Sustainable dairy, eggs and meat at EatRealFest

[Guest guest]

The sustainable dairy, egg and meat trend presents an interesting moment

to animal advocates, as it brings to the fore the limitations of the

anti-suffering, anti-cruelty rhetoric of animal welfare organizations.

Read any vegetarian starter kit or eat-less-meat booklet from one of

these groups and you'll find they are treatises against factory farming

(animals suffer in /factory farms/; /factory farms/ hurt the

environment). Many take great pains to state clearly that they're

talking specifically about factory farms, and not about other farms that

breed, raise and kill non-human animals.

 

Sustainable animal agriculture neatly sidesteps all animal welfare

concerns. This is why, for the public, it offers an attractive

alternative to factory farms. When I worked for an animal welfare

corporation handing out their anti-factory farming literature, people

all the time would say to me, " That's why I don't buy animal products

from factory farms! I buy local, organic, free range! " The arguments

against factory farming have no relevance to sustainable animal

agriculture (if anything, they support it!).

 

Peter Singer, around whose philosophy all the modern animal welfare

corporations are based, was clear from the start that his anti-suffering

philosophy only prohibits eating products from factory farmed animals.

In Animal " Liberation, " he writes " So we must ask ourselves, not: Is it

ever right to eat meat? But: Is it right to eat /this/ meat? " (Second

Edition, p 160). In a recent book, The Way We Eat, he tells readers

where to buy sustainably and humanely raised animal products. Two of

many examples:

 

" [A]void animal products that come from factory farms. ... Information

about farms that do not use factory methods is available ... at

www.eatwellguide.org [the web site's tagline: local, sustainable,

organic], and from ... www.eatwild.com [tagline: the #1 site for

grass-fed food and facts]. " (p. 287)

" If you eat marine animals, choose species that come from sustainable

fisheries ... www.thefishlist.org " (p. 288, in the " Sustainable Fish "

section)

 

It's an odd quirk of history that Singer's anti-suffering ideas, which

explicitly endorse consuming animal products, have been used as /the/

ethical argument for vegetarianism. It is this tension that is exposed

by sustainable animal agriculture.

 

As vegetarian advocates, I think sustainable animal agriculture offers

us a great opportunity to examine our message and our ideas. When

speaking with the public about vegetarianism, do their questions reveal

problems with the message we are presenting? If so, rather than ignoring

those problems, I suggest reconsidering the ideas underlying our

message. In my own case, it was speaking with a skeptical public that

led me to realize that my own ethical vegetarianism was grounded in the

vegan ideal of non-exploitation, and not in the anti-suffering arguments

promoted by animal welfare corporations. Of course, your reasons for

vegetarianism may be different from mine. Regardless of what those

reason are, by continually and honestly examining our personal reasons

for being vegetarianism, we strengthen our understanding of our beliefs

and become more articulate, confident and effective advocates.

 

Victor

 

--

The Vegan Ideal: http://veganideal.org/

Veganism as Anti-Oppression: http://loveallbeings.org/

[Guest guest]

Also excellent and very well informed.  I don't know if you are in academia, but you certainly have an excellent command of the relevant issues and express them compellingly.  Stephanie

On 8/27/09, Victor Tsou <victor wrote:

 

 

 

 

The sustainable dairy, egg and meat trend presents an interesting moment to animal advocates, as it brings to the fore the limitations of the anti-suffering, anti-cruelty rhetoric of animal welfare organizations.

Read any vegetarian starter kit or eat-less-meat booklet from one of these groups and you'll find they are treatises against factory farming (animals suffer in /factory farms/; /factory farms/ hurt the environment). Many take great pains to state clearly that they're

talking specifically about factory farms, and not about other farms that breed, raise and kill non-human animals.Sustainable animal agriculture neatly sidesteps all animal welfare concerns. This is why, for the public, it offers an attractive

alternative to factory farms. When I worked for an animal welfare corporation handing out their anti-factory farming literature, people all the time would say to me, " That's why I don't buy animal products

from factory farms! I buy local, organic, free range! " The arguments against factory farming have no relevance to sustainable animal agriculture (if anything, they support it!).Peter Singer, around whose philosophy all the modern animal welfare

corporations are based, was clear from the start that his anti-suffering philosophy only prohibits eating products from factory farmed animals. In Animal " Liberation, " he writes " So we must ask ourselves, not: Is it

ever right to eat meat? But: Is it right to eat /this/ meat? " (Second Edition, p 160). In a recent book, The Way We Eat, he tells readers where to buy sustainably and humanely raised animal products. Two of

many examples: " [A]void animal products that come from factory farms. ... Information about farms that do not use factory methods is available ... at www.eatwellguide.org [the web site's tagline: local, sustainable,

organic], and from ... www.eatwild.com [tagline: the #1 site for grass-fed food and facts]. " (p. 287)

" If you eat marine animals, choose species that come from sustainable fisheries ... www.thefishlist.org " (p. 288, in the " Sustainable Fish "

section)It's an odd quirk of history that Singer's anti-suffering ideas, which explicitly endorse consuming animal products, have been used as /the/ ethical argument for vegetarianism. It is this tension that is exposed

by sustainable animal agriculture.As vegetarian advocates, I think sustainable animal agriculture offers us a great opportunity to examine our message and our ideas. When speaking with the public about vegetarianism, do their questions reveal

problems with the message we are presenting? If so, rather than ignoring those problems, I suggest reconsidering the ideas underlying our message. In my own case, it was speaking with a skeptical public that led me to realize that my own ethical vegetarianism was grounded in the

vegan ideal of non-exploitation, and not in the anti-suffering arguments promoted by animal welfare corporations. Of course, your reasons for vegetarianism may be different from mine. Regardless of what those

reason are, by continually and honestly examining our personal reasons for being vegetarianism, we strengthen our understanding of our beliefs and become more articulate, confident and effective advocates.

Victor-- The Vegan Ideal: http://veganideal.org/Veganism as Anti-Oppression: http://loveallbeings.org/

 

-- " Our task must be to widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. "   Albert Einstein

" The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the ways its animals are treated. "    Mahatma Gandhi