Balanced writing and should we eat meat?
I like books that are balanced. A book is often trying to convince you of an idea. Writers which include nothing that would go against their point seem to try to hard, and their argument comes across less forceful. I have more respect for a writer and their argument if they discuss difficulties with their point of view. Very few topics are simple enough that everything points only to one conclusion.
In “The Way We Eat” by Peter Singer, the authors discuss factory farming, or intensive animal production for much of the book. They can see very little good or beneficial outcomes from it. Yet, they do not find that “organic” raised meat is necessarily any better for its treatment of animals.
They also question blanket purchasing, like eating local. They work out that to eat a locally grown tomato in the northern US in the winter takes more energy to heat the greenhouse than to ship tomatoes grown in warmer places like Mexico. I hadn’t thought about that before, and so I see that it is more complex than making a purchasing decision based on one or two factors.
One family profiled in the book said something that stuck with me, that the United States (and Canada) is a Corporate Democracy. We vote as consumers to make changes within corporations. That’s how change happens. I think this is a sad, but true caricature of the current ‘economy’.
It is a very good book. I’m going to have a hard time buying meat without reservation. Right now, I can’t buy chicken. I hope to find a local place which sells birds that have been allowed to be chickens – pecking, walking around, socializing with other birds. Not that pigs in crates with no bedding and no opportunity to root are any better.
And yet I always have this problem: I think it is unethical to eat meat that has been factory farmed. So, I will look for suppliers who do not do this (and pay more). My ultimate goal would be to no longer have any factory farmed meat. Can it be done? Do we have enough space, time, etc. to change the system of meat delivery?
Or does everyong have to eat a lot less meat?
Comments(3)
Love the topics in your blog Crystal. Personally I have spent a lot of time on this particular debate simply because of how Joshua and I have been supporting ourselves.
I do think we eat too much meat. I am not too sure that we can back away from “factory farming” though. Too many people haven’t a clue as to how to grow a vegetable, much less grow enough nourishment to sustain themselves. The amount of culture change required to reverse our current situation is too great in my opinion.
What I’d like to see is more change in our current practices to actually use the knowledge we have available to us. Like your current entry states, I really wonder if the current energy in politics surrounding the environment will result in true change!
I think you are correct, it will be hard to transition away from factory farming. I hope it can be done.
Maybe things like avian flu and greater awareness of environmental issues will help.
Lately I’ve been reading some thoughts about eating meat in the first place. The comments have been made by Creation Scientists. They have focused on about how before Adam and Eve committed the original sin, there was no death. Therefore eating meat in the first place would have not been likely. So their arguement is that God created our bodies to be sustained without meat. They then say that God in his infinite wisdom knew that eventually we would eat meat and did create systems to cope with this eventuality.
It provided me with a lot of thought!