Ethical Arguments Against Vegetarianism
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men."
-Alice Walker
Ethics of Vegetarianism
In many societies, ethical issues regarding the consumption of meat have arisen. These ethical objections are commonly divided into two categories: opposition to the act of killing in general, and opposition to certain agricultural practices surrounding the production of meat. Reasons for objecting to the practice of killing animals for consumption may range from animal rights, to environmental ethics, to religious reasons. Some people, while not vegetarians, refuse to eat the flesh of certain animals such as cats, dogs, horses, or rabbits due …show more content…
In order to feed modern society’s enormous appetite for meat, animals in factory farms endure unimaginable suffering in conditions of extreme filth, crowding and confinement. The cruelty is appalling, but no less so than the environmental effects of factory farming. Meat animals are fed anywhere from five to fifteen pounds of vegetable protein for each pound of meat they produce: an ostensibly unjust practice in a world where so many go hungry. Whereas one-sixth an acre of land can feed a vegetarian for a year, over three acres are required to provide the grain needed to raise a year’s worth of meat for the average meat-eater. The toll on water resources is no better: the meat industry accounts for half of US water consumption: 2500 gallons per pound of beef, compared to 25 gallons per pound of wheat. As for the output from the farms, 1.6 million tons of livestock manure currently pollutes our drinking water. Moreover, the residues of antibiotics and synthetic hormones that are fed to livestock to encourage speedy growth are increasingly showing up in municipal water supplies. Even without considering the ethical treatment of animals, the above facts alone make it clear that it is immoral to sponsor this system by eating
-Alice Walker
Ethics of Vegetarianism
In many societies, ethical issues regarding the consumption of meat have arisen. These ethical objections are commonly divided into two categories: opposition to the act of killing in general, and opposition to certain agricultural practices surrounding the production of meat. Reasons for objecting to the practice of killing animals for consumption may range from animal rights, to environmental ethics, to religious reasons. Some people, while not vegetarians, refuse to eat the flesh of certain animals such as cats, dogs, horses, or rabbits due …show more content…
In order to feed modern society’s enormous appetite for meat, animals in factory farms endure unimaginable suffering in conditions of extreme filth, crowding and confinement. The cruelty is appalling, but no less so than the environmental effects of factory farming. Meat animals are fed anywhere from five to fifteen pounds of vegetable protein for each pound of meat they produce: an ostensibly unjust practice in a world where so many go hungry. Whereas one-sixth an acre of land can feed a vegetarian for a year, over three acres are required to provide the grain needed to raise a year’s worth of meat for the average meat-eater. The toll on water resources is no better: the meat industry accounts for half of US water consumption: 2500 gallons per pound of beef, compared to 25 gallons per pound of wheat. As for the output from the farms, 1.6 million tons of livestock manure currently pollutes our drinking water. Moreover, the residues of antibiotics and synthetic hormones that are fed to livestock to encourage speedy growth are increasingly showing up in municipal water supplies. Even without considering the ethical treatment of animals, the above facts alone make it clear that it is immoral to sponsor this system by eating