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Is There an Ethical Way to Eat Meat?

Have you ever thought about how the meat you eat was once an

animal with its own life kind of like you? Well there’s a good chance that it

wasn’t treated humanely or sourced in a sustainable and ethical way. The

most ethical way to consume meat is to locally source it through small

farms because it is environmentally sustainable, there are health

advantages and it’s overall more sustainable for the animals. One of the

biggest concerns regarding meat consumption is how environmentally

sustainable it is for the Earth as a whole.

Some of you may have no idea what a carbon emission is and what

carbon levels are. Well a carbon emission happens when anything such as

a person or an object releases carbon into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide

levels are used to tell how much carbon is seen within the atmosphere in

relation to all of the other different molecules that make up the atmosphere

as a whole. When we look at vegetarian and vegan diets, they have less

carbon dioxide emissions than any other diet. Vegetarian and vegan diets

actually produce a ton and a half less carbon dioxide than an average meat

eater diet. Meats and meat products produce overall more pollution and

require more resources than any plant-based product or diet (Schuna). As

breathe out we produce it as well. Well did you know that our Carbon Level

in the Earth’s atmosphere has risen more than 20% in the last 40 years

while the Earth’s average temperature has risen a whole degree in the last

40 years and almost 2 degrees in the last century (GlobalChange.gov).

Now you may be thinking wow 2 degrees whatever that's like nothing but

did you know that in a recent study done by Wageningen University they

predicted that if we continue at the current rate of carbon emissions, the

Earth’s temperature would rise about 5.4 degrees by 2070. This would

make most of Earth inhabitable for humans and animals in less than 50

years. This will make it harder for us to all enjoy our retirement or even

being able to watch our grandchildren grow up. These changes are directly

correlated with the amount of Carbon in the atmosphere. Nearly 15% of

Carbon emotions are produced by the production of meat because of large

factory farms that manufacture the meat products you see in stores or your

own homes everyday (Nadal). Looking at your diet and how sustainable it

is, is one of the easiest and most simple changes we can all make to

reduce our carbon emissions and help create a more sustainable

environment. While vegan and vegetarian diets are the most drastic when it

comes to fewer carbon emissions, even reducing your meat consumption

diet produces by almost 28%. Not only does reducing meat consumption

help create a more sustainable environment it also has many health

advantages as well.

There are many health advantages to reducing red meat and meat

consumption in general. In an observational study done by the American

Dietetic Association, “men and women who averaged 2.3 ounces of red

meat per every 1000 calories consumed had a 38% higher risk of

cardiovascular disease and a (click) 21% higher rate of cancer mortality as

well”.(click) This is because meat is loaded with sodium and saturated fat

which results in poor heart health. Now if we consider lean meats such as

chicken and fish they can be better sources of protein because of the

lessened saturated fats and sodium. A lot of avid meat eaters argue the

fact that if you don’t eat meat at (almost) every meal you will not get

enough protein to be healthy which is completely false. SCL Health states

that, “the average person should eat 46-56 grams of meat per day

depending on gender and weight. While the average American who follows

the ‘high protein’ meat eater diet actually consumes 112 grams of protein

per day which is two times the recommended amount”. This is exactly why

dieticians have linked the American Cardiovascular disease crisis with the
amount of meat Americans consume per day (Reinagel). So when

considering reducing meat consumption it’s actually a better diet than the

American meat eater diet because over consuming meat can be

detrimental to your health. Reducing your meat consumption can make you

a healthier person overall but when thinking about the meat that you still

would like to consume it is a good idea to make sure it is sustainably

sourced.

One of the best ways to source meat when considering sustainable

meat choices is to consider how the animal was raised. Most of the meat

you see in stores today are raised in factory farms which are built to be as

efficient as possible at producing food for humans to eat. While most

factory farms treat animals badly, one of the most horrifying examples of

factory farms exploiting animals would be seen within the pig industry. Pigs

are raised for 6 months in (click)small cages with only inches of extra space

to move around in. Within days of being born their teeth are pulled or

clipped to “help” the pigs. Because animals can become stressed like

humans, many start to bite off each other's tails and even feet and begin

resorting to cannibalism. Then they are moved to the second phase of their

life which is unfortunately where it ends at the slaughterhouse (Lingel).

(click) One truck driver who transports pigs from factory farms to a
slaughterhouse in the Midwest claimed that, “every year in the winter there

are several hogs froze to the side of the truck that the slaughterhouse

workers take knives to and cut the alive pigs flesh off and leave them on

the truck to bleed out. There are guidelines set by the U.s Department of

Agriculture to ensure that animals are drugged and then killed to make the

slaughtering as humane as possible but in one slaughterhouse there were

14 humane-slaughtering violations when inspected. Within the

slaughterhouse the pigs were prodded with a stun gun 4 times and were

still squealing horribly after their throats were slit. One worker even claimed

that when they hit the scalding tank where they are essentially boiled to

loosen the skin, many were still bleeding and fully conscious, which

happens everyday (peta). Now factory farms are very gruesome when we

look at how they raise animals but if you shouldn’t get meat from a factory

farm where should you get it? Well many local hobby or smaller farms

actually let their animals have a quality of life by letting them roam freely.

While they are still butchered and only raised for meat many of these

animals are way healthier than the sickly animals in factory farm

containment. Although factory farms are not a sustainable way to source

meat it is believed that sustainable meat consumption is hard to find and

more expensive.
 The prices of meat from an average local farm or butcher right now

are about $3 more expensive than buying a lb of meat such as chicken at

walmart. This is because you are paying for not just the meat you are

paying for the land it was raised on, the nutritious food it was fed and even

the longer time the animals are raised for. Factory farms are just made for

mass production. They don’t care if the animals have space and how

they’re even fed, many animals are just supplemented with hormones just

to fatten them up quickly so they can make a product quicker. This is

exactly why it's so much cheaper to buy them because it's truly not quality,

it's just quantity. Now we see these smaller farms on the other hand who

care about the animals wellbeing and put lots of time, effort and money into

the animals which results in a higher cost. Even at a higher initial cost you

are actually getting way more for your money because if you buy in bulk,

such as buying half or a full cow, it actually is about 15 cents cheaper a

pound depending on where you source it. This is because most of the time

these small farms aren’t all about the sales, it’s about how the animal was

raised and not just mass production. This is why most of the time they’ll just

try to make a small profit or not even realize how much they need to sell

the animal for to really get a large profit. It’s very important to note that

even though it may be a large initial cost to source local meat, in the end
you will not only be investing in a local business within your community you

will also begin to save money the more you buy from them.

In the end, there will always be differing opinions when talking about the

most ethical way to consume meat. Some people in the audience right now

may think that I’m attacking their right to eat meat but I’m not. In reality I am

only informing you on how the choices you make when considering your

diet actually affect your health, the environment and the wellbeing of

animals in these horrifying factory farms. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be

able to choose what you want to eat and what you love to eat, but what I do

want you to consider is how your choices can actually make an impact and

choosing to support these local farms can change the world and lives of

others for the better.

Works Cited

Connors, Deanna. “Will large parts of Earth be too hot for people in 50

years?” EarthSky,

https://earthsky.org/earth/global-warming-areas-of-earth-too-hot-for-p

eople#:~:text=The%20global%20temperature%20(land%20plus,war

m%20as%20much%20as%20land. Accessed 11 May 2021.

“Global Temperature Change: Decade Averages.” GlobalChange.gov,

change-de

cade-averages. Accessed 21 April 2021.

“How Much Protein Is Simply Too Much?” SCL Health,

https://www.sclhealth.org/blog/2019/07/how-much-protein-is-simply-to

o-much/#:~

:text=According%20to%20the%20Dietary%20Reference,should%20e

at%20about%2046%20grams. Accessed 25 April 2021.

Lingel, Grant. “Factory Farms Are Awful for Animals, People, and the

Environment.”

Sentient Media, https://sentientmedia.org/factory-farms/. Accessed 25

April 2021.

“Meat Choices Linked to Heart Disease and Cancer Deaths.” Winchester

Hospital,

https://www.winchesterhospital.org/health-library/article?id=496424.

Accessed 20 April 2021.

“Pig Transport and Slaughter.” PETA,

https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/pig

s/pig-transp
 ort-slaughter/#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20get%20the,electric%20p

rods%20int

o%20their%20rectums.&text=These%20sick%20and%20injured%20

pigs,the%20

trucks%20to%20their%20deaths. Accessed 24 April 2021.

Reinagel, Monica. “Do Americans Eat Too Much Protein?” QDT,

https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/healthy-eating/know-

your-nutrients/do-americans-eat-too-much-protein. Accessed 26 April

2021.

Schuna, Carly. “The Advantages of Not Eating Meat.” Live Strong,

https://www.livestrong.com/article/508119-the-advantages-of-not-eati

ng-m

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