The 1st Middle East Vegetarian (MEVEG) Congress, Part 5 of a Multi-part Series

“I realized that the Planet has been infinitely kind to all of us – because all the things that we have, all the things you see around you, all the food, the water, the air we breathe, the temperature we have, is beautifully designed by the Earth. Everything is perfect. It's exactly what we need. Exactly what we need is given by the Earth, without our even asking. And I realized that, as you were saying, the brain is not just the cells. I think the whole Planet is alive.”

“I think it's the plant-based diet that gives us our natural lifespan. We are meant to live long. I was told by some Buddhist that in the Buddhist sutras, it is mentioned that humans are meant to live 120 years. That’s our normal life span.”

“Animals don’t want to give their meat, because when we cut their bodies, they are screaming and crying for their lives. And talking about the harmony of the structure of abundance, when you cut animals, do you get more animals? It doesn't happen. Ten kgs of grains to produce one kg of beef. So, I think we all know this is extremely inefficient.”

“‘And increasing number of animals are being intensely farmed globally. In effect, the lungs of the world are being killed to create more saturated fat. Wildlife also suffers as habitats are destroyed. But probably the biggest environmental problem of all is water scarcity.’ It also contributes to world hunger because so much of the grains in the poor countries are sold to developed countries, because they don't have much else to sell. Developed countries buy the grains to lower the price of hamburgers. This has been going on for many, many years.”

“We spend a lot of resources creating health problems, and then we spend even more resources solving them. Hospitals, require a lot of resources. They petition a lot of researchers according to the pharmaceuticals. So, what they're trying say is the meat-based diet is highly destructive, as compared to the plant-based diet. And the destruction is something that we really need to look closely at, because we are destroying ourselves.”