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Collective animal cruelty and abuse of animals are part of our industrial food production system. Take beef, Americans ate about 15 kg per person a year before WWI, and near 40 kg per year by the end of the Vietnam War. Today we eat around 25 kg a year. Something obviously went very wrong in the 20th century that allowed such a system to emerge.
Hmm, this can’t be just a US problem. So how does Canada or EU countries deal with food safety?
I’m no vegetarian, but I’ve cut way back on meat consumption in part because it is the absolute least efficient way to convert solar energy on a large scale into food and is becoming increasingly unsustainable. And at $5/lb just for hamburger, it’s not really all that hard for me to give up red meat…
I too have cut down on meat, or maybe the portion size of meat I eat a week.
I agree with the animal cruelty part but plants can be carriers of nasty bacteria themselves. We hear of recalls relatively frequently for contamination. Also it is interesting to note that although most people see plants as life without awareness that isn’t exactly true. The awareness in plants isn’t like ours but it’s there nonetheless… Some species of trees become slowly aware of disease in nearby trees and create toxins to ward off the disease.
Something to consider.
Edit to add
Tucson’s mild winters allows us to grow stuff. Last summer I started an heirloom tomato in a 5 gallon pot so I could move it inside if it got really cold. It gives a tiny but intensely flavored fruit. It’s producing itty bitty tomatoes like crazy now. And for every tiny tomato I snack on I thank the plant for providing it. And I plant some seed: One has become many seedlings.
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