,357 children.

This is uniquely a United States problem: compared to other countries with similar economic status, the United States, by far, has the most firearm-related deaths in adolescents.

Scarlett Counihan, Seattle