The Biology Lesson That Opened My Eyes

Hey guys! I hope you're all having a fab week so far.

This week's been different, to say the least! On Monday, I had a Biology lesson which really opened my eyes.

The lesson was on deforestation and the negative impacts it has on the environment, for example the destruction of natural habitats and preventing biodiversity. This really hit me, like, REALLY hit me. Some of the videos we saw during the lesson of trucks and diggers demolishing forests was just heart-breaking. Did you know that 200,000 acres of woodland is burned each day for human needs? It's even estimated that in 100 years time, there'll be no rainforests left. Just think of the animals being forced to find new homes, the tribes that are being made to flee. As well is this, a decrease in the amount of photosynthesis means an increase in global warming.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to guilt trip you into chaining yourselves to trees to fight against deforestation. There are numerous advantages to the process, for example creating more land for farming. I just wanted you to give you some context!

After this lesson, I was suddenly really motivated to do more to fight deforestation and help the environment. By this, I literally mean that I went around school all day telling everyone I spoke to to 'save the trees'. As you can probably imagine, people thought I was pretty mental. But, at the end of the day, it became a very important issue for me.

When I got home I started researching ways to help save the environment. Immediately, vegetarianism jumped right out at me. So, I got thinking, why not? As a Christian, I feel responsible to look after the beautiful world that God has created. Therefore, vegetarianism seemed like a logical place to start.

Some of the points that made me think were:

• 18% of the Earth's greenhouse gases are produced by the process of farming animals for food
• Land used to farm animals for their meat take up 30% of the Earth's land
• 70% of grain grown in the US alone is used to plump up animals for our food- think of how many humans this could feed.
• vegetarianism is a really healthy lifestyle to live!

So, after reading up on it, I decided to become a vegetarian!

Thanks for reading. I hope this challenges you to consider how we can can help the environment in our everyday lives.

See you next week!