There are problems with eating meat from farm animals.
One of the biggest problems is the toll it takes on the environment. Pasture lands gobble up lots of the earth's surface that could otherwise be forest or home to other wildlife. Runoff from animal farms can also be highly toxic to the local water table. Also, one of the major sources of greenhouse gasses especially methane, is believe it or not from farm animals. Finally, for the environmental arguement against meat, is the fact that feeding the animals enormous volumes of farmland plants to get such comparitively small quantities of meat, is a very inefficient use of our natural resources.
Besides the environmental toll that eating domesticated meat poses, there are many health risks involved. Avian flu, Mad Cow disease, numerous parasites, all are directly related to the domesticated animals that we utilise for meat.
Finally, eating meat requires killing of animals. The ethical implications of killing a fellow sentient being are something you have to think about on your own, but I find it rude to kill something when I don't need to.
That all being said... Do I eat meat? Absolutely. A nice juicy steak, or a chicken stir fry, bacon and sausage... It is all just so yummy... What a dilemma this poses.
Well, luckily with enought creativity any problem can be solved. One solution is a vegan diet. But like I said. Meat is yummy. Then there is cutting down on meat intake. Or eating animals that are less of a strain on the environment like farm raised fish. Or one could eat only free range animals like deer that are overpopulating the forest. But where do you get that on the fast food menu?
My favorite Idea, which will be years to come, is factory raised meat. This solves ALL the problems associated with the use of animals for food; Because it doesn't Use any!
We have the ability to harvest stem cells that grow into different organs or parts. For instance we could get a Liver stem cell and grow a new liver. Likewise, we could get a Muscle stem cell and grow a new muscle. All we would have to do is get muscle stem cells from different delicious animals, and then grow them into a large shenk of lamb for instance. There is merely the muscle stretched between two electorde hooks holding the two tendons, and stimulating it for optimal growth. All the muscles are hung next to eachother and nourished in the nutrient bath that the assembly line is submerged in. Then when the muscle is plump and juicy enough, it is plucked off of the hooks, packaged and ready for sale at the local butcher!
With the Stem Cell Meat, we don't have sprawling ranches to take care of, there are no biogasses produced, disease from animals will be cut off since no animals would be used, and none get killed! And after long, the technology will be more and more advanced. You could come home bringing something exotic and delicious like Shimp and Urchin meat stuffed in a pork shenk, stuffed in a Cow Flank! And there you have the MooShruPork for the Holiday Feast! A Win x N situation for everyone.
That's quite an idea! I'm not sure about the actual possibility of it - since stem cells are mostly useful to restore nerve and bone marrow tissues right now. With more research though... maybe
Yes, I am sure it would take at least another few years for the research to get there and at least another 10 years before it is economically feasible.
But what would you do with all the animals that you were no longer eating, but were still reproducing? And with the farmers who no longer had a market to sell to, what with factory-produced meat being so much "nicer" for the animals?
That's no problem. The animals just get their tubes tied so they don't reproduce, and then they get to live out the rest of their lives normally. The farmers can work in the factories or as any other job that they want. There is plenty of work available!
Then what's the point of the animals even living? What did got make life forms for if not to proliferate and "fill the earth" ?
The "Point of animals living?" There is no point. Animals just ARE living. That is all. Since they are living and fellow sentient beings, we should make the lives of those animals happy ones. Not make them die out from overpopulation and starvation in a cruel cow eat cow way.
So it's okay to "tie the tubes" on the animals, but we cannot eat them?... I think this tube tying move would greatly hinder the animals' abilities to carry out a normal "sentient being" life.
We are going to put tons of farmers out of work?
Who is going to force everybody to stop eating meat?
Why do you put animals on the same level as human beings?
Just a few questions that sprung into my mind.
I said nothing about forcing people to not eat meat. It would just be an alternative to those who are consciencious people. Farmers would still be around, and humans are just another animal.
Will I be able to eat babies, too? Animals are most tender when they're cooked young, and humans are animals, too, right?
The attempt at humor is welcome. But if you saw the point, it was that we shouldn't eat animals at all, which includes humans.
Interesting points, my friend.
I, myself, am a vegetarian for many of the reasons you listed above.
Good luck in whatever diet you choose.
truth --
Your proposed solution is akin to the distopian future in Margaret Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake. ChickieNobs are parts (breasts, drumsticks) that are grown in a manner similar to what you described, but the way Atwood desribes the entire concept is horrifying. Its wholly unnatural, and I cannot fathom that something so artificial could be a viable, ethical solution. (Do read the book, by the way.)
My thoughts on the matter: I too recognize the perils created by large-scale animal farming, but cannot deny the satisfaction (and nutritional benefits) derived from eating a charred hunk of steak. Whether its wrong or right to kill another animal to eat it is a tricky question, because then one has to attempt to define right and wrong. Morrisey doesn't eat his friends, but personally, I've never befriended a chicken or a cow or even a pig. As far as the toll on the environment, the most viable solution would be to downscale production; to have smaller organic animal farms in more communities. This would provide fresher meat and more local stimulus for the economy. So many of the societal problems we're facing at this stage in history stem from the "global marketplace." I'm not denying the benefits of it, only recognizing the drawbacks. Think of the ills imposed upon the world thanks to WalMart. But where else can you buy pantyliners, a new coffee table, the newest DVD release, bleach, windshield wipers and pork chops all in one stop for a price that can't be beat?
"I think about life and I think about death
And neither one particularly appeals to me" -- Morrisey
I'm sure that book paints a graphic picture. Have you seen the graphic pictures of what happens in today's chicken and meat farms and the slaughtering of animals today? Even more sickening than anything that could be in that book you talk about. Try reading "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. That gives a nice description of the working man's experience in the Meat Packing industry in Chicago.
If your only reason against the idea is a gory picture you have from a book, then you really have no arguement at all then, since you clearly didn't compare it to the 10 X more gruesome slaughter of real animals.
Whoa. You totally missed the point of my post.
Atwood's book hardly described the process of creating ChickieNobs at all. The horrific sense conveyed by Atwood, and the basis of my objection to the idea of growing animal parts to harvest for food, is that it is yet another step farther away from the natural order. It would create further dependence upon technology. (And I think the ethical problems it creates are far more burdensome than whether or not its "okay" to kill an animal for meat.)
I think that the problems stemming from large scale animal farming are brought on not so much by the process itself, but by the massive scale of the operation. And I think that's a valid point.
Humans have been keeping animals in their close proximity for about 5,000 years, and the problems you cite that we're now facing (runoff from animal farms, methane gasses, too large swaths of farmland for the yeild) were not such major issues in times past. What's changed? Globalization, and increasing reliance upon technology. The Jungle was written at a time when thinkers and writers, such as Sinclair, were beginning to contemplate the ramifications of societal changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution.
Is this good or bad? I don't know, and I'm not here to say. Tis only food for though.
Very nicely put. I apologize for questioning your thought process. I agree that the large scale is the problem with the meat and agricultural effects on the earth. We have only recently been having to feed Billions of people! The meat plant idea is definately a futuristic answer that is unrealistic right now. But it is something to think about and I would say even warrents research into it's feasability. Just like hydroponics in massive underground greenhouses would be a worthy idea also to preserve the natural environment of the world. How dare we encroach on the rest of mother nature with our suburban sprawl and wildlife clearing destroying our planet?
It's a vegetarian myth that meat is bad for the environment. It isn't always - cows, sheep etc. that are pasture-raised are often raised on land unsuitable for agriculture - too dry, hilly, etc. Think Arizona or New Zealand. Also, they eat a lot of by products of food for human consumption such as corn stalks, soybean flakes, etc. that would otherwise be waste. Feedlot farming can be bad, but then you can just buy organic or from small family farms. As far as laboratory-grown meat I can't see how that would be good at all for the environment as there would need to be intensive energy inputs.
The by products like stalks, soybean flakes etc. could be used for other things then without animals to feed. The areas like New Zealand and Arizona are very small in comparison to the large areas that are left treeless for grazing. Think everywhere else besides Arizona.
Also energy isn't a problem. Just read my blog on "Clean Nuclear Power"
yuck i dont eat meat it is so much healthier