HW 7D

Chapter 17: The Ethics of Eating Animals
Précis:
Philosophers like PETA and Singer argue that most people are ‘speciesist’ for grouping people before other animals, and they use excuses to justify their reasons for causing them suffering and eating them. Some people argued that animals unlike humans, do not feel suffering because of the lack of language-however it is clearly obvious when animals feel suffering (the CAFO’s) and when they are full of happiness (Salatin’s farm). There is a clear debate on the issue of considering if animals can feel suffering and if we are indeed ‘speciesist’ for our actions.

Gems:
“Indeed, it is doubtful you can build a genuinely sustainable agriculture without animals to cycle nutrients and support local food production. If our concern is for the health of nature-rather than, say, the internal consistency of our moral code or the condition of our souls-then eating animals may sometimes be the most ethical thing to do.” -Page 327
“Few will take up such an offer; many of us would prefer to delegate the job of looking to a government bureaucrat or a journalist, but the very option of looking-that transparency-is probably the best way to ensure that animals are killed in a manner we can abide. No doubt some of us will decide there is no killing of animals we can countenance, and they probably shouldn’t eat meat.” -Page 331

Thoughts:
1. I can understand where the animal people are saying, but I must disagree on the value of the individual animal, and not the species as a whole. Organizations tried to save the almost extinct species of the fox at Santa Cruz by rid of as many pigs and golden eagles-I can somewhat understand why the animal people would be upset, but I think their priorities are out of order...
2. I don’t think it really matters whether people are vegans or eat meat. I guess humans don’t have to eat meat, but as long as we have been fine being omnivorous eaters for centuries it’s okay to choose to eat meat. Carnivores kill other animals for food, so humans have the right to eat meat as well. This idea was disagreed somewhere within the chapter, but it hasn’t convinced me to change my ideas.
3. I like Salatin’s farm and the see-through window idea. I agree that CAFO’s and slaughterhouses should also let customers see the brutality and process of how the animals they’ll be eating would get butchered. What the customer decides is up to them, but its strange that we’re not allowed to see how the food we eat gets processed...

Chapter 18: Hunting-The Meat
Précis:
Some hunters like Angelo hunt simply to eat tasty meat. Even though hunting is now mostly seen as a ‘game,’ Ortega believes that the hunting is perhaps the only way to return to nature. Hunting’s purpose is not necessarily for killing, but at the same time people cannot be considered a hunter without the experience of taking responsibility over the meat they kill. It is a controversy whether the pride hunters feel after killing an animal successfully if we are cruel for being happy over ‘murder,’ or if we are simply happy for success.

Gems:
“Killing is one of those requirements. And although Ortega says one does not hunt in order to kill, he also says that one must kill in order to have hunted. Why? For authenticity’s sake. If for me this venture was about taking ultimate responsibility for the animals I eat, their deaths included, well, I hadn’t done that yet, had I?”-Page 349
“Dreams of innocence are just that; they usually depend on a denial of reality that can be its own form of hubris. Ortega suggests that there s an immorality in failing to look clearly at reality, or in believing that the sheer force of human will can somehow overcome it.”-Page 362

Thoughts:
1. Hunting may be a solution to the problems with industrial agriculture, however I don’t think this is realistic. Like most people, I don’t like the idea of seeing the dead bodies of animals I would eat when they’re hunted and killed. It’ll take a lot to convince most people in industrialized areas (like the city) to go back to the ways of hunting.
2. I don’t think hunting itself is bad at all, when comparing it to the treatments of the cows at the CAFO’s and the fattened overweight chickens. I think I would feel more safe eating meat from animals that has been hunted down from where they roam in natural locations, then from industrial factories where cows are cramped together in their feces.
3. Hunting is controversial because of the pride hunters feel after they killed an animal. But, I think as long as humans can eat meat, they’re allowed to. I don’t think hunters necessarily have joy in the process of killing, but rather to the fact that they have done their hunting successfully. It’s natural for humans to feel pride when they are successful.

Chapter 19: Gathering-The Fungi
Précis:
Most people are reassured about mushroom information mostly through other individuals who went through the gathering experience than reading a book about it. Even in today’s sciences, there are still many mysteries surrounding the functions of mushrooms and if we really need to eat them, but they are necessary in nature to break down organic matter and decomposition. ‘Hunting’ for mushrooms is a difficult thing to do with no clear way to do them, so it really depends on the ‘pop out effect.’

Gems:
“The field guides contain our culture’s accumulated wisdom on the subject of mushrooms. Curiously, though, the process of imparting and absorbing this life-and-death information works much better in person than it does on paper, whether through writing or even photography.”-Page 372
“Mushrooms behave unpredictably, and theories can go only as far in pushing back their mystery. ‘It’s a lot like gambling,’ Ben said. ‘You’re looking for the big score, the mother lode. The conditions might be perfect in every way, but you never know what you’re going to find around the next bend-it could be a sea of mushrooms or nothing at all.” -Page 384

Thoughts:
1. I didn’t know there were only theories about mushrooms, and not actual facts. I just thought I had little knowledge of the functions and nutrients of the mushroom, so I was surprised there’s not much that has been found out yet of the oddness of the species.
2. Maybe mushrooms don’t contain a nutrient that we necessarily need to take in, and their importance only lies in their role in their natural habitats. Mushrooms help life keep going, but they don’t need to be eaten.
3. I didn’t think gathering mushrooms was so difficult to do. I wonder why mushrooms tend to appear a lot after fires?

Chapter 20: The Perfect Meal

Précis:
It’s a huge challenge to create the ‘perfect meal’ because of the seasons each food is grown naturally and the effort to gather all these natural foods on our own. However, cooking is also a way to honor our food that’s been sacrificed to be eaten by us and to thank the producers. (I.e. the farmers and the hunters) A perfect meal involves the help of many people, and the knowledge of where all the food we eat comes from.

Gems:
“Putting a great dish on the table is our way of celebrating the wonders of form we humans can create from this matter-this quality of sacrificed life-just before the body takes its first destructive bite.” -Page 405
“The meal was more ritual than realistic because it dwelled on such things, reminding us how very much nature offers to the omnivore, the forests as much as the fields, the oceans as much as the meadows. If I had to give this dinner a name, it would have to be the Omnivore’s Thanksgiving.” -Page 410

Thoughts:
1. The book in general provided a lot of knowledge and helped me raise more awareness of how clueless most people are about where our food comes from. It’s a bit disappointing that the government only cares about profit more than the people’s health and awareness, but it’s also sad that most of us did not even question the food labels and how these products were being made.
2. I don’t think I’ll be able to eat fast-food in a long while, but I’ll probably eat it again once in a while. It’s unrealistic to eat completely healthy because the society we live in is so industrialized and manipulated by the higher powers. But, it’s always an option that I’m a bit interested in trying at least once.
3. Is there a way to avoid both extreme ways of feeding ourselves?