Meat has become a part of our culture in our country, where it is expected as part of each meal of the day. But the production of the meat raises questions on whether eating meat is ethical in people’s eyes. Studies in recent years have shown that the growing impact of our meat eating culture, has negatively affected different aspects around us. The problem is not about whether people should or should not eat meat, but that we should focus on how the production of meat can have negative affects and how we can limit those problems.
The way meat is produced can be improved to limit the waste and amount of cattle needed. In some areas, forests and other ecosystems are often taken over by grassland in order to feed cattle and other livestock.
…show more content…
This poses a problem because it limits the efficiency of how farms raise cattle. In ``To make meat greener, make it more efficiently`` by Nathanael Johnson, Johnson argues that in order to make meat greener, farms need to make the process of produce meat more efficient. One of his examples was to use rice straw to feed cattle. Rice straw is often a byproduct of other crops, but it in itself is useless to humans, so it is often burned or thrown away. He argues that by treating the straw with urea it will allow the straw to become digestible for livestock. Utilizing byproducts as feed will account for less waste in the economy. Another argument that he pushes for is that feedlots are a better alternative than grass for the livestock. Although many people believe that grass would be better, Johnson believes that feeding livestock with feed, like corn, would save 4% more energy compared to grass fed. Meaning more of the energy that the livestock eats is turned into meat. I think this is one of the big things that need to change, if we can produce the same amount of meat with less heads of cattle then we can limit the negative effects of cattle overall. As climate change and other environmental impacts become a big topic these days, people have looked at livestock as one of the leading causes of greenhouse gas.
Others will point out that the conditions the livestock placed in are in-human as some would describe it as the livestock stood in their own fecal matter. Which leads to a bigger problem for some scientist and doctors. The livestock are often in conditions that are unfavorable, such as cramped areas or even standing in their own feces. This type of environment is a breeding ground for various virus and bacteria so they require lots of antibiotics. But this leads into a much bigger issue, because they are pumped with antibiotics, scientist and doctors worry that it could lead to an antibiotic resistance strain of bacteria or viruses. This super virus/ bacteria could become a much larger problem. If bacteria and viruses become resistant to our antibiotics then it could lead to a much bigger problem. Other environmental impacts of the industry would be the waste created by the animals, in one case the waste storage failed leading to a runoff that made it into a nearby river that damaged the entire ecosystem of the river. With that said we need to become aware of the conditions that we placed the livestock in, as it could become a much bigger problem that we will have to
fix. One of the things we need to discuss is our part as consumers involved with the industry. The industry responds to what the public wants, because they are what funds the industry. For example one of the big changes was the usage of gestation crates, crates that are used to confine the sows in a 2-foot wide area. Although initially gestation crates may have be a positive thing for some of its aspects as they are thought to prevent the sows from squashing their babies, advocates argue that these crates are used in order to restrict the movement of the sows so that they can store more animals in a smaller plot of land. Since then Smithfield has followed the public’s demand and had all of its pork suppliers to stop the use of these crates. Showing that that the public does have a voice in what goes on in the industry. This also brings up a point in where both the industry and the public are still up in arms about. This is the ag-gag bills, bills that were meant to prohibit the filming of what goes on on the farms. Various groups like Peta and many other prominent animal rights groups have shown that many farms have animal abuse happening behind the scenes. Even though companies have claimed that these cases are rare and are only a result of a single person, activist groups believe that animal abuse is a lot more common than what they would say. Since then ag-gag bills have been knocked down by public interests, so we can see that there are people who aware of what is happening behind the scenes. The way we act as consumers do in fact have an effect on what happens on the farms, As we become more informed about what is our food, then we can make better choices for ourselves. We can begin to change how it is being produced, how efficient it is, to how it affects our environment. Eating meat is ethical as long as all aspects involved are either favorable or limits the negative effects of the livestock on the environment. That is the main point that we have to focus on and that is making meat more efficient and limiting its negative effects. We are not going to change our eating habits, but we can change how we produce meat.
Livestock agriculture, that is any farming situation that raises animals for product, is undeniably responsible for the misuse of earth's rescources. From soil to air and everything in between, each aspect of the environment is affected by its presence.
While plant-based diet have been around for decades, veganism did not make headlines until the late 1990’s. ‘Vegetarian’ first appears in a title of an article on September 16th, 1852, five years after the Vegetarian Society was formed (Vegetarian Society). Although veganism has clearly risen in popularity in the 21st century, it can not be concluded that American’s view plant-based eating positively. Multiple articles have been published bashing the lifestyle. ‘Vegan’ first appeared in a title of an article on December 6th, 1998, fifty-four years after the first vegan society was formed (Vegan Society). The article was titled, “All Species Welcome At A Vegan Mixer.” The author wrote about veganism as a foreign idea and made jokes on vegan’s behalf. The second time veganism appeared in the New York Times was in December of the same year. The article exposed a vegan eco-terrorist group, giving all vegans a bad reputation. Two years later, on February 1st, 2000,
Is it possible to be an ethical meat-eater? Well, in my opinion, it is not ethical. There are many animals that suffer in the process of being slaughtered. Federal law requires mammals be stunned prior to slaughter. Typically, electric current is used to induce a heart attack or seizure. Then a captive bolt gun is used to deliver a blow to the skull or to shoot a rod into the animal’s brain. Eating meat is not ethical; animals suffer, they are tortured, because there are not enough Federal regulations protecting the animals, and there are environmental issues, as well as the health issues concerning the consumption of meat.
One of the biggest environmental impacts of a meat-eating diet is the depletion of natural resources, particularly the consumption of vast amounts of water for livestock production. Today, there are more than 17 billion livestock in the world; that’s about triple the number of people. Raising these animals requires huge amounts of water, most of it used to irrigate the grains and hay fed to the animals. According to the Water Education Foundation, it takes 2,464 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef in California. This is the same amount of water you would use if you took a seven-minute shower every day for six entire months. In contrast, only 25 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of wheat. Present human water consumption drains aquifers around the world. Water tables
With the ever-growing population of animal lovers on earth, a more viable, humane solution for food consumption needs to be made, but why make a solution when there has already been one? Meat consumption has been proven time and time again to be unnecessary, but that doesn’t stop the average person from eating a double cheese burger with bacon. Unfortunately, many people are apathetic to what happens to animals in farm factories and continue to support them by buying their products, however, consumers should consider switching to a vegetarian diet because it’s more humane to animals, less farm factories being built can save the planet from deforestation, and with a proper balanced vegetarian diet anyone can maintain a healthy life without the
Is it morally permissible to eat meat? Much argument has arisen in the current society on whether it is morally permissible to eat meat. Many virtuous fruitarians and the other meat eating societies have been arguing about the ethics of eating meat (which results from killing animals). The important part of the dispute is based on the animal welfare, nutrition value from meat, convenience, and affordability of meat-based foods compared to vegetable-based foods and other factors like environmental moral code, culture, and religion. All these points are important in justifying whether humans are morally right when choosing to eat meat. This paper will argue that it is morally impermissible to eat meat by focusing on the treatment of animals, the environmental argument, animal rights, pain, morals, religion, and the law.
“The assumption that animals are without rights, and the illusion that their treatment has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality."(Schopenhauer). I always wondered why some people are not so drawn to the consumption of meat and fed up with only one thought about it. Why so many people loathe of blood, and why so few people can easily kill and be slaughter animal, until they just get used to it? This reaction should say something about the most important moments in the code, which was programmed in the human psyche. Realization the necessity of refraining from meat is especially difficult because people consume it for a long time, and in addition, there is a certain attitude to the meat as to the product that is useful, nourishing and even prestigious. On the other hand, the constant consumption of meat has made the vast majority of people completely emotionless towards it. However, there must be some real and strong reasons for refusal of consumption of meat and as I noticed they were always completely different. So, even though vegetarianism has evolved drastically over time, some of its current forms have come back full circle to resemble that of its roots, when vegetarianism was an ethical-philosophical choice, not merely a matter of personal health.
What the American culture is used to is eating three meals with a few snacks in between a day, and two out of the three meals usually involve eating meat. Most people don’t realize the risks of eating meat. Today’s medical experts say that avoiding meat helps you avoid saturated fat. They have found out from studies that women who eat meat daily have a fifty percent greater risk of developing heart disease than vegetarian women and a sixty-eight percent greater risk in men (staff writer). People may not know about serious diseases meat can obtain such as, mad cow disease and foot-and-mouth disease. In the September 1999 issue of the Emerging Infectious Diseases, approximately 76 million food borne illnesses- resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths occur in the United States each year from improperly cooked or diseased meat (Licher). That is a lot! You can also get salmonella poisoning from meat. People think that the problems come from eating red meat and are opting for fish over steak, but new evidence proves that fish can cause health problems too, risks that can’t be cooked away. This is a growing problem called histamine poisoning (Peck). Children are learning at a younger age that they don’t like meat, maybe because they don’t like the taste, or maybe it’s because they have a fear of eating their favorite cartoon or movie hero. For example, the pig from the movie “babe”.
There are also environmental and economic reasons for becoming vegetarian. Some people are not aware of these reasons, but a lot of environmental destruction is linked to meat production, especially cattle farming. Huge areas of f...
For several years the issue of eating meat has been a great concern to all types of people all over the world. In many different societies controversy has began to arise over the morality of eating meat from animals. A lot of the reasons for not eating meat have to deal with religious affiliations, personal health, animal rights, and concern about the environment. Vegetarians have a greater way of expressing meats negative effects on the human body whereas meat eaters have close to no evidence of meat eating being a positive effect on the human body. Being a vegetarian is more beneficial for human beings because of health reasons, environmental issues, and animal rights.
When these agricultural resources are given to the animals involved in meat production, these resources are lost. Besides the loss of land, the process of animal production is contributing to pollution and other greenhouse gases that are doing irreplaceable damage to the environment and contribute to untold negative health
Could humans really be considered as a new generation of vampire livestock? Are meat diets the only way to live stong and healthy? The answers to thess questins lie within evidence provided ove centuries of meat and blood consuming carnivores, and the herbavores of past civilizations. Aside from the benfit of puutng on muscl, meat based diets hav3 served as a deceased detriment to the human healt system. Heart dcease, cancer, liver decease, and rich mans decease or gout, are some of the symptoms of ingesting meat and blood into th le bodies system. For Vampires, the ingestive system would incinerate ttose symptoms. Doesn’t work as effient in the human body, but maknd still incist on continuing the Dracula nutrian guide.
However, many people still refuse to be a vegetarian for different reasons. Some people prefer the taste of meat, and some people believe that they are born to eat meat. Despite that about 2 billion people in the world live basically on the meat diet, around 4 billion people live mainly on a plant-based diet because of food shortage(Pimentel ＆ Pimentel, 2003, pp660S). As everyone knows, the number of population is growing. For example, the total U.S. population doubled in the previous 60 years, and it may double again in the next 70 years (Pimentel ＆ Pimentel, 2003, pp660S). People won’t have enough meat to eat in the future. On the other hand, a well-planned vegetarian diet offers many health benefits. Therefore, people should become vegetarian because it benefits to huma...
As we can now observe, vegetarianism has become something fashionable, and the number of people who reject eating meat is constantly increasing. In Britain, for instance, over 5 million people have done it so far. It is obviously connected with the recent animal diseases, but this tendency is likely to spread on the other regions of the world. However, it is not only a fashion or fear of illnesses. I myself became a vegetarian about 2 years ago, and I can see a number of reasons why people should stop eating meat. They are mainly of ethic, economic and health type. Those who think in an ecological way should also be aware of how this meat consumption ruins our environment. I don’t have an intention to force anybody to become a vegetarian, but I hope that my argumentation would be strong enough to make some people think about it, at least. In this essay I will try to present this point of view, expressing my personal feelings and showing scientific facts about the problem.
Vegetarians tend to be healthier than those who consume meat. This is due to the prevalent unnatural chemicals used in the processing of meats, and eating these are unsuitable for the body. Meats already contain harmful amounts of cholesterol, and over-consumption of red meat can lead to early heart disease. Animals that are raised on farms for their meat are not treated well, and this mistreatment can lead to harm in the meat they are producing. Although one life choice cannot change one’s environmental