I was a vegetarian, sometimes vegan, all through my teenage years/early twenties. Then I slipped into this belief that while I still abhor factory/intensive farming and inhumane treatment of animals, that the actual killing of an animal, done without a great deal of suffering involved, was acceptable to me and therefore I began eating locally-raised/labeled free-range/higher welfare meat with abandon.
Now I'm not so sure even that sits well with me. Obviously I don't know 100% if the animals reared under those labels are actually treated decently, or even if they are, how do I know they weren't shipped off to some abbatoir to be slaughtered where they were killed inhumanely or mistreated in some other way?
I'm interested in the environmental issues with meat and fish and the theory that vegetarianism also contributes to animal suffering through large scale agriculture killing loads of small animals and their habitats and reliance on industrial chemicals. I can't quite wrap my head around what the planet would actually be like if we stopped eating animals or fish. Or their products.
And eggs. I buy free range eggs from small local farms here in the SW. I'm wondering if there's cruelty in that as well. Or local dairy. Argh! I can't stop thinking about this stuff, and am having such an ethical brain-melt about it. Googling just confuses me more. Would anyone kindly share their thoughts with me?
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Ethical dilemmas
I am a conflicted omnivore and think I need to go vegetarian. Would you talk to me about this?
14 replies
LiDLrichardsPistachioSack · 13/05/2014 12:43
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