121–130 of 154 posts
This article is wishful thinking, with no real evidence of what the author is saying is viable or desired by many people. I'm not sure why it is here, since it is pure ideology with no real scientific backing.
The brain structures present in mammals and humans that process suffering are very similar. That is basic neuroscience. So maybe it's ok to make animals suffer, but at least have consistent ethics and agree it's ok to make people suffer.
About three months ago I decided to stop purchasing factory-farmed meat. It's been pretty difficult for a few reasons. The biggest reason, by far, is access to information. Roughly, I would like to purchase only meat from animals that lived a "happy" life and had a relatively short death. Animals that lived outdoors, basically. But there are no credible labels or certifications for this, which means buying meat at th…
It doesn’t fix the price issue, although luckily we have enough income and prioritize food quality over other things, but it does help with some of the moral qualms you might have.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There may be a few farms in your state that can do deliveries within the state. It's a bit harder when trying to deliver across state lines as the regulations are much higher. As for eating out, the best you could do is ask or just avoid it (meat) all together (including fish) when eating.
Of course, there are environmental reasons to avoid (some, most?) fish, but I consider wild-caught fish (and all wild/hunted game) fairly neutral from an animal welfare perspective. Perhaps this is a bit naive.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The brain structures present in mammals and humans that process suffering are very similar. That is basic neuroscience. So maybe it's ok to make animals suffer, but at least have consistent ethics and agree it's ok to make people suffer.
Conspecifics are more important than other species.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I may not agree with the concept of killing animals for food outside of survival necessity, but one must recognize that all life ends in death one way or another. Things do not have less value simply because they are impermanent. The quality of an animal's life is valuable regardless of how it ends, just as ours are.
It's only valuable because you give it value. I don't.
>You want to treat something with respect and then kill it to eat it? What exactly is the point?
I don't see how your values have any relevance on the answer to that question.
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Consuming meat and factory farming are not directly related things. Meat can just as well be produced by better farming methods or processes like hunting. Doesn't mean that's how people end up getting their meet, but mostly people don't generate the chain of logistics they end up using, and it's not directly related to the product itself. This chain of thought also doesn't go anywhere, unless you want to end up a her…
Is this a valid argument? You're right, consuming meat doesn't have to be related to factory farming. But consuming 220 pounds of meat, as far as I know, does.
About three months ago I decided to stop purchasing factory-farmed meat. It's been pretty difficult for a few reasons. The biggest reason, by far, is access to information. Roughly, I would like to purchase only meat from animals that lived a "happy" life and had a relatively short death. Animals that lived outdoors, basically. But there are no credible labels or certifications for this, which means buying meat at th…
About three months ago I decided to stop purchasing factory-farmed meat. It's been pretty difficult for a few reasons. The biggest reason, by far, is access to information. Roughly, I would like to purchase only meat from animals that lived a "happy" life and had a relatively short death. Animals that lived outdoors, basically. But there are no credible labels or certifications for this, which means buying meat at th…
About three months ago I decided to stop purchasing factory-farmed meat. It's been pretty difficult for a few reasons. The biggest reason, by far, is access to information. Roughly, I would like to purchase only meat from animals that lived a "happy" life and had a relatively short death. Animals that lived outdoors, basically. But there are no credible labels or certifications for this, which means buying meat at th…
Another harm-reduction approach like this which might be easier or preferable for some people is to just replace eating chicken with beef (bonus if the beef is ethically-sourced, but still worthwhile if not). Here's the core of the reasoning (quoted from http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/09/23/vegetarianism-for-meat-...):
The average cow is very big and makes 405,000 calories of beef; the average chicken is very small and makes 3000 calories worth of chicken. So each year, I kill about 0.3 cows and about 42 chickens, for a total of 42.3 animals killed.
Suppose that I stop eating chicken and switch entirely to beef. Now I am killing about 0.6 cows and 0 chickens, for a total of 0.6 animals killed. By this step alone, I have decreased the number of animals I am killing from 42.3/year to 0.6/year, a 98% improvement.
The difference becomes even bigger once you compare levels of suffering. Chickens are probably the most miserable farm animals; they are mutilated, packed into tiny cages to the point of immobility, left to fester in their own waste, and bred so intensively for size that their bodies cannot support them and they likely experience severe musculoskeletal pain. Although cows’ lives are also pretty terrible too, Brian Tomasik estimates that chickens’ suffering is about twice as bad.
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Have you actually watched a film like Earthlings, though? Why don't you watch it before you go to "Texas Roadhouse"?
Watching it right now. Pretty gruesome so far, up to the kosher part but it's still not a deterrent. edit: Finished. I'm still going to eat that steak but some of those scenes will probably pop into my head while I'm eating. A bit annoying tbh.
Sadly you are just like most people throughout human history. We're ashamed of some of the things people have done in the past, and in the future people will be ashamed of this.