Final Countdown

I have decided to post my present copy of my paper:

       I am not morally obligated to become a vegetarian, though I would like to believe it is in a human’s best interest to try. I personally cannot ascribe to a vegetarian diet not due to medical reasons, nor due to overwhelming empathy for animals, but because I cannot forgo, in my present life and food availabilities, some form of meat. I have worked to give up on red meats (wild mammal, bovine and porcine flesh) yet I cannot forgo white meats (chicken, turkey, and duck) and seafood (fish, arthropods, mollusks). I fully actualize the implications of eating red meat, but I did not forbid myself from eating it for a moral reason, I simply decided after my visit to Japan during spring break, and after eating mainly fish with the occasional fowl, I would try to live without it because, I can survive 12 days off of plants, fish and white meat without getting sick, why not continue the trend? 

       Reflecting back on the idea of the horrible treatment of animals in slaughter houses, I do feel empathetic for their present state, however it is not enough to drive me from consuming their flesh for that reason alone. I plan on exploring the moral, economic, ecological, and medical implications of a fully vegetarian, or at lest pescetarian diet, of which I would like to believe I could ascribe myself to, yet cannot at this present point in my life.

     Through much discussion, we as a class have decided that animals of all species deserve to be treated with some form of respect, and thus we should err on the side of caution when considering harming such creatures. I personally do my best to respect every form of life, from a spider in the corner of my closet, to a bird flying gracefully above my head before releasing its waste upon my car, and even the coyotes that wander the woods and occasionally enter my back yard. However when it comes to eating “corpse” I find myself all to willing to grab the phone and call up China Buffet to order some General Tso’s Chicken. 

      In my life I have always been busy and a snackivore, if I have the ability to acquire quick proteins and energy, I will take that chance, no matter what that means, from eating a can of beans as I study to going to McDonalds on the way to work and eating a few hamburgers. I picture myself having the time to sit down and enjoy cooking pastas, the occasional fish, salads, stuffed shells, and possibly a large, hearty meal for all my friends, but that is a distant illusion when one has but two free, non class or work-related hours total between 9:00 and 21:00 on any given day. I believe the main reason why, despite my love of all creatures, and my sympathy towards livestock, I can still consume a chicken patty sandwich from Aramark without guilt or remorse, sometimes 2-3 of them if I am particularly hungry and low on blood sugar. 

      I understand that animals feel pain, I also believe that animals are fully conscious of their surroundings. Do they posses the awareness of chimps and cetaceans I don’t believe so, but I do feel that animals can understand empathetic and electrical responses given off by other creatures, and they can reciprocate them towards other beings. I feel remorse when I personally harm a living being, even stepping on an ant, I will say a little prayer in my head wishing that I hadn’t done that and that the ant can forgive me for quashing its life candle. I can even feel remorse towards objects, not necessarily their owner, but if I drop something, I will apologize to the object, for reasons I question to this day. 

      Indirect harm is another thing. I will feel remorse if I witness another being being harmed, such as a rabid beaver that was chasing kids getting shot in the skull by a .22, it didn’t try to terrorize and potentially harm those children, it was just possessed and influenced by the rabies. which makes me a little relieved that, at least the beaver won’t have to live its life suffering from the disease. If I am unable to see said harmed animal however, I find myself thinking less and less of the suffering the animal must be going through. I still understand that suffering occurs in slaughter houses, but without actually coming into contact with an animal prior to its evisceration, or witnessing the defiling of it’s body, I do not feel guilt. It is an odd concept that I have reflected deeply on after eating 3 chicken patties in a row, but not during the consumption.
      Perhaps it is the proof of harm I hunger for more then the animal’s flesh itself? I have heard of dolphins being captured and killed by fishing nets mistakenly, however when I eat fish I feel absolutely no guilt until I hear a news story concerning dolphins, then I think “oh the poor dolphins.” This mentality I feel is the same as the majority of the USA with regards to boycotts and similar movements, “it doesn’t concern me, and I am such a small contribution to this action that I won’t do anything if I am there or not there.” This is problematic as a single stone can’t always start an avalanche, meaning that if I say “I won’t eat this meat”, and I don’t eat meat, I believe it will do nothing for the animal rights movement as a whole, since such a problem requires a gradual escalation of awareness and constant thought from the entire population to do anything. A very pessimistic thought, and since I like to be as optimistic as I can, I try not to think of the suffering that I am unaware of. It is a selfish mentality, but I like to think that, in the lifestyle I live now, eating no mammals, I am leading by example rather then action.

      Morality aside, looking from an ecological perspective, producers such as plants, produce a ton of energy from the sun. This energy is then eaten by a primary consumer and that consumer gains about 10% of the energy that the producer converted.(in our society, this is the cow), that cow is then eaten by a secondary consumer (humans or ground up into pig’s slaw) and 10% of that energy is then converted up to the secondary consumer meaning we as secondary consumers gain only about 1% of the energy that plants produce. In my botany class we discussed that it takes about 15 cows worth of energy to sustain a human for a day, while if we relied on plants, we would be in much better shape energy efficiency wise. 

       The ecological benefits don’t stop there. Millions of acres of forests have been cleared to make room for grazers such as cows, while those acres of flat grassland could be repurposed into fields of fruits and vegetables that could feed twice the population that the cows provide. In this age of rapidly growing populations, it is crucial to have enough food for your population, and crops, if not grown in monocultures and grown with more “organic”(I personally detest that word as a label for plants but that is another argument) practices, could sustain this population growth. 

       I believe vegetarianism is a fantastic ideal that can be and should be reached by many, but I can never see myself forgoing at least seafood. I have been trying to limit my chicken consumption, and increase my fish consumption while keeping greens the majority of my meals, but it is hard with so little time to eat in a day. I feel vegetarianism is morally justified, yet not morally obligated in our society, and I believe it never will be an obligation in my life, just a choice that I plan to keep going towards, even if I can never make it.

Freedom!