Question

Some environmentalists claim that the ways we raise and collect animals and fish for food are fundamentally unethical. They point to the suffering of animals within the factory farming industry, the pollution caused by untreated animal waste, the use of hormones and antibiotics, the decimation of fish populations, and the fact that current farming practices are ultimately unsustainable in terms of their environmental impact. Making the changes that these environmentalists claim are necessary, however, would likely be devastating to the agricultural and fishing industries, to the chemical and biochemical companies that support them, and to the way of life of millions of people. These changes might also result in increased food prices and in less food being available to the ever-increasing human population. How do you think we should balance the moral claims on this issue? Should the concerns of environmentalists and animal rights activists impinge on your desire to eat however you so choose? Does the protection of jobs and communities trump environmental concerns? Why or why not? Read and respond to two classmates' posts. Give source for your answer

Answer 1

It is true that some of the farming ways are unethical and leads to a lot of unanswered questions. However, making a complete change in the system might lead to an extreme hike in the price for the food intake and might also restrict people from consuming meat and fish. There must be a system which needs to balanced so that the farming and consumption of food in not very ethically challenging.

There can be a balance made by providing a clean and natural like environment for the animals to breed instead of suffocating them within a restricted place. For examples, the chicken breeding farms can be made in a more natural way by using large boundary based structures. This gives the chicken to breed and grow in a more natural surrounding and helps in their progress. Most of the chicken farms are very claustrophobic and are not cleaned properly which impacts the animals. Proper care should be taken to take care of the space. If everything is changed there would be devastating effects on the industries but a balance can be maintained by adopting more ethical growth of the organisms.

The moral concerns must not interfere with the consumption because if the animals or fish is not consumed, the food chain would not be maintained properly. One must eat but the killing of the animals must be in more ethical way by causing them least pain.

There are some environment concerns when it comes to such situations, Protecting the jobs of the industries and communities comes at the cost of harming the animals in unethical way. The environment can be taken care of by helping promote more hygienic conditions in and around the farms and use of good hormones that does not effect the animals.