Giving back to our planet means that when we take food from it, we sustain the land so that it can continue to give food. It means that if we take a tree, we plant another. It means that when we take its resources, we provide for ways of renewing them. It means that we use the planet without turning it into a garbage dump for our waste. It means putting in place systems that keep the earth healthy and alive, rather than destroying it. It means finding ways in which our resources can be sustained for millennia to come, and not using them all up in one generation. If we were to give back to the earth, we would find the earth would richly reward us with resources for millions of years to come.

The vegetarian diet symbolizes our respect for the earth. Less use of resources is required to be a vegetarian than to be a meat-eater. It takes more land and more energy to produce a diet for meat-eaters than for vegetarians. We can conserve earth’s resources by living on a vegetarian diet. It does not require violence in taking the life of our younger brothers and sisters.