Me (Lara Atwood)
On this website I (Lara Atwood) present my work on the ancient Religion of the Sun – an extremely ancient religion that spread around the world in prehistory and gave rise to the traditions of sun worship practiced by the great ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Europe, Persia, India, the Americas, and more.
I present my findings through books and videos. I also have a blog where I post updates about what I’m working on.
I work together with my husband Mark Atwood. The historical aspects of what I share come from my research, and the spiritual aspects come from his spiritual knowledge and experience.
We are practitioners of the Religion of the Sun ourselves, and hope that our work on reconstructing it will contribute to the understanding of ancient history, and enable this incredible religion to be practiced again.
My husband, Mark Atwood.
All the historical information presented in our work is based upon available evidence, including ancient texts, archeological finds, documented oral histories, and scientific studies, which are fully referenced in our books.
Sakro Sawel means “sacred sun” in the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. It’s a term my husband and I put together by looking through dictionaries of reconstructed Proto-Indo-European words, and joining the words “sacred/sakro” and “sun/sawel” together. This now extinct language is closer to what many of the practitioners of the Religion of the Sun would have spoken.
All our work is published by a small non-profit publisher Sura Ondrunar Publishing. We don’t make any money from the sale of our books nor from my videos. Instead we are supported by the voluntary donations given through this website.
Hi guys,
you have a very interesting YouTube channel and topic of discussion. Have you looked at the astrology connection, its a vast topic to understand and can explain a lot about the point of time we are in the never ending cycle of life.
In a nutshell in our solar system the Sun is our GOD without there would be just darkness here. Even in the catholic religion of Jesus is just a story of the cycles of the sun. They say we are currently going from the age of Pisces (motto: I believe, ex. religion) into Aquarius (motto: I know, ex. technology)
Age of Leo is the golden age as the sun is in its own house in the sign of Leo its strongest position in astrology. Civilizations in the golden age are probably really wise, i think this is when all those unexplainable huge stone structures were built, like the pyramids of Giza and the statue of the Leo/lion(sphinx, looking at the rising sun) Aquarius is opposite of Leo, so in my opinion we are in a time opposite of the Golden Age. An age lasts approximately 2 160 years(full cycle thru the 12 signs of the zodiac 25920) so the middle/peak of the golden age LEO was approx 14040 years ago.
However I think we are all just part of this consciousness energy playing with itself in cycles, no beginning or end :)
Take care,
Jure
I personally wonder about this a lot. There’s a lot of depth to the constellations and their use in myth in different epochs. Currently, the Milky Way galactic center exactly coincides with the winter solstice sun, which only happens every 26,000 years or so. I think of it as like a cosmic winter solstice, and the darkness in the world makes sense in light of that. I find the symmetry of galaxy to sun, sun to moon, and then on down to smaller scales, invites me to consider how I myself am a part of these cycles, and can participate in the journey the sun makes on a spiritual level, as if I were the small arm of a fractal.
Thank you Jure. I think there are cycles of civilization too, just as in all things in nature. The prosperity and abundance that civilizations create, ironically appear to set the seeds of their own destruction. I think there were much better times in a spiritual sense in the past though, which came to be referred to as a Golden Age. Despite there being many religious believers today, materialism seems to be at an all time high – both in the desire for goods, and in the belief in scientism. But the cycles you mention put things in perspective, as we are really in just a tiny blip among these vast cycles that will inevitably change. Best wishes.
Hello Jure,
You have a point here. Ancient records state that there had been many civilizations that existed in the past,and each were inevitably destroyed by some kind of global catacalysm due to the fact that they had degenerated to a very destructive point. While mainstream scholars don’t really accept the notion of existence of previous civilizations, there is a lot of evidence discovered by scientists which suggest that massive catacalysms have occured many times in the past in the history of the planet. There is indeed a greater cycle to existence that many don’t realize. All the best.
Hello, the greatest book about the Sun Worship is in albanian language (707 pages) The autor is Nikolas Herceku
Thanks Renis, I’ll try check it out at some point. It’s great to have people like you point me to resources in non-English languages, as otherwise I am usually completely unaware of them.
Ich hätte Ihr Buch sofort gekauft, aber es gibt es nicht auf Deutsch…
Englisch überschwemmt den Literatur Markt und die Deutschen bleiben in der geistigen Leere…
Ich spreche kein Deutsch, also benutze ich Google Translate. Es tut mir leid, dass das Buch nicht auf Deutsch erhältlich ist. Ich hoffe, dass es in Zukunft so sein wird.
What is the Celtic looking cross with the spiral in the middle in your videos called
It doesn’t really have a name, since it’s someone’s own design in which they’ve blended the Celtic solar cross and the Celtic symbol of the triskele (or triple spiral), which is in the center.
That’s nice, I also like being creative with these symbols of the Religion of the Sun and to make custom designs, combining various elements. Not sure if there is a danger in that – symbology-wise, but it feels to me like something can be learned while doing that.
Hello. Profound research. A true gift to the world! I would love to discuss something very interesting with you both.
I do not like being a contrarian, however the idea of ancient societies not eating meat is acutely wrong. Archeological evidence has confirmed the very real and often times mass consumption of animal products including pigs. Oils, hides, bones and organ meats were highly prized and in almost all cases, completely essential to everyday life of ancient peoples. Peoples could hunt meat year round and fire transformed this source of nutrition into a more bio-available form of nutrients. Mothers even fed goat and cows milk to their infants.
I do feel that systematic killing of animals en mass is utterly cruel and reprehensible in any event, but I cannot ignore the obvious truths that animal protein, hide dressings, tools, etc meant life sustainment. Modern dogs trace their lineage back to the taming of wolves around fire and flesh.
Very excited to see your second edition become available yesterday morning in your youtube video and I look forward to reading it very soon!
Hello Nigh,
No need to feel you’re a contrarian. Anyone open and genuinely able to think for themselves is great in my opinion.
If you go to virtually any archaeological dig around the world you’ll find animals as part of human ways of life, as you say.
To be honest, just from memory now, I don’t quite recall such sweeping claims being made. But rather mention of some writings of some wisdom bringers choosing not to eat meat or certain meats.
I found it very interesting though when Lara raised this, on a personal level. As at the time I was eating some types of meat and regarded it as essential to my health. So it inevitably caused some resistance in me, originating within from both some deep instincts of survival, but also a hidden desire of not wanting to let go of the pleasures of certain foods.
But I gave it a go (in a responsible manner according to my health). In doing that through the various situations I was able to see what were the real health needs of my body and what were actually psychological animalistic attachments to worldly things.
Had I rejected the notion from the get go, clinging to and set in my previous beliefs, I would have missed and denied myself the opportunity to root out, see and divide what is what within me. Guarding old beliefs, which in reality actually contain selfish drives which I’d be unable to see for what they are, like harbouring inner criminals, and I would simply have remained stuck right there.
In a practical sense later, for me, ethically I found fish caught in the sea (not farmed – explicitly) would be okay and healthy for me to have.
(Also, as a sidenote, pork specifically is a separate thing in this whole story. That I found has very negative effects on body and energy. Separate from the questions of ethics, health, digestion and historical consumption.)
Much to learn and say. At the end of the day we ourselves are responsible and accountable for: our ethics in eating, but also to our health and body, and also in psychologically extracting ourselves from worldly things. I guess in a way unsurprisingly :- ), but there’s a lot in the animal/human psyche to ensure that we are drawn to food and to ensure our survival. It is a more prominent part of psychologically sacrificing worldly things and enjoying higher ones than I could’ve guessed.
Anyway, great to have you here and I’d also be curious what other previous interests and knowledge got you interested in the religion of the sun. Take care!
Lara, I’m happy to have found your and Mark’s work, via a circuitous route. I imagine you’ll be aware of the ‘Great Conjunction’ that coincides with this year’s Winter Solstice… Jupiter-Saturn conjunct in the first degree of Aquarius, also conjunct Pallas Athena, and also conjunct Pluto, which is exactly square Mars and Eris , with Uranus (conjunct Black Moon Lilith) also square Jupiter-Saturn-Pallas Athena. https://hierosgamosjournal.wordpress.com/the-great-conjunction/ I’d be interested to know if you’ve considered using this opportunity to launch the Religion of the Sun, even if only in a small way, and even if only through linking together from the comfort of our homes!
Hi Paul, I did not know about that conjunction, and wonder what influence it will have. Every solstice has a powerful spiritual energy in any case, and I do plan to do a launch, bringing people together for practice. I hope to be ready for the December solstice, as I have a few more things to get through – like a few new videos and a small book. I will aim for that date though!
That’s really inspiring news to hear there will be some kind of launch later this year Lara, as well as new videos and a book – 2020 needs some good events to be remembered by!
I’ve also been pondering over the Great Conjunction 2020 which occurs on the December solstice, with lots of other celestial signatures that Paul mentions. It’s interesting how it seems to follows on from the two previous solstices coinciding with eclipses.
For any fellow star-gazers who don’t yet know: Jupiter is a huge bright star in the southern sky at the moment, Saturn slightly to the east and much dimmer. I’m actually enjoying a great view of them from my bedroom window at the moment and seeing these two planets stand next to each other each night before bed is fuelling my curiosity of what it will mean when they conjoin.
I read about how ancient Andean people saw the Great Conjunction and came across compelling evidence (William Sullivan, The Secret of the Incas) that the Incas had a sophisticated cosmology and knowledge of astronomy, something Sullivan suggests underpins their key myths, where profound wisdom and advanced scientific knowledge lie hidden in simple stories. The many shared similarities between Inca star-lore and science and that of other ancient, highly developed civilizations seems to suggest that the study of myths is another place where evidence for the Lost Civilization of the Sun can be found.
Sullivan believes that key Inca myths encode the Great Conjunction, which if correct means they were of major significance, and that on occasion, when other factors aligned, they were seen as omens of huge social changes, even allowing the Andean sky-priests to predict the end of their great civilization. The exact place in the heavens where the conjunction occurred was important; meeting every 20 years, Saturn and Jupiter make forty conjunctions (another clue of the esoteric significance of this number and possibly this conjunction) and take 800 years to return to the same point in the sky, forming a beautiful geometric pattern called Kepler’s trigon. The inclusion of the solstice and the Milky Way with the conjunction were ‘essential ingredients’ of the events that could have been passed down in myth for posterity. Here’s something I underlined from The Secret of the Incas about the significance of the number 40 in ancient Andean thought and the Great Conjunction:
“In the Andes the number forty represented wholeness. After forty conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter, the trigon replicates itself in the stars. There were forty seques, or rays, emanating from the Temple of the Sun in all directions to the horizon, an idealized number of forty chieftains representing all the peoples of the Empire, a census unit of forty thousand, forty dances dances at the Inca Temple of the Sun at Lake Titicaca at the time of the June solstice. Why did the number forty represent wholeness? … among the Inca, the end of a yet another world-age transpired exactly forty conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter.” (The Secret of the Inca p132)
Hey Lara,
This is a sidenote, but are there places of worship, temples or open nature meetings for practitioners of the religion of the Sun. Do you guys meet in Europe or the America’s somewhere, I would love to visit! I lived at an EcoViliage for a while & its something about humans connecting, who are on similar paths that magnify the experience .
Thanks again for all your hard work, and reading the hundreds of books to put this together.
Thanks Ronson – not yet! Soon I hope that people everywhere will return to their ancestral ancient sites to meet up, practice, and do ceremonies. And that this will eventually lead to people creating new sacred sites. I’d love to see nothing less than a kind of peaceful revolution. All big things start small. I’m planning to get this started in 2020.
Even though I dearly wish the Religion of the Sun to be a peaceful revolution, my current location isn’t really conducive to an eco-friendly (nor cost-effective) way of reaching my ancestral home half the world away. I would certainly love to move close to the ancient sites, but the current political landscape dictates that being an emigrant is rather unlikely. However, I would dearly wish for new sacred sites to be established in my home country.
So, I’d love to hear more about these wonderful plans that you’re hatching!
Similar situation here, Craig.
We’re also excited to hear more about those wonderful plans…
That sound wonderful Lara! Thanks very much for the update!
I’m also excited to hear about what’s coming in 2020! :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith
Who was Lilith? Was she part of another religion? If so. and reinstated it would impact the place of women in both christian and islam society.
I don’t know much about Lilith. I agree though, the place of women in Abrahamic societies needs impacting (if that’s what those women would like). What I think can do this, however, is revealing how the feminine is an essential half of creation, and how the knowledge of this in ancient times and in the teachings of Jesus has been covered up and persecuted.
I want to include a part of the story ‘Maya and Lila’ from the Kolbrin that to me illustrates the role of the feminine in creation and the mistake at the core of many societies:
Men struggle daily with the beast and wrest their living from the soil, their day being encompassed with strife and toil. So women bring forth children with suffering, and because they are frail their husbands rule over them. Man is conceived in the womb of the woman and she brings him forth to life. Therefore, when God raised man up from among the beasts, choosing him as His heir and endowing him with an immortal spirit, he placed a veil over the portals of life. This, that woman should not forget she is unlike all other living creatures and the trustee of a divine mission. For a woman not only gives life to a mortal being, she also bears the spark of divinity to Earth, and there can be no greater responsibility.
… Among the Children of God woman had equality with man, for her counsels were known to be wise. She heard with understanding and her speech was constrained; in those days her words were weighted, for then her tongue did not rattle in her head like seed in a dried pot.
Woman knew that though man could subdue her with his strength, he was weak in his desire for her. In his weakness lay her power and in those days it was used wisely, it was the foundation of the people…
[the story continues with a woman called Lila making a potion to subdue a man she desired. The two break the customs of their people and are banished as a result. This is the core of the judgement]:
Lila says, “Is this even a matter for your concern? For in what way have we caused harm to any but ourselves? Shall we be punished for that which concerns us two alone and wrongs no other?”
The high council replied, “The deeds of any person affecting the lives of others are the concern of others. Though it were done in secret between yourselves, were not the effects displayed in your eyes for all to see? Does the man serve the people better because of this thing, or does he serve them less well? Has something been added to the people, or has something been taken away? Have not the people lost?”
“Therefore, is not that which you did the concern of the people and not of yourselves alone? The deed itself was not wrong, except in the manner of its accomplishment. A woman who places no value on herself and steals something from all women, for they are then less valued in the eyes of men. Would men value gold were it gathered by the wayside? Above all this, what of the God-given love? Have you elevated or degraded its means of expression among men and women? Among people who value gold above all else, he who debases or adulterates it commits a wrong against them. Here, where love is valued above all else and woman honoured as its custodian, those who debase it are regarded likewise.”
“We dwell in a pleasant place, amid peace and plenty, an inheritance from our fathers. The Children of Men have inherited the wastelands. Are our fathers less wise than theirs, that the customs of our fathers should be spurned? What you have done relates to your two selves and by your two selves shall your punishment be carried out. This is not a punishment for any wrong done to us, for we are old and it affects us little. We punish because we have a duty to the young, to the unborn of our race. We have an even greater duty to the hallowed things which inspire mankind and enthrone man above the bests.”
“Your wrongdoing affects no one man or woman, yet it affects all men and women, and if left unheeded would not be without effect on children yet unborn. The code and tradition is the pillar of our people, and the pillar may not be struck with impunity. Though it be strong and one blow will not damage it, many blows will bring down even the stoutest pillar. A blow left unheeded encourages another. A deed disregarded is a deed encouraged.”
“A people can be judged by the things it punishes and the things it permits. The swine revels in filth and therefore attacks anyone who enters his pen. Were we wholly of the Earth, we need only protect earthly things”.
“Thus we banish you for ever from among us, unless in your old age you are permitted, in mercy, to return.”
…In the first days of the banishment the man was wrathful against the woman and spoke to her spitefully, saying, “Like a lamp that gives no light you are a woman without womanly virtue, no longer deserving of the honoured treatment accorded women of our race. you spoke truly when you said that I am strong and you are weak. So be it, henceforth your weakness shall be my strength; no longer will the weakness of man be the strength of woman and the backbone of a people clinging to things without substance. Henceforth, I am obligated to no one and owe a duty to none but myself. Man is weak only in his desire for woman, but the weakness of woman shall henceforth assure satisfaction of the desire”.
So the man subdued the woman after the fashion of The Children of Men; she was the wife who ministered unto him, saying, “My Lord, I am but a woman and your handmaiden”.
…Man kept woman in bondage, for he knew from his own knowledge of her ways that she was not to be trusted. Henceforth, she could not walk freely among men, for they knew that though woman was weak and man strong, by womanly guile she could exploit his weakness. Among the outcast people and The Children of Men woman was subject to man, and he imposed his will upon her and dominated her.
In this manner woman wrought her own downfall and the destruction of those who held her in high regard. Her charms she cast at the feet of those who trampled them underfoot. Woman was not yet fitted to be the free guardian of the portals of life. She was never wise enough to choose the fathers of the race, for she was ruled by womanly waywardness, not by wisdom.
Lilith is a mythological female being found in several Mesopotamian cultures. She is first mentioned around 3000 BCE. Below is an overview of her using quotes. The best overall resource on Lilith I found online is: http://jewishchristianlit.com/Topics/Lilith/
“The Hebrew Lilith and Akkadian Līlītu are female adjectives from the Proto-Semitic root LYL “night”, literally translating to nocturnal “female night being/demon”, although cuneiform inscriptions where Līlīt and Līlītu refers to disease-bearing wind spirits exist. The Akkadian Lil-itu (“lady air”) may be a reference to the Sumerian goddess Ninlil (also “lady air”), Goddess of the South wind and wife of Enlil.” [Lilith, New World Encyclopedia]
Around 3000 B.C.E., Lilith’s first appearance was as a class of Sumerian storm spirits called Lilitu. The Lilitu were said to prey upon children and women, and were described as associated with lions, storms, desert, and disease. Early portrayals of lilitu are known as having Zu bird talons for feet and wings. Later accounts depict lilitu as a name for one figure and several spirits. Similar demons from the same class are recorded around this time frame. Lilu, a succubus, Ardat lili (“Lilith’s handmaid”), who would come to men in their sleep and beget children from them, and Irdu lili, the succubus counterpart to Ardat lili. These demons were originally storm and wind demons, however later etymology made them into night demons. [Lilith, New World Encyclopedia]
“Her earliest appearance is probably in ancient Sumer. Although it is far from certain, she may be a minor character in a prologue to the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the ancient world she also sometimes appears in magical texts, amulets, etc., intended to thwart her activities. She appears once in the Bible (Isaiah), in a context that associates her with demons of the desert, and again in some Dead Sea Scroll passages clearly based on the Isaiah reference.” (Humm :1)
“Somewhere between the eighth and tenth centuries, CE, she makes an appearance in a satirical work entitled the Alphabet of Ben Sira. It is here that she is first given what has become her most famous persona: the first wife of Adam (before Eve). In this story, she is created at more or less the same time as Adam, and, as was Adam, out of the ground. Because of this she tries to assert her equality — an assertion which Adam rejects. Refusing to conform to Adam’s desires, she escapes from Eden, and is subsequently replaced by the more subservient Eve (who has less claim to equality, since she was made out of Adam’s side). Having escaped Eden, Lilith takes on her renowned role as baby-stealer and mother of demons.” (Humm:1)
“Lilith enjoyed something of a revival in literature beginning in the mid 19th century. Usually she represents the feminine dark side (the part that men subliminally fear). Carl Jung made use of her as prime expression of the anima in men (the suppressed feme within), and the best monograph on her still belongs to one of Jung’s disciples (Siegmund Hurwitz).” (Humm:1)
“She has also been embraced by many modern, particularly Jewish, feminists. Based mainly, or entirely, on the Alphabet, she is presented as the protofeminist, willing to sacrifice even the paradise of Eden as the necessary cost of freedom and equality.” (Humm:1)
REFERENCES
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Lilith&oldid=1019004
Humm, Alan, Overview of Lilith, http://jewishchristianlit.com/Topics/Lilith/, accessed 29/12/2019
Keep up the good work. I love your videos! Finally someone that has researched the ancient sun religions and connected them to ancient civilizations!!!!!!
Very interesting about what foods are mentioned in ancient texts I wasnt aware of this including donkey, after seeing some of the docos on the way that animals are treated today its not hard to sway toward a veggie diet, thanks for the info
Hello
I understand from your YouTube videos you are reviving ancient Sun Worship practices? Are these covered in your book? Dietary guidelines? Meditations? Visualization exercises? Energy work?
Thanks
P.S there is this overwhelming good energy when I look at your videos. Great vibration
Yes, we are reviving the actual practice of the Religion of the Sun, not just the historical understanding of it. My book, however, focuses just on the history. Some of the practices are outlined in the book I’m currently helping my husband to author. There are more books and videos in the pipeline, however, which will focus specifically on explaining all the practices, so stay tuned. Feel free to ask any questions in the meantime though.
first thank you for all the hard detective work & putting the pieces together.
In your studies did you uncover the dietary practices of the “Religion” of the Sun?
Thanks
Ronson
Hi Ronson,
I already posted this answer in reply to you on YouTube, but thought it would be good to have it in answer to you here too:
Yes, I have found evidence for common themes in the diet followed by teachers and practitioners of the ancient Religion of the Sun.
In the ancient Egyptian texts of the Kolbrin, Osiris forbade the eating both of swine and donkey – eating pork he calls an abomination, and donkey he says diminishes the vigor of men (not that many people eat donkey today!).
I’ve also come across a number of references to vegetarianism. Jesus and James were both vegetarians. Hesiod the classical Greek poet (drawing on Thracian Indo-European traditions) infers that the people of the Golden Age were vegetarian. And the Vedic tradition in India, which is the most complete surviving Indo-European branch of the Religion of the Sun, promoted “Ahisma,” which in relation to food is vegetarianism (and not being cruel to animals in producing dairy or other animal products).
Apart from that, in ‘the Essene Gospels of Peace’ Jesus is said to have advocated eating a diet including “living” foods – like sprouted grains, and certain foods which had been left out to absorb the energy of the sun, or cooked using the energy of the sun, like bread.
I was listening to a donkey making its unmistakable “eeyore” the other day and it seemed to send such a horrible ‘energy’ out, it felt like it was a tormented wail from a mind in anguish. It made me think about how Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem is said to be a symbol of his power over the mind, and from that I also mused that eating donkey is probably not a good idea, if you think about the energy you are ingesting from the animal, similar to why you wouldn’t want to eat pig. So it’s interesting to hear about this reference of donkey meat ‘diminishing the vigor’ of the body.
I’ve found so much scientific evidence on how riddled with parasites pork meat is. Even if people don’t consider the energetic reasoning behind avoiding foods as valid reasoning, there’s plenty of ‘hard science’ out there that I think would logically lead anyone to avoid pig meat totally.
Thanks for sharing Ella, I’ve also come across a lot of scientific evidence the pig meat is riddled with parasites and worms.
Yes, I’ve heard the same thing about pigs and parasites Ella. Because they are rooting animals, they tend to be more prone to parasite infestation, which can in turn contaminate the meat during the slaughtering process. In a way pigs are nature’s waste disposal units, like flies, except on a much larger scale! Very few people would like to eat flies, but there is a huge market out there for pork products.
I also heard that it’s best to avoid sea scavengers due to the same issue with them being prone to parasite infestation. There are some Biblical references to avoiding certain types of sea food, although I’m not sure of the exact passages.
Hi Michael, I have acome across those passages as well, I think they are from old testament. Not sure how reliable of a source it is, but there were some things that felt right (about sea scavengers, and even rabbits, etc). Of course, excluding all animals totally solves the problem, but then not everyone is quite there yet I suspect… For me personally, even though I rarely eat meat as such (maybe once a month, sometimes even less), I still don’t feel like excluding it totally, and for now have decided to just keep getting the meat and other animal products from the local people in the village I live in.
Here I found the source finally: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/readings/Clean-And-Unclean-Foods
Maybe Lara, or some other people here would like to comment on those.
@Ronson – that was a very interesting question that you asked – thank you.
@Laura, thanks very much for that detailed response. I think it is valuable to understand the way in which the ancient people lived their lives as I can see the benefits in trying to emulate their customs, especially with regard to foods as they have such an influence over our overall well-being but also our psyche.
I agree Paty, Lara’s response is certainly worth taking seriously.
It’s interesting about eating donkey’s; there’s a tradition amongst a Gypsy group in Australia where they don’t eat ‘beasts of burden’. They mainly talk about horse meat but a donkey would probably fall under that category.
Hi Lara,
It’s interesting that you’ve mentioned that teachers of the Religion of The Sun were vegetarians. I’ve recently came across an article that talks about how vegetarianism can be beneficial for the environment. I don’t remember where exactly I saw it but it said that some livestocks release a greenhouse gas called methane into the atmosphere, and that contributes to climate change. Eating less meat would mean that there will be less breeding of these livestocks and therefore less methane. Personally I think slaughtering animals for food is a selfish act done by humans so that we can enjoy the delicious flesh of those animals, which we don’t really have to. Even science says that our ancestors lived on a plant-based diet for quite a long time, and they survived. So it isn’t necessary for us to eat meat, we aren’t carnivores. I’ve been reducing my meat intake for that very reason, though I haven’t completely cut that off from my diet because of my health issue. I do what I can to not eat as much meat as possible though, because I don’t want to contribute to the slaughtering of animals and the increased release of methane into the atmosphere. Once my health issue is resolved, I plan to become a full time vegetarian.
The recent outbreak of COVID-19 also likely linked to the consumption of wild animals. In Wuhan, the city where the pandemic started many people have the habit of eating a variety of wild animals. It’s part of the local culture there and even as a Chinese I strongly condemn it. Eating those innocent creatures has no benefit whatsoever, people just do it because they think those animals taste good. Meat-eating and animal-killing have impacted our society in such a negative way and now we are bearing the consequences of our actions. Humanity have been doing the wrong things for a while and in 2020 we are seeing the consequences of our actions coming back to us.