Recently, Ariel Kaminer in her New York Times column "The Ethicist" announced a contest calling on readers to state -- in 600 words or less -- why it is ethical to eat meat. Thousands of entries were submitted, and the works of six finalists were posted online last week. Together with my wife, Ariella Reback, I wrote an essay that was one of the thousands of entries. Sadly, we didn't make the cut to the final round. Nevertheless, I thought I would post our submission here.
We read the Ethicist's challenge to defend meat consumption as an ethical act as we began preparing in earnest for our observance of Passover. During dinner with our children (ages 10, 8 and 3), we asked them, all enthusiastic carnivores, why they thought it was OK to eat meat. Their varying responses inspired us to frame this discussion in terms of the Passover Haggadah's description of the Four Children. Each child comes to the table with a different perspective, and the parents as teachers and role models must educate them about Passover's message of human dignity according to their ability and demeanor. So here's an imagined dialogue between parents and children on the ethics of eating meat:
We know of four children who interact with the world in different ways:
One who is wise; one who is contrary; one who is simple; and one who does not know how to ask a question.
What does the wise child say? "What are ethical reasons to eat meat?" To this child, teach that human beings have co-evolved with animals and that animal protein derived from sustainable agriculture can nourish us physically and make us mindful and appreciative of the natural world around us.
What does the contrary child say? "Meat tastes good. Why shouldn't I eat it?" To this child, explain that meat tastes best when it is produced with love -- for the animal, for the people who process it and for the environment in which it is produced.
What does the simple child say? "Is it OK to eat meat?" To this child, teach that eating meat should be a special occasion, like the original observance of Passover when each family raised and harvested their own lamb. Meat is not inherently bad, but eating too much without sense or regard for where it came from causes us physical and spiritual damage.
As for the child who does not know how to ask, you should prompt the child by taking a family trip to a working farm that uses sustainable practices. See how food is produced when animals are not force-fed grain, when they are not over-medicated with hormones and antibiotics and when they fertilize the soil on the farm on which they are raised to create a healthy, natural inter-dependent cycle. Educate this child and siblings that their hot dogs don't magically appear vacuum sealed in plastic in the supermarket. They come from animals that share this planet with us. Use meat consumption in your family as a teaching opportunity to foster knowledge and appreciation for our world and all its inhabitants.
The authors are married and live in Boynton Beach, Fla. Rabbi Bernstein is the spiritual leader of Temple Torah of Boynton Beach and is a Fellow in Greenfaith, an inter-religious environmental advocacy organization. Ms. Reback is an attorney and "slow food" entrepreneur. Previously, she owned Green Pastures Poultry, a company based in Cleveland, Ohio, that marketed locally produced, pasture-raised chicken, turkey and duck to kosher and non-kosher clientele.
Follow Rabbi Edward Bernstein on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rabbiecb
Mimi Bekhechi: Meat Is the Biggest Waste of Water
The Huffington Post has been publishing some very iffy articles recently, and this is one of the iffyest.
And why show them a small, allegedly "sustainable" farm? That's NOT where their food is coming from. Again, less than 1%. This is just burying the truth which is that we exploit, mutilate, confine, torture and brutally slaughter 10 billion animals each year in this country for no other reason than that we like the way it tastes.
This irks me, too: "...explain that meat tastes best when it is produced with love -- for the animal". Produced with love? Does tearing a baby cow from it's mothers side to be locked in a veal crate sound like "love"? Does grinding up male chicks because they don't lay eggs sound like "love"? Does cutting of a cow's testicles without anesthesia sound like "love"? Beating a terrified cow with an electric prod up a ramp to stand in a pool of blood and have it's skull crushed by a captive bolt-gun sound like "love"? Because even these things are pretty much standard practice even for small non-industrialized farms.
If you don't grow your own food, whether you eat industrially produced or organic ag products, your impact on animals is enormous. They die slow, painful, miserable deaths (deaths that make the worst of slaughterhouses look humane) from machinery, poisons, traps. Think about the millions of squirrels that want to eat those organic apples, nuts, berries, etc, the bunnies that want those carrots, kale, lettuce. Farms kill these animals, they don't just ask them nicely to leave. There is no way around it, if you eat and you aren't growing it yourself with no poisons, traps, machinery, then you have blood all over you.
Might want to check out the articles my friend sabelmouse posted below, they are really eye opening if your mind is open, as well.
Also, a large portion of deforested land is used for pasture if not for grain to be fed to livestock.
The only way to make the least impact (while remaining practical) is to eliminate or at the very least minimize the amount of animal products in your diet. Nobody is expecting you do live out in the woods picking berries and digging up roots.
nice facade, using children to make it all sound innocent and harmless...seen a factory farm lately? And, kosher slaughterhouses are worse..all meat is violent because you're taking some thing that some one doesn't want to give, their life
At some point that kind of silly introspection just becomes a justification for "drawing your line in the sand" conveniently just in front of where you're now standing.
"An environmentalist is someone who built his house in the woods before you tried to."
i don't like the rabbi's article, but for a different reason than you...he doesn't go far enough, just questioning how animals are treated does them no good, they don't want our questions, and respect, and gratitude...they want the knives off their throats
First, the vegetarian diet is the most healthful for humans. Whole grains, veggies and fruits are the most nutritional foods for man. Why consume the bodies of others when our most healthful foods are not the bodies of species, very close to humans. When we consume the bodies of animals, we also consume the planetary toxins that are stored in animals' fat cells. Another dumb decision.
Indeed, reports exist, that claim the vegetarian diet is the "fountain of youth". Now, who wouldn't want that?
Thanks for playing.
sad for you, sad for your children, especially sad for thousands of animals you are all planing to kill :(
and leaving babies to starve after we kill their mothers.
http://theconversation.edu.au/ordering-the-vegetarian-meal-theres-more-animal-blood-on-your-hands-4659
http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/meat-eating-vs-vegetarian-or-vegan-diets