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Essay on Is It Ethical to Eat Meat?

Updated August 13, 2022
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Essay on Is It Ethical to Eat Meat? essay

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Do you think it’s ethical to eat meat? After researching this topic, I don’t think it’s ethical to eat any type of meat. Factory farming is very inhumane and not environmentally friendly. Meat is a major part of American diets, although it has many nutrients it has been found to be bad for our health. Meat is a source of protein, but protein can also be found in other foods and sources of nutrition. Often times people don’t think about where the meat they are eating actually comes from. I used to think that the animals lived on a nice farm with plenty of grass to eat. The truth is this isn’t the reality at all. The reality is, animals raised for meat live in filth, are crammed into small cages, and are abused by workers. Many don’t make it to the slaughterhouse alive.

Once they arrive they have no idea that a painful death awaits them. We shouldn’t have the right to raise animals for food like this. The amount of suffering is unnecessary, they deserve better. Farming is a major cause of climate change, slowly destroying this planet. According to, (Pickles, 2017) ”Livestock farming has a vast environmental footprint. It contributes to land and water degradation, biodiversity loss, acid rain, coral reef degeneration and deforestation.” Because of this, there are more greenhouse gas emissions than many types of transportation put together. About 30% of the land on earth is covered by these inefficient farms. Meat can also affect health in a negative way. Animals are given antibiotics, which accounts for 80% of antibiotic use in the US. This can cause antibiotic resistance in humans.

A diet mainly consisting of meat is responsible for a number of diseases. Cancers, diabetes, heart diseases, and stroke can all be caused by eating too much meat. Only about 80-95g is needed daily, many people eat way too much at above 200g/day. It’s not just factory farm animals who suffer. In China, many dogs and cats are killed for food for restaurants and the Yulin dog festival, a so-called tradition. Many are stolen pets or come from dog farms run by criminals. I find this very appalling and think it should be stopped. I have heard quite a few opinions on this topic. My opinion is we shouldn’t eat animals that we keep as pets or livestock. Even if it is a tradition to eat a certain animal. I would never want my pets to end up like the pets in this festival.

Not everyone in China approves of this meat trade. There also are Chinese who are against the cruelty of dog festivals. In the past eating dog meat wasn’t so common in China, it’s actually not the main protein source to most people there. Why it might be ethical to eat meat Eating meat has certain benefits. There are certain nutrients that are found in meat, such as protein and zinc. It is a big part of American diets today. I have raised various farm animals in 4-H from my grandmother’s farm. I have noticed there is a cycle of life at the farm each year. Ewes and rams mate late summer and bring lambs in the spring. The lambs are weaned, then sent to slaughter at the local butcher in late summer and fall. Looking at the food chain, there are animals who eat plants called herbivores, omnivores that eat meat and plants, and carnivores who eat mainly meat.

Humans are able to eat and digest all food groups, so we must be omnivores. One thing people love about meat is the flavor, eating is one of the pleasures in life. Dogs and cats also love meat, my cats like to catch mice and attack birds. My dog always begs for meat, this is their nature. In recent times the number of dairy farms has fallen to around 50,000. Cows live on the same farm with around 1,000 total animals per farm. There used to be about 600,000 farms with around 100 cows per farm producing milk in the 60s. The trend today seems to be many animals are kept at large scale industrial farms and less small farms. When I think of meat the only good thing about it is the flavor. It should be ethical only if they are raised and slaughtered in a humane way. On small local farms, not factory farms. We need to make meat production more environmentally-friendly it so it won’t destroy the environment. If we change the way meat is made, we can limit the endless suffering of animals.

Future technologies seem promising, especially lab-grown meat. Hopefully, farming won’t be needed anymore with biotechnology that can produce milk, meat, and other animal products. According to, (Bailey, 2015)“In fact, the amount of land devoted to agriculture could shrink by 80 percent in the next few decades.” Muufri is a type of milk made in the lab, it can be lactose and pasteurization free. It can also be made into other dairy products or milk from other animals. Getting rid of large industrial farming and crop fields would allow nature to take over again. That’s 2.3 billion acres of land in the US. Replacing factory farming with animal products made in the lab and vegetarian products would be much healthier for the environment.

Buddhism was founded by the Buddha (Siddhartha). Siddhartha grew up in luxury and had a wife and a child. He only knew this life so wanted to leave to see if there was more to life than just pleasures. He saw what illness, old age, and death looked like on trips. After this he found out that life is full of suffering and he left everything behind for a spiritual quest. He became a beggar and eventually found it to produce more suffering and death. He stopped starving and began to meditate to find meaning and to finally get rid of suffering. He eliminated things that caused suffering and got rid of them, these things were, “sensual desire, desire for continued existence, self-centered craving, false views, and primeval ignorance”. (Zeuschner, p.134).

With this, he started to understand how nature really works. Nature is interdependent and interconnected, everything changes, it depends on prior causes. “The casual understanding of the world allowed him to recognize suffering is caused, and then eliminate the causes of suffering within himself.” (Zeuschner p.134). With this, he finally achieved Enlightenment and Nirvana. Enlightenment being end of dukkha and Nirvana is getting rid of self-centeredness, anger, and ignorance. In early Buddhist ethics “The Five Precepts” are a guide for morality. The first Precept says “Refrain from killing or harming any living creatures.” (Zeuschner 2014). This would be against killing any living that is alive, including animals raised for food.

All living things have souls, killing animals for food would increase their suffering and the human’s suffering. This would make it more difficult to end dukkha and reach Nirvana. If there was a major natural disaster and all the crops get destroyed, then what would you eat? Say any humans or farm animals survive should you kill and eat them or let them live? In Buddhism it would be self-centered and immoral to kill the living. The best action would eliminate suffering, so let then live. Humans have been consuming meat and dairy products for many years. Evolution has made it so we can digest these foods.

Humans should cut down on the amount of animal products they eat everyday for their health. People also should go vegan or vegetarian lifestyles to decrease animal suffering. Meat and animal product alternatives made in the lab can possibly replace factory farms that waste the planet’s resources and contribute to pollution and climate change. If we eliminate the need for factory farms we can avoid further destruction of the environment and reduce animal suffering.

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