On Animals and Morals and Stuff
I like to eat animals. They taste good. I'm comfortable with my position in the food chain.
I've never had to kill animals that I've eaten but growing up on a farm I've raised them, cared for them like pets and then eaten them. I like to think that I would be able to kill an animal I've known for food if required.
I don't like animals suffering more than they need to. I don't understand the outrage at Michael Vick's dogfights from people who eat battery chickens and feedlot cattle. Perhaps it's that I'm not a dog person but I've known and liked a few cows.
Being bad to animals isn't just bad for animals of course. Particularly in the US the use of antibiotics in factory farm breeds new strains of nasty bugs for humans, the focus on bringing mass of meat to market quickly produces meat that fattens us rather than nourishes us. And it just doesn't taste as good. Happy animals are yummy animals.
And then there's the environmental impact of it all. Animals are a far less efficient way of transforming solar energy into energy in our bellies than plants. Factory farming pollutes the earth and the air, overgrazing destroys the land.
But I like to eat animals.
I've got this idea that I might try only eating meat that I know was raised in a fairly humane, fairly sustainable way. It might be an interesting way to try to reduce my impact on the environment and the general badness of the world.
This will probably mean giving up on the amazing carnitas tacos down the block from me. It might mean giving up on sushi - I have no idea how to determine that sushi fish was fished from a sustainable fishery. I won't be able to get a tasty bbq pork wonton soup from Lee's Deli like I did for lunch today.
I'm also not sure that I'll be making any kind of difference at all. I don't want to be like the dieter who orders a Diet Coke with his two Big Macs.
Has anyone tried this? Am I crazy?
I've never had to kill animals that I've eaten but growing up on a farm I've raised them, cared for them like pets and then eaten them. I like to think that I would be able to kill an animal I've known for food if required.
I don't like animals suffering more than they need to. I don't understand the outrage at Michael Vick's dogfights from people who eat battery chickens and feedlot cattle. Perhaps it's that I'm not a dog person but I've known and liked a few cows.
Being bad to animals isn't just bad for animals of course. Particularly in the US the use of antibiotics in factory farm breeds new strains of nasty bugs for humans, the focus on bringing mass of meat to market quickly produces meat that fattens us rather than nourishes us. And it just doesn't taste as good. Happy animals are yummy animals.
And then there's the environmental impact of it all. Animals are a far less efficient way of transforming solar energy into energy in our bellies than plants. Factory farming pollutes the earth and the air, overgrazing destroys the land.
But I like to eat animals.
I've got this idea that I might try only eating meat that I know was raised in a fairly humane, fairly sustainable way. It might be an interesting way to try to reduce my impact on the environment and the general badness of the world.
This will probably mean giving up on the amazing carnitas tacos down the block from me. It might mean giving up on sushi - I have no idea how to determine that sushi fish was fished from a sustainable fishery. I won't be able to get a tasty bbq pork wonton soup from Lee's Deli like I did for lunch today.
I'm also not sure that I'll be making any kind of difference at all. I don't want to be like the dieter who orders a Diet Coke with his two Big Macs.
Has anyone tried this? Am I crazy?