Why don't vegetarians eat meat?

For health reasons: this runs the gamut from people with serious cholesterol problems and food allergies to those who say that vegetarian food 'just makes me feel better.'

Moral, ethical and religious concerns: people who feel that it is wrong to kill and eat animals. Young people, who generally love animals, abhor the idea of making them suffer and are disgusted by the thought of eating 'dead animals'. We often get letters from children who as early as age six, suddenly realize that the hamburger they are eating was one a living calf, and refuse to eat meat again.

Environmental concerns and world hunger: a growing awareness that everything on this planet is interconnected, and the strong belief that there would be plenty of food for everyone if we were not raising animals to feed people.

Consider:
• 1.3 billon people could be fed with the grain and soy beans eaten by U.S. livestock. The U.S. population is only 255,600,000.
• 80% of U.S. corn and 95% of U.S. oats are eaten by livestock.
• 90% of protein, 99% of carbohydrate and 100% of dietary fiber is wasted by cycling grain through animals.
• 64% of American agricultural land is used for live stock feed.
• An acre can yield 250 pounds of beef vs. 40,000 pounds of potatoes.
• A pound of feed lot beef takes 16 pounds of grains and soybeans.
• 15 total vegetarians can be fed on the same amount of land needed to feed one person on a meat-based diet.