Hobson's choice

[DWFII]

I think that the whole issue of animal cruelty is a bit overblown, anyway. It just doesn't make economic sense. If you treat an animal cruelly...nothing that you harvest from that animal will be optimal.

I'm not saying that mink, chickens, etc., live lives of unbridled hedonistic pleasure but I think, from what I've seen, most animals that are raised for human consumption are treated reasonably...they are not subject to parasites, predators, or pestilence. They are fed and watered regularly. This is a life that is free of stress. Would that we all had it so good.

And again, I think it bears repeating and consideration...these are individual animal that are raised for harvest--they are, in the general scheme of things and given available resources, surplus population. To kill and utilize them may offend the tender sensibilities of some but that is the way the world is. God, chance, evolution made it/us that way. Substituting petro-chemicals threatens whole ecologies and by association, all the free roaming members of multiple species.

But whether you want to flog me for that position now or not it still misses the point...make your choice to live as you will, adhering closely to whatever philosophy you believe in. Pray to whatever gods you wish. But having made the choice...and having made it with intense consideration and a desire to live with integrity...don't make up excuses, or rationales to worship at other shrines.

It seems to me that there is a disturbing cognitive dissonance in smörgåsbording these issues. But then we are living in strange times...See: Jacoby, The American Age of Unreason

[thanmuwa]

I think that the whole issue of animal cruelty is a bit overblown, anyway. It just doesn't make economic sense. If you treat an animal cruelly...nothing that you harvest from that animal will be optimal.

That is not quite true. If you are raising an animal for the luxury end of the market, with premium prices, the animal gets treated well. If on the other hand, you are raising animals for supermarkets or fast food chains, they are not so lucky. It is a question of economics as you say, but it is most often not in search of an optimal harvest but maximum profit which means the lowest amount of space, comfort, food and meat quality that you can get away with. I bet Walmart sells a lot more really cheap tasteless chickens than Kobe beef, Asda over here certainly does!

As you say though it is Hobson's choice.... a teaser set to me once (in an environmental chemistry degree course) was which is better for the environment, recycled paper or fresh paper?

It seems obvious, but when you actually look at it, recycled paper uses LOTS more bleach to make it look white than fresh pulp. Bleach is the really nasty ingredient in paper manufacturing, causing lots of pollution. Cradle to grave, including all CO2 emissions etc. using brand new paper from a sustainable forest and burning it when you have finished has a lower impact on the environment than using (whitened) recycled paper and recycling or binning it when you are finished.
Using metal cutlery comes out only marginally better than disposable recyclable plastic cutlery, because recycling plastic is lower energy than washing up in hot water.....