Confessions of a Lazy Carnivore

I appreciated Sarah Beth Jone's piece today entitled "Tabletop activism: the case for conscientiously raised meat." You should check it out.

Sarah Beth is not making an argument for vegetarianism. Rather, she addresses the primary health and ethical concerns about the way we raise, treat, and feed animals. In doing so she offers advice on how to be a responsible and morally conscientious omnivore. I completely agree with her. But I confess that it is so hard to DO everything that I think is right and best.

I wish I could afford a Prius: I can't. I wish I could afford solar panels on my house: I can't. As far as making the best decisions as a consumer, well, I can barely stay on top of things in my life as they are. I am one of those guys who is terrified of grocery shopping, and to avoid getting lost in the dark back alleys of the grocery store I grab what's close and run.

But I want to be the ethically responsible omnivore that Sarah Beth writes about. I do believe that the manner in which the meat industry for the most part raises cows and pigs and chickens is unconscionable. Even a cow deserves a life consistent with his "cowness." And (of course, blah blah) I believe that we humans have a special responsibility toward the well being of our fellow creatures.

The manner in which cows are fed and medicated is also a concern. The corn that is fed to cows results in nice marbled juicy meat, that is, fatty meat. Add this to all the antiobiotics and hormones cows are forced to eat and what is left is meat that is NOT nearly as good for us as meat could be.

I have always been burdened by one other matter. It takes an unbelievable amount of corn to feed cows so we can have marbled meat. Cows have bacteria in their systems which allow them to digest cellulose; they are made to eat grasses which we cannot eat and digest. So we feed them corn, which could be used to feed people, and keep them from eating grass, which people cannot eat. Something does not seem square about that.

I want to be what Sarah Beth writes about, a conscientious omnivore. If only I can find time in the schedule to get out to the farmers market to buy that meat which is better for me which allows for a better life for the cow.

Joel