Think Before You Eat

Think Before You Eat
A lot of people don’t give a second thought when they eat meat, but in Charles Eisenstein’s article “The Ethics of Eating Meat: A Radical View” he does just that. Most articles about the ethics of eating meat are written by devoted Vegetarians or Vegans. Eisenstein however admits to eating meat. In his article, Eisenstein talks about how people don’t really understand the consequences of eating meat, such as how it affects our environment, factory farming, productivity, and ending his article with how people are afraid to deal with death.
Eisenstein says that most of the vegetarians that he knows are not motivated by nutrition. He goes on to state what he believes there argument is, “A typical argument goes like this: In order to feed modern society's enormous appetite for meat, animals endure unimaginable suffering in conditions of extreme filth, crowding and confinement. Chickens are packed twenty to a cage, hogs are kept in concrete stalls so narrow they can never turn around.” (Eisenstein)
Eisenstein makes a lot of great points, the first of which is his argument about the environment. I had no idea how eating meat affected the environment. For example, the meat industry accounts for half of US water consumption. Our drinking water is also being polluted by the livestock manure. (Eisenstein) The facts show that we will continue to harm the environment as long as we eat meat.
Another major topic considered is the use of factory farming. This is the most inhumane way to raise animals because the animals spend their lives suffering in contained small cages with multiple other animals with them.
The current meat industry is out to make money, no matter how poor the quality of the meat is. As a country we are extremely selfish and greedy when it comes to meat and pretty much anything else. In one of Eisenstein’s more controversial views he says, “In an ideal world, meat would be just as plentiful perhaps, but it would be much more expensive…To the extent that our society translates high value into high price, meat should be expensive…If food, and meat in particular, were more expensive then perhaps we wouldn't waste so much.” (Eisenstein) The idea of making meat expensive would not sit well with the majority of Americans, especially considering our current economic state.
Another compelling argument that is made is that we are afraid of death and if we had to witness how meat landed on our dining room table, we would be less motivated to eat it. Eisenstein says, “The physical and social distance from slaughterhouse to dinner table insulates us from the fear and pain the animals feel as they are led to the slaughter, and turns a dead animal into just "a piece of meat." Such distance is a luxury our ancestors did not have: in ancient hunting and farming societies, killing was up close and personal, and it was impossible to ignore the fact that this was recently a living, breathing animal.” (Eisenstein) Indeed it would be hard for us to ignore the fact that we just watched an animal be murdered and now we have to eat it. Back then we were not s civilized, so it was easy to kill an animal. If you were to ask most people today to go kill their own meat, then the majority of them would refuse. Death is a major problem in this country. Eisenstein observes that even in the medical system “death is considered the ultimate negative outcome”.
This is article is not meant to make everyone become a vegetarian; it is simply meant to show and educate people about where their meat comes from and ways that they can be healthier. Eisenstein is not arguing for people to not eat meat, but he is saying that there are more humane and healthy ways to eat meat. He talks about how when animals are used to do work they reduce the fossil fuel consumption. So basically, keeping animals alive and out of those horrible conditions will produce better results for everyone. There are numerous spots in the article that speaks for eating meat, just in an organic non factory farmed way.














1. Eisenstein, Charles. "The Ethics of Eating Meat: A Radical View." Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts,. The Weston A. Price Foundation, 30 June 2002. Web. 29 Oct. 2009. .