In defense of meat | The Argument

In defense of meat The Argument

This site contains an argument by Kevin Slaten against the claim that a switch to vegetarian diets is necessary for us to save the planet from global warming, and also beneficial for our health. In regard to the problem of climate change, he argues, first of all, that the beef industry, rather than the entire meat indusrty, creates the most dangerous quantity of emisions. Methane capture and storage technologies apparently offer a solution to this problem. Also, Slaten discusses the prospect of in vitro meat, which is meat tissue grown by scientists in labs (eww). Slaten also discusses health issues, and says that certain meats, such as fish, contain nutirents that the human body needs and cannot get from anywhere else, and also that, beef notwithstanding, other meats "pose little risk to human health." I do not know very much about many of these issues, and will have to look into them further. The argument, however, does fail to mention any of the moral issues that we talked about in class, although one may use the fact of the important nutrient in fish to formulate a morality related argument. However, if we find a way to synthetically create this nutirent, do we have a moral obligation to obtain it in this way rather than by eating fish?