Quote:
Originally Posted by ProggyMan
What you're railing against is the globalization and industrialization of the food industry. As Michael Pollen says: "Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much."
|
Definitely, plant-based diets (even with some animal products) are preferable to the typical developed-world diet heavy on animal flesh and fats and processed carbohydrates.
And the industrialization of the food industry does bother me...you are very right. For example, it is very difficult to eat locally here in Iowa, where we have the best topsoil in the world, because the government system of subsidies supports the planting of corn and soybeans to the exclusion of almost all other vegetables and fruits. Some locations have an excuse (poor soil) not to produce local crops for human consumption; Iowa has none.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tore
Erica, if you look away from possible ecological problems that might result from overtaxing populations and so on and look at it purely from a moral standpoint - how do you feel about hunting compared to slaughtering farm animals?
|
If I had to choose, Tore, I would prefer people to hunt wild animals (preferably using their bare hands
) rather than raise and slaughter captive animals. This would reduce the consumption of animals and be better for humans and ecosystems alike. And the life experience of the wild animals would be closer to the life of freedom that I would prefer for any animal.
On the positive side of hunting, at least the animals have had a chance to be free, make decisions for themselves, and have a greater variety of experiences (closeness with family members and friends; the chance to forage, to relax in the sun, etc.). On the negative side, killing with bow and arrow or gun hurts them (before killing them)...and usually is completely *unnecessary* unless you are an eskimo or live in an impoverished country where you are essentially a hunter-gatherer.
Slaughtering farm animals...the actual slaughter...however, is often far from humane. Poultry are many times not stunned; even cows sometimes end up conscious while being dismembered. Pigs get boiled alive. And the life before the animals get to the slaughterhouse (if they make it...many die or are killed young) is often miserable: egg-laying hens stacked up in tiny cages in continual darkness for their whole lives, for example. I feel killing an animal suddenly through hunting would be preferable to the callous, methodical, mechanized slaughterhouse...but not killing them at all would be morally the best!
Thanks for asking, Tore!