My argument would be that large scale raising of animals for meat is a major contributor to global warming and so curtailing that or doing it differently would be a good thing.

I see no more ethical problem inherent in eating animal protein than any other carnivore or omnivore sees in it. I see an ethical problem in raising animals in crowded, stressful conditions and killing them in inhumane, painful ways however.

I try to buy my meat from known local sources who at least profess to raise those animals without cruelty or indifference.

There is a dichotomy, isn't there?

One the one hand, we don't want to cause pain and violence unnecessarily. On the other, life feeds on life and we want to live.

Some trot out the same tired arguments; we evolved eating meat and so we should continue. Nevermind the fact that we evolved the ability for pattern recognizing things incorrectly and thinking there were invisible people running things. Just because things went down that way before doesn't mean that it is the best way to continue. Isnt that why we're are all on this site? Hypocritical thinking much?

At the same time, the other side talks a fair share of nonsense, too. Going into the local co-op has all kinds of crunchy products making false claims and equating the word natural with good for you. Many of those tired claims descend to "if you hold this piece of dog shit, the force field is going to just flow into you and bring you peace." Ick and/or eww...

Facts: Animals feel pain. It takes more resources to make meat over plants. We can't produce B12 on our own along with some other nutrients.

My answer was to become an ovo-lacto vegetarian and I've maintained that for well over a decade. It's easy and it is the best I have come up with to recognize all the facts I'm aware of in the equation. I am still very active, still able to work out regularly, don't have any health problems, and try not to be the jerk they makes it everyone else's business about his being veggie. As I learn more, my diet may change.

Objectively moral? I don't know... I know it is moral for me to be this way right now. I take a different view of this kind of thing. Is it right for a child to shit in a diaper? I mean, that's where it is at that stage of development... It really isn't right or wrong; it is the best they have. Is it wrong for me to shit in a diaper? Maybe wrong isn't the right word - it's dirty and beneath me. That's how I feel about this issue (along with religion and lots of other things). There's no condescending here because I might be currently crapping in my own proverbial diaper on some other issue. We do the best we can and speak with curiosity and humility because we are fallible.

At the end of the day, people need to be about doing and being better. That is a value that I wish more people had.

Lots of poop in this posting... but then, isn't that how every meal truly ends?

I'm a vegetarian, and I think there are ethical questions around meat consumption that are worth exploring, but I don't judge anyone for their diet and don't consider this to be a black-and-white question. Although I find a vegetarian diet to be relatively easy to maintain, I know it doesn't work for everyone for various reasons, and it's a determination individuals need to make for themselves.

‘Clean meat’ will be released with in a year. That should end the ethical dilemmas. Even PETA has lended it’s support.

Killing animals has nothing to do with ethics. Our treatment of animals does fall into ethics. We don’t tell a Lion he’s naughty for being a Lion, but lions aren’t farming gazelles either. Humans are omnivores by nature we need a little meat, otherwise we need supplementation. Now that does not excuse animal abuse and neglect which is s horrendous by product of commercial farming.
We can choose to only buy free range non abused animals or kill our own. We also need to scale back our consumption of meat. That’s where much of the problems lie.

Either way ‘clean meat’ is a game changer.

I have no ethical conflicts with including meat in a diet. I do, however, take issue with vegans deciding that their dogs and cats are also vegans, and so deny them meat in their diet.

It can all be boiled down to this single question:

Is there such a thing as a humane slaughter?

There is also the issue of the concentration camps livestock live in. Imagine being a cow in Texas.

I am still haunted by a thumbnail image I saw recently which linked to an article. The photo was of a baby pig, stood on a muddy concrete floor looking up at the camera.

The article, which I didn't have the stomach to read, told the story of this little pig, which apparently tried to intervene in order save the life of another pig in an abattoir.

I truly believe, if every animal could articulate their suffering, that most of the world world go vegan overnight.

My background involves raising domesticated animals for human consumption, leather, fish food, animal feed and countless products that most people don't even know are in the food they consume or ate used to grow the "organic" produce they buy. But, I can promise you, if everyone were to visit a slaughter house, 90% of the people would come out as vegetarians. At least until the memory fades. I do get peterbed with self righteous vegans who have never touched a horse, a steer, or a chicken, yet have outlandish and uninformed, very strong opinions. Veganism without background knowledge or experience is no better than religion. Anthropormizing a beast of burden is easy to do if you've not worked with them. It's a religion of a different brand. I much prefer working to make animals healthy and well. What happens afterwards disturbs me greatly. But,,I'm not a vegan. If I. had more time to shop, chop, and come up with dishes I would be. I was for a couple of years when I had a job with regular hours but it took an enormous amount of time for meal prep. Its probably easier now.

Unethical no, less ethical for me, yes. Some people can't afford to avoid eat meat. In the US some cities don't have access to fresh food, so eating meat and processed foods is not only the most affordable way. It may be the only thing they have to choose from. I'm talking about typically poorer neighborhoods without access to even a grocery store or Walmart. I, on the other hand, can get fresh food, I'm a vegan most of the time (I can't expect to be a Vegan in many of the countries I travel to....) But I'm an unethical vegan because I still own leather shoes and belt, silk pillow case, etc. but will make an effort in the future to buy cruelty free products. Is being vegan better for the environment, yes. Can one live in a healthy manner without meat? Yes, most can do that. One shouldn't ignore the evolutionary effect protein had on development of humans and that meat played a part in that. Mainly because protein was available when farming wasn't (in colder areas). Now we have the opposite, we have too much access to meat and it's killing us with high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart disease, etc. I'm too tired to continue tonight, I apologize for my grammar and spelling, I need rest....

I think it is unethical. It's easy to be veggie and healthy. I'm an active person and have had no issues at all.

If you need resources, hit me up.

No but I find it unethical to waste food, be that unpopular cuts of meat or imperfectly shaped vegetables!

Not personally. It’s unethical to cause more suffering than you have to, unethical to patronize factory farmed meat sources but its equally unethical to patronize large scale vegetable farming. Animals live in the fields that get raked over and harvesting machines kill ground nesting birds, varmits of all types, deer lying in the field etc. Even if you shop at the farmers market those farmers had to keep pests in check to make sure those salad ingredients got to you. Life eats life and nothing in the wild comes to a peaceful end or dies of old age. There’s no way to harvest plants or animals large scale without harming a lot of both. Ideally I’d like to operate my own garden, keep chickens for eggs, goats for cheese, go fishing weekly and hunt wild game once or twice a year. That would be my ideal ethical diet to minimize the amount of death I was causing and take responsibility for it when I do. The bioavailability of protein in vegetables is significantly less than that of meat and I don’t feel healthy without some portion of animal protein. I could get by with that mostly coming from eggs probably but I don’t think we’re so different from other predatory animals that I would feel terrible about participating in the food chain as long as I wasn’t being wasteful. And if a predator eats me the first time I try to go out hunting, fair play lol.

Humans are omnivores and no matter how you slice it, something must die for us to survive. We need protein and meat is a primary source. A hundred years ago an ethical argument about meat was not a consideration, in a hundred years from now will there be an ethical argument about plant life and their right to live and thrive?

The question of ethics is a personal one and should not be imposed on others. In my opinion we should focus on the humane treatment of animals, overconsumption, and waste.

Humans do not have the complete enzymes to break down meat, beef has to rot out of your system. Humans do not have a digestive track that is like those of the carnivore species. Human digestive tract is more for the slow processing of plant based foods, ie... proteins. Lastly, Humans do not have true canine teeh. True canine are long, round, and pointed proportionently to other teeth.

I lived vegetarian for something like 10 years, easy. Hardly ever became ill. I felt great. Vegetarianism was a Great experience that became something almost like a philosophical experience.

I do believe it is a matter of ethics knowing the facts of how animals are treated and the damage that is done to the Environment.

[m.huffpost.com]

However I do not judge.

The only thing "unethical" about eating meat is when one tries to influence others not to do so.

I only eat fish because that is the only meat that doesn't give me a splitting headache. I'm for the ethical treatment of animals, even food animals. No cruel factory farms, inhumane sheep shearing, or pet mills.

Meanwhile the cattle and animal industries are polluting the world, taking up the water, bringing toxic chemicals and drugs into the environment. Insects have as much protein as beef, but don't pollute, or squander resources, are raised quickly, and don't need pesticides.

Could insects be the wonder food of the future? [bbc.com] via @BBC_Future

NO. We are biologically hunters and gatherers.

I like meat, I like beef. I have no simpathy for those criticizing religion and church yet... try to impose their eating habits on others. Whatever you decide to eat or god to follow is not of my concern. I am not your cook, your congregation in need of leadership or your priest in any shape of form.

I believe they are in the food chain for the purpose of supplying protein for brain development. You may quarry with: there are other sources of protein, but I believe meat has a different chemical makeup promoting greater growth.

I don't eat meat. I also don't think it is unethical to eat meat. The important aspect here, I feel, is the manner in which animals are farmed and the barbarity of live exports. It is not necessary to eat meat so perhaps more attention should be given to the nature of its production. If that is undertaken in unethical practice, then boycott that producer. It is only by constant consumer pressure that free-range instead of cage laid eggs are now readily available.

“Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they’re only animals.”

Theodor W. Adorno

I recommend reading Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust by Charles Patterson.

No, even deer and other assumed "vegetarians" eat meat, carrion.
The REAL problem is there are just too damned many people on this earth. Period.
In order to feed the world thoroughly and continue expanding the already overpopulated planet, crops take up space, destroy forests and require pesticide use.

I have been Vegan for many,many yrs.because I don't want to contribute to animal torture and murder. There are many,many healthy protein choices. Dead,rotting animals are not something that I crave. My blood tests are always absolutely perfect.My blood pressure is perfect,my weight is perfect and I have no health issues at all.

Do some research and you will see that animal agriculture is going to be the death of us all; and rightfully so.

Some people do have problems with an all vegetarian diet and things are different for them. Yes we are animals but we are animals that can have ethics and can shap our own destiny so because others do it is absolutely no excuse. I do not struggle in producing an ethical argument for killing animals. It is an obvious fact for anyone with the courage to look at the environmental, moral and personal costs.

Man creates ethics. So I would suppose it both is and isn't. There's some strong arguments on both sides nothing's convinced me to stop eating meat though.