Monday, April 4, 2011

vegetarian, wtf?

choosing lifestyles

being vegetarian(*) has one serious drawback: during meals, you nearly always need to explain and/or justify why anyone would ever choose such a lifestyle.

phuket vegetarian festival (credits phuketobserver.com)
with the years, i have chosen the following two strategies.

i.) the short answer
  • i can easily live without eating animals.
ii.) the long answer
  • in my opinion, the factory farming of animals is grotesque and perverse; these are terrible places for the animals and the human workers alike.
  • it is simply not possible to feed billions of people with meat (even if you employ factory farming). meat is a very inefficient source of calories and uses disproportionate amounts of resources.
  • the seas are in a terrible state (see more).
  • i am personally not prepared to kill and slaughter lambs, calves or other animals. contrary to common belief, even very "primitive" animals can display a surprising level of intelligence (see more).

disclaimer

i do not believe everyone should become vegetarian. the issue is more about how often people need to eat meat. and if it is really necessary to always buy the cheapest meat available. for me, it boils down to how one behaves as a consumer in general.

i do not believe a vegetarian lifestyle is necessarily healthier. you can eat very unhealthily, also as a vegetarian. however, i do not believe in the myth, that vegetarians are generally weakly and prone to deficiency symptoms. humans have successfully been vegetarian in various cultures for millennia.

i am not going to bother with giving sources. find out yourself, if you care...


(*) of the many flavours of vegetarianism, i am at the "ovo-lacto" level: no fish, no meat, no chicken.
Edit: trying to be vegan since June 2012.

8 comments:

jbg said...

ok, what the hell;-)

http://youtu.be/zFxy7vfeMQc

http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Animals-Jonathan-Safran-Foer/dp/0316069906

jbg said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Study_%28book%29

http://www.amazon.com/Green-New-Red-Insiders-Movement/dp/087286538X

http://www.christienmeindertsma.com/index.php?/books/pig-05049/

"Given all our new knowledge about the neural basis of consciousness experience, the burden of proof now shifts to the side of the meat-eaters--and perhaps even to the intellectual carnivores like me, philosopher parasites and other people indirectly profiting from an ethically dubious research practice." (231)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Ego-Tunnel-Science-Mind/dp/0465045677

Beweislast für Fleischessewww.sussex.ac.uk/Users/anils/Papers/NE6.pdf

jbg said...

Forks Over Knives

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1567233/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7ijukNzlUg

jbg said...

Neal Barnard: Chocolate, Cheese, Meat, and Sugar -- Physically Addictive

Chocolate, cheese, meat, and sugar release opiate-like substances.

And the relation to arthritis, migraine, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, Alzheimer's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VWi6dXCT7I&feature=related

jbg said...

Farm to Fridge - The Truth Behind Meat Production

http://youtu.be/THIODWTqx5E

Ironically, the video has been age-restricted on youtube.

Expand your circle of compassion...

jbg said...

"The Brain Functional Networks Associated to Human and Animal Suffering Differ among Omnivores, Vegetarians and Vegans"

Our study is the first to assess the neural correlates of empathy towards non conspecifics in people with different social norms, as reflected by their feeding habits.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0010847

jbg said...

"The Rise of the Power Vegans"

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_46/b4203103862097.htm

jbg said...

What do animals want?

http://edge.org/conversation/what-do-animals-want

Marian Stamp Dawkins on animal welfare and consciousness.

javascript:void(0)