Ok, ok, I just made that up. But from the looks that I get from people when I say I am thinking about going vegetarian, you'd think that this scenario couldn't be too far from the truth. I was talking to my friend Kellen on the matter just the other day, and he basically asked me if I had gone off the deep end.
This is a testament to just how dependent our society is on animal products. We love our steaks, hamburgers, and thanksgiving turkeys. And it's no wonder, they are delicious! However, when we begin to focus more on what tastes good than whether the practices we use to get this food are ethical, then we begin to engage in what Matthew Halteman calls "Unrestrained Omnivorism" (385).
According to Halteman, unrestrained omnivorism results in a slew of bad things, including "poor stewardship of resources, environmental degradation, the marginalization of the poor, and the decline of health" (393). For example, raising cattle takes up a lot more land and water than raising the same amount of calories that come from some sort of plant. If we used the land to grow plant-based foods, we would have more for people that cannot afford to buy meat. Cattle also belch methane that harms the atmosphere, plus red meat is not as healthy as vegetables in large quantities.
The problem is, we are so far removed from the source of our food that we don't realize the negative impact of our diets. All we see is a slice of meat that doesn't look anything like a cow with its big brown eyes and long eyelashes.
This ignorance of where our meat comes from has allowed the producers to get away with a lot. Let's take the pork industry, for example. Peter Singer and Jim Mason tell a heart-wrenching tale about how mother pigs are exploited on many farms in their book The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter. When the sows farrow, they are put in crates that force them to lay on their side, so that the piglets can feed (49). The crates are too small for the sows to roll over, for fear that they will roll on top of the piglets and suffocate them. Then the piglets are taken away at a very early age, which leaves the mothers anxious and depressed.
Did you notice the words "farrow" and "feed" in there? There is a theory that humans have used words like these instead of "give birth" and "eat" to make our livestock seem less like us (46). That way we don't have to worry about the feelings of our food, and can exploit them in whatever way we see fit.
This revelation horrified me. It seems so plausible that we humans could use our language to trick ourselves into allowing such violations of animal rights. And it's interesting because I think most people would say that their dog or cat eats and gives birth. We don't have to use the dehumanizing language against them because they are part of the family. So why do we do it to another animal that is just as smart as a dog?
So all of these things lead me to believe that I should become a vegetarian. But I was also concerned about getting enough protein; as an athlete, could a vegetarian's diet affect my performance?
It turns out, according to a study by Angela Venderley and Wayne Campbell that as long as I eat frequent snacks or meals, along with plenty of dairy, beans and nuts, that I will get plenty of calories and protein (295). In fact, they find that most athletes don't need more protein than the average non-athlete (297).
Even if this was not the case, I think that I would still try to become a vegetarian. I don't think that after reading about all of the problems with this "unrestrained omnivorism" that most Americans participate in that I could put my athletic career before the suffering of animals and the environment in good conscious. That is why for the first month of Spring Term I have decided to go on a meat free diet. I think it is the ethical thing to do, and I would encourage all people, if not to become a vegetarian, to at least look at their diets and see if they reflect the values and morals that they believe in.
Bibliography
Halteman, Matthew C. “Knowing the Standard American Diet by
Its Fruits: Is Unrestrained
Omnivorism Spiritually Benificial?”
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and
Theology
67.4 (2013): 383-95. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Jan.
2015.
Singer, Peter, and Jim Mason. The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter. Holtzbrinck
Publishers, 2006. Print.
Venderley, Angela M., and Wayne W. Campbell. “Vegetarian Diets:
Nutritional Considerations
for Athletes.” Sports Medicine 36.4 (2006): 293-305. Web. 21 Jan. 2015.
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