- Mar 12, 2009
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That is not much of an arguement. There is an obvious difference between animals, fungus, bacteria and plants. Animals have a central nervous system and cognitive function. While the others do not. They feel and have an awareness of their surroundings. Especially higher order animals like chickens, pigs, cows, sheep and goats. Chickens have a mental ability above most human toddlers. Pig's intelligence is close to the level human 5 yr old. (As a point of reference, a human's cognitive abilities are fully formed by 11 or 12.) I am not comfortable eating something that understands that it is going to die amd fights to stay alive. I am also not confortable eating something that can form relationships, have a social structure, develop parent-offspring bonds and communicate with eat other. That is too close to being like a human.
There is also many more reasons to avoid meat. Due to the law of energy loss through transfer, it is impossible for animal products to be as efficient as plant foods. We already have an over burdened world with rapidly declining resources. It is not fair to feed that food to stock animals over fellow humans. And yes, do to the structure of global markets, people really do have to compete with are meat habit for basic subsitence.
Also, meat and dairy production is the main contributor to global warming. Unlike cars that produce CO2 -a minor greenhouse gas that can easily midigated - animals produce methane. Methane is at least 22 times more potent than CO2. It has the ability to rapidly warm up our climate. As the planet warms up, especially our oceans, we will permentally lose methane sinks. Reduction of methane through less animal farming is critical to reducing methane in the atmosphere. It is repossible for at least 65% of methane release. Other human activities are responsible for at least another 20%.
There is also many more reasons to avoid meat. Due to the law of energy loss through transfer, it is impossible for animal products to be as efficient as plant foods. We already have an over burdened world with rapidly declining resources. It is not fair to feed that food to stock animals over fellow humans. And yes, do to the structure of global markets, people really do have to compete with are meat habit for basic subsitence.
Also, meat and dairy production is the main contributor to global warming. Unlike cars that produce CO2 -a minor greenhouse gas that can easily midigated - animals produce methane. Methane is at least 22 times more potent than CO2. It has the ability to rapidly warm up our climate. As the planet warms up, especially our oceans, we will permentally lose methane sinks. Reduction of methane through less animal farming is critical to reducing methane in the atmosphere. It is repossible for at least 65% of methane release. Other human activities are responsible for at least another 20%.
