I don't believe in not eating meat. Heaps of other carnivorous and omnivorous animals kill other animals for meat and I have no real problem with this - it is all a part of life, nature, and the food chain.
What I do have a problem with is the way us humans farm our meat. Most of the time it is very cruel, inhumane, and unfriendly towards the environment. Many animals are kept in horrifying conditions and endure years of torture. I buy organic meat - not only does it taste better but it is farmed in a natural environment. I actually lived in country Australia for a while and was very pleased at the state of many of our meat farms - the animals were kept in beautiful outdoor paddocks and had loads of room and freedom and green grass to eat. I wish other farmers around the world would be less money hungry and more caring towards our environment and the other inhabitants of it.
I also only ever eat local produce because it means less transportation and less petrol being used, etcetera. It's always a little dearer to buy organic and local produce but it doesn't really bother me.
Personally, I don't eat a lot of meat (unless it is organic) due to the treatment of animals in the meat industry and also the implications on the environment (farming meat often means using a lot of water and other resources). And also because I'm not really a meat person. But I have nothing against eating meat and if a person loves eating meat I don't see anything wrong with it. I just think in many parts of the world the way in which meat is harvested is very cruel and should be rethought.
Also, saying that we should or shouldn't do something because that's what "other meat-eating animals do" is silly. We are humans, and we have the intelligence and the resources to look after our fellow species and ensure that they don't suffer nor have a low quality of life - since we are able to do this, we should think about the way we treat other species because we have the intelligence to. If you get what I mean... kind-of hard to explain!
It's like people who say, "Why help that beached whale? It's just an act of nature." We should help it because we can.
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