5 ms·

I think your question is pretty theoretical, and the article explains why: the vast majority of animals are factory farmed. And, as far as I'm aware, it's impos

by latch 8y ago

I think your question is pretty theoretical, and the article explains why: the vast majority of animals are factory farmed. And, as far as I'm aware, it's impossible to satisfy current (and raising) demand any other way. I don't really know how to answer you. If all animals were free ranging and we only ate the ones that died of old age, we'd probably need so many more animals / land / energy to satisfy current demand that we'd all be dead for an absolute lack of trees. If you have some chickens in your backyard that you treat well (you may say that's subjective, but I say the bar is so low, let's not quibble here) and you take their eggs? I'm ok with that.

newnewpdro 8y ago
What if I raise chickens, and occasionally I cut the head off one and cook it for dinner?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- latch 8y ago
  I'm not sure I get your point. What does this have to do with 90 billion factory-farmed animals? (and I assume that doesn't include wild fishing).
  - newnewpdro 8y ago
    You made a general statement about consuming meat being cruel, and I'm just trying to clarify if you're referring to the way the meat is produced or simply by virtue of eating another animal it's always cruel. There are various ways to obtain meat for consumption, people hunt wild game, people raise livestock on their land, is this cruel according to you?
m000 8y ago
The demand for meat (and especially farmed meat) is pretty much artificial. Without massive marketing spending by the food* industry, the demand would be nowhere where it is now. If you regulate the marketing spending and marketing methods of the food industry, I believe there will be big dip in the demand for meat. This can be done on the grounds of public health concerns, just like it has been done for the tobacco industry. The problem is that food industry also sponsors politician's campaigns, so any move towards regulation is not going to happen unless there is immense pressure from the public. *This includes both the meat industry and the farming industry producing food for the animals.
wool_gather 8y ago
Not sure if you were seriously proposing this, but eating things that died of old age is not likely to be a good idea. One of the reasons that killing is part of creating food is that you know what state the animal's body is in: it's not sick, it hasn't started decomposing, and similar.

by latch 8y ago

newnewpdro 8y ago

What if I raise chickens, and occasionally I cut the head off one and cook it for dinner?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
latch 8y ago
I'm not sure I get your point. What does this have to do with 90 billion factory-farmed animals? (and I assume that doesn't include wild fishing).
- newnewpdro 8y ago
  You made a general statement about consuming meat being cruel, and I'm just trying to clarify if you're referring to the way the meat is produced or simply by virtue of eating another animal it's always cruel. There are various ways to obtain meat for consumption, people hunt wild game, people raise livestock on their land, is this cruel according to you?

m000 8y ago

The demand for meat (and especially farmed meat) is pretty much artificial. Without massive marketing spending by the food* industry, the demand would be nowhere where it is now. If you regulate the marketing spending and marketing methods of the food industry, I believe there will be big dip in the demand for meat. This can be done on the grounds of public health concerns, just like it has been done for the tobacco industry. The problem is that food industry also sponsors politician's campaigns, so any move towards regulation is not going to happen unless there is immense pressure from the public. *This includes both the meat industry and the farming industry producing food for the animals.

wool_gather 8y ago

Not sure if you were seriously proposing this, but eating things that died of old age is not likely to be a good idea. One of the reasons that killing is part of creating food is that you know what state the animal's body is in: it's not sick, it hasn't started decomposing, and similar.