Am I to understand correctly that one of Nathaniel [Beuer]‘s justifications [“The Vegetarian Drama,” Letters, March 7] for animal slaughter is that it provides vegetable fertilizer, without which gardening is impossible? This is one of the dumber (albeit humorous) rationalizations I have seen. Vegetarian societies, monasteries, communes and religions have existed since time began (including, many believe, Eden) without the benefit of animal slaughter. It is also possible to keep animals without slaughtering them, as many people do with their pet chickens, geese, ducks, goats, pigs etc., and as I myself have done. Yes, chickens make great pets, as well as provide fertilizer and bug control.
Factory farming … [is] the source of 90 or so percent of today’s animal products. However, assuming that, as a society, we will not all be stampeding back to the family farm in the foreseeable future, let me say that [the family farm] is not without its downside and has been romanticized greatly, in my opinion. True, it is infinitely kinder and more natural; however, it is not too surprising that a great many of today’s vegetarians and activists grew up on such farms and experienced firsthand the trauma of bonding with their “pets,” only to see them killed. I once talked to such an activist who grew up on a pig farm and was so moved by the way the pigs would mourn each other, he could never bring himself to eat pork as an adult.
In conclusion, animal husbandry as we know it is extremely hard on the land. The majority of inland water in this country is polluted by massive and concentrated [amounts of] farm wastes. Also, much of the burning of forests (as recently seen in Al Gore’s disturbing documentary) is [done] to provide cattle-grazing land.
wow, you site Eden as an example of a vegetarian culture? can you supply some prrof of the existance of Eden for those of us not into literal readins of the King james bible?
I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat, for the wild animals I have provided grass and leafy plants. Genesis 1:29
This passage is pretty much the same no matter what version of the Bible you are referencing, King James or not. There are occasions of course when it would be extremely unwise to take the Bible literally, it being largely allegorical in style, other passages like this one are fairly clear. “Eden” refers to the state of man/woman before the “flood” (fairly well documented in other religeons and even science as evidenced by the similarity of our dna as opposed to other species. There was a time when most humans were wiped out due to a natural disaster of some kind biblically refered to as “the flood”. Before this time, man (according to the bible) lived in a more peaceful and harmonious relationship with animals and nature. Biblical accounts have Adam naming the animals and treating them as pets.
The Bible is not a particularly old book, there are many more ancient writings that are considered a fair depiction of their times, if you are looking at it from a purely historical standpoint, it also has value.