I think you're right about there being no good reason to support the meat industry. It's just what people do because it doesn't require going against the grain and taking on the personal burden of such a big issue.
It's definitely something I will consider more seriously when I'm older, living on my own and have sorted out other things in my life.
I like the idea of hunting. Giving an animal (what can be called) a natural life cycle death and hunting ethically where animals are in overpopulation, possibly damaging to the environment makes sense to me. Many animals hunt and I'm sure some previous generations of humans were really reliant on that too.
What do you all think about the argument that the individual cannot make any real change with such a big issue? This is the argument I would make normally against going vegan, but lately I feel a need to be responsible for things I care about even if it doesn't make a huge difference.
I also don't want to be overwhelmed with the amount of things I do that support activities I don't agree with. Shopping at walmart, eating mcdonalds, not picking up trash etc. This girl I know literally takes it upon herself to pick up trash in the city on the way home from work. I can't dedicate my whole life to avoiding contributing to big problems..
And where would I draw the line? I don't think killing rats is morally wrong. I'm not sure how I feel about killing a rabbit.
When I became veggie I thought of it like - 'right if I wanna eat meat, I better go and get that meat myself' because as you say, hunting can be pretty ethical. I have an uncle who goes to scotland and hunts wild deer (overpopulation issues exist) then prepares the meat etc. But then I thought, that feeling of pulling a trigger and ending the life of a beautiful animal so i can taste meat... is that worth it... to me? Would I do it? I decided no, i rather wouldn't ever shoot an animal like that for food. Thus i reasoned something in my head that I was a pussy for only eating meat that other people kill for me and realised that I'm probably too detached from nature to kill a cow or something myself and therefore had no business eating meat.
With regards to 'only one person won't make a difference' it the same as like, not reusing shopping bags instead of getting disposable plastic bags or not turning off the light swtich cos..MEH. Change has to start somewhere though... I dunno...soon enough things start gathering momentum. More and more people were reusing plastic bags, awareness of the issues increased. then the government were like hey we should probably do something too. then they introduced a 5 pence charge for plastic bags and the number of plastic bags used dropped DRAMATICALLY...
7 main retailers issued around 83% fewer bags (over 6 billion bags fewer) in 2016 to 2017 compared to the calendar year 2014
so you keep pushing an agenda and sooner or enough it becomes mainstream and then eventually the people with the power to actually make a big difference do something but that would never happen if nobody cared at the start. I think something similar will happen in the meat/dairy industry. For example battery farming hens was made illegal... now i think most people would rather have free range eggs than 'caged' or even barn raised hens.
also yeah, its rewarding to do stuff that you know is just 'right'. there is something in it for you... now when i'm lazy and dont recycle something for my own convenience I feel some kind of guilt. same when i drink milk. GAH.
also its worth saying remembering that if everybody halved their meat intake, it would be better for both animals + the environment than 10% of people going vegan and everyone else staying the same so yeah - even just actively trying to reduce your meat/dairy intake helps.
Show Posts
