My name is Spencer Branch and I am a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. I have always been interested in the environment and sustainable development. I have tried to take all of my technical electives and general education requirements in classes relating to renewable energy and the environment. Thus, when I saw the opportunity to take a humanities class in a field that I was passionate about I seized it. I was especially excited when I saw the topics for the first prompt. I was instantly drawn to the issues about protecting the environment but as I mulled it over, I decided to pick an issue that I have grappled with recently which is about my consumption of meat.
I have always thoroughly enjoyed most meat. However, there are many reasons which have caused me to think twice about my meat consumption. As I have learned about the impact that meat demand has had on the landscape of the world and the subsequent damage, I have made a conscious effort to eat less meat, beef especially. However, my love to both cook and eat meat has made it difficult for me give it up entirely. More recently I have thought about the philosophy of meat consumption. Up until a recent conversation I have with my brother I believed (and I think many share this belief), that we eat roughly the same amount of meat as previous generations he shook my perception by informing me that meat consumption has increased. In fact from 1961 to 2002 (1) meat consumption in the US increased by nearly 40 percent. It forced me to think about eating meat more critically. I realized that what made meat so appealing to me was that I saw it as nothing but a food. The only form that we really see of meat is small neatly wrapped packages. I have gained the ability to put a complete separation in my mind between cows and beef. I think we do this in part because if we spent time dwelling on something like this we would have much more trouble eating meat. I think that this thought was a good progress in determining what specifically makes eating meat an ethical issue for me. However, eating meat cannot be bad because it is natural. Animals eating other animals is what happens naturally and what allows ecosystems to function. I think this is what allows me to rationalize the pain that an animal experiences for my own health, because it is the way of the natural world. I realized that the issue I had with meat consumption laid in the manner that we have come to eat meat.
What separates the way we eat meat from other animals is our complete removal from the process of slaughtering the animal. That is, in nature, when a predator is hungry it must chase down the prey kill and eat the animal. The carcass of the animal then serves as a meal for several other animals and very little goes to waste. This school of thought has made me want to hunt. So that I can make the connection between animal and food, and experience the transition from animal to nourishment. I think that this experience would allow me to resolve some of my ethical issues with meat consumption and would definitely help me to reduce my meat intake having a better understanding of ending another animals life for my own.
(1) http://earthtrends.wri.org/searchable_db/index.php?theme=8&variable_ID=193&action=select_countries
Spencer,
ReplyDeleteYour statement: "I have gained the ability to put a complete separation in my mind between cows and beef." completely hit home for me. I remember seeing a cow for the first time, while driving up to Niagra Falls; I couldn't eat a pepperoni pizza for months after. I went to India for a summer, to visit my grandparents and my uncle took us to get chicken, because my aunt wanted to cook chicken for dinner. I was given the unpleasant opportunity to witness the beheading of a chicken. I couldn't eat chicken for a year. I agree that if we were able to make this connection between animal and food, we would definitely think twice before consuming meat. Also, I may have missed it, but I dont think you addressed whether you think animals feel pain or not. I feel it was the aspect of pain that caused me to avoid chicken after seeing one being slaughtered.
-Preet
Spencer,
ReplyDeleteWow your argument is really well worded and I love how you were able to draw connections between your personal life and how this shaped your opinions. I feel like I may have overlooked the personal life factor in my position or not addressed it as clearly as possible. That being said, like Preet, I really found myself able to identify with your point about human beings being removed from the slaughter process. To expound upon that I feel I (like most people) are almost completely removed from the animal raising process as well! We are able to ignore the animals' pain simply from being so unfamiliar with animals themselves. I raised chickens for a little while in 2008 and while they are dirty, dirty creatures (which some don't realize) for me they were also like pets and it really changed my view on typically consumed animals as only "food".
Reading this made me think of an experience last summer when I was in Brooklyn with my grandma. My grandma grew up in a small village in China years ago and it was common for them to capture chickens and other small animals for food. So when I went with her to a small live poultry store in Brooklyn, I was horrified. At this store, they had live chickens and ducks packed tightly into cages for your choosing. The process was quick and emotionless; you would pick a particular chicken, a man would reach into the cage, pull out a chicken, and disappear to the back of the store. After a mere five minute wait, the man would emerge with a chicken packaged exactly as you would see in a store. It was very troubling knowing that the chicken clucking at me several minutes prior was now in a neat little package in my hand. I agree that making the connection between animal and food is crucial as I also believe most people do not make the connection between cows and beef, deer and venison, and much more.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of slaughtering of animals is the one reason that makes me wish that I didn't eat meat. Like yourself, I like to eat meat and I don't know how I would give it up.
ReplyDeleteAfter growing up with a my culture, I have seen live animals alive one minute and cooked and served on the table 20 minutes later.
Something that I've always thought about was: are sea creatures not considered to be "meat"? Because many seafood restaurants allow people to pick their own live lobsters to be cooked in the kitchen and served on your plate. But I'm pretty sure many people would have different opinions if they were allowed to pick their own live cow or chicken for their dinner.
It is crazy that since the 60's meat consumption has increased so much. It probably has something to do with the fact that it has become so easy and cheap to consume meat. I think in every history book I've ever read it has always said that it was only ever the more wealthy who could afford to eat meat regularly, but it has certainly become relatively less expensive to do so on a regular basis, compared to the general lifestyle changes as time goes on. And mass production of meat does make it less expensive. I think it is for these reasons that people have not generally noticed the increased in meat consumption, that and the fact that it has happened more or less over the course of two or so generations.
ReplyDeleteSpencer,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is true that ecosystems rely on animals eating other animals to sustain itself, however, humanity is no longer part of this chain. Your "eating meat is OK because it is natural" argument really isn't so black and white. Animals eat other animals because an animal's goal in life is to survive and reproduce an must need energy to do so. I would assume your goal in life goes beyond survival an procreation. We have free will, which allows us to consider the ethical question of "do I really want to eat this animal knowing I will cause it pain?"
Also, what is natural? It cannot be quantified, and it's definition is entirely subjective. In fact, the Indian religion of Jainism is as old as the 6th century and they find natural to be a path of non-violence towards all living beings. I would say the only universal justification you can make about eating meat is that you have a choice to eat it or not. There is nothing wrong with eating it or not as you are a human with free will and can make the choice based on your acknowledgement of the animal's pain, which you do not address.
Yes, your comments regarding hunting are quite astute. If we lived in a society where eating meat required you to hunt and kill it yourself, I would bet there would be many more vegans, as the pain of the animals would become much more apparent. I would find that hunting would connect you more to the earth and the primitive food chain we once were a part of. I question what the process of hunting would do for you. Would it convert you to veganism or would you embrace eating meat more?
Before I read this I thought, like you did, that we ate roughly the same amount of meat as previous generations. I am actually amazed that meat consumption has increased so much. I'm not sure why this is but would like to find out. What really caught my attention in your post was the whole last paragraph about how we are removed from the slaughtering process and how this makes you want to try to hunt. I've been hunting for a couple of years and before I started I was thinking the exact same thing as you, I wanted to make the connection between animal and food and resolve any ethical issues I had with meat consumption; which was mainly the bad treatment of animals in slaughterhouses and the amount of the animal that goes to waste. Hunting definitely resolved these issues for me. While hunting, I am able to make sure that I kill any animal as painlessly as possible by only taking the shot if I know I can make a clean kill and I am in full control of how much of the animal goes to waste, which in my case is almost none. Any meat that my immediate family can't eat will go to my extended family and friends and if there's still some left over I can always donate it to a homeless shelter to feed the hungry. It seems like you have the same ethical issues with meat consumptions so I definitely recommend giving hunting a try. If it turns out to not be for you, then you didn't really lose much.
ReplyDeleteSpencer, I too have the same feeling you do regarding the experience of hunting. I feel we have been too far removed from the hunting process to understand our place in the environment and also believe that we should cause animals as little harm as possible. But all we see is the finished product on our plates and don’t understand what it means to survive in the wild. I disagree with both Spencer and Ethan ideas that if I experienced hunting, I would change my eating habits to a more vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. I think if I saw the mass killing of animals for food in terrible conditions where they were poorly treated, then I would change my eating habits. But hunting to me seems to be the most natural and best way to go about getting meat. Many will argue that animals kept on farms are allowed to roam inside the fences as they please and are there for most human way of producing meat. But an animal that is hunted roams freely in its natural environment and is not slaughtered in mass quantities as it would be on a farm. Having a society move from systematically slaughtering animals to hunting reconnects us to the food chain and seems much more ethical than the way meat is currently produced.
ReplyDeleteI can really relate with your desire to start hunting as a source of your own meat consumption because it has become a recent interest of mine as well. It will also be interesting over the next several years to see more research published about the average humans over consumption of meat to the point where the body no longer utilizes the nutrients.
ReplyDeleteEver since my introductory environmental seminar, I have also been beginning to think twice about my meat consumption. I love eating meat in different types and forms my whole life and I have never really thought twice about what I was incorporating into my diet. However, I learned about the negative consequences created by meat processed by large corporations. Factory-farms and large meat corporations have caused many detrimental impacts on the environment. Also, the horrors of how animal products are processed would make even the bravest man feel queasy. However, I am guilty to say that I have also found it difficult to stop my meat purchases at large supermarkets. Large corporations have been successful to keep these meat products cheaper and more convenient to purchase than those sold on farmers' or organic markets. I know this is no excuse to keep eating factory-processed meat but a majority of the human population would not opt to choose a less-convenient and expensive path to purchase their foods. Hopefully, in the future, more people would become educated about all of the points stated in your post and begin to consider what they put into their diets.
ReplyDeleteThe transitions from animal to food you are talking about remind me the chicken I used to have for almost 1 year. I raised him from little chick, feed him with rice and going out to search insects for him as possible as I can. I was 9 back then. He grows very quick and one day my parents said I could not keep him anymore because the box I used to keep him was not having enough space. Then the next day I came back from school and found out that my grandma killed him and made a chicken soup, when I was still thinking what I am I going to do with him. I was hurt and cried. It is really cruel and unfair that we are the determiner of animal to be an animal or food.
ReplyDelete