Hi Zucchinifries00! I’m so glad to have discovered that someone else also wrote about the Australian fires. I found your take on the issue very interesting and different because you brought into question society’s idea of what animals we choose to care about and which ones we choose to consume. Being vegan myself, I have to say that I definitely agree with your viewpoint. Why is it that we only chose to consume certain animals and not others? As you said, the ones that we view as pets and “cute” are the ones spared from such horrific deaths. Yes, some people will obviously disagree with our viewpoint and think that we are just “crazy vegans” forcing our views on others but the matter of the fact is that it is somewhat hypocritical in my eyes to be an “animal lover” but only to specific animals.
Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that depending on people’s economic status and/or their health status, being vegan simply just isn’t an option for them because veganism definitely is a privilege to be able to do and it is a shame that it isn’t as easily accessible to everyone. I myself grew up in a working class family and I’m anemic (iron deficient), so I definitely understand the struggles some people may face when it comes to deciding on whether to go vegan or not and being able to afford it. However, the issue of veganism being accessible to everyone is a whole other issue for another day. Now aside from that, if you do have the opportunity to just go meatless for just one day out of the week or cut out things like diary from your diet, it does so much for the environment then you may realize. Yes, being vegan does indeed save many innocent animals lives, but I also want to add on to your point of how going vegan or just reducing your meat consumption will also help the environment.
I don’t know how many of you know this but the meat industry is actually a large contributor to climate change. I mean just think about it, these factories are constantly in production to produce mass amounts of meat for the public. Where do you think all those gas emissions go to? It takes quite a bit of energy to produce these pounds and pounds of meat. Aside from red meats and poultry, fishing also is a large contributor to the pollution of our environment. Fishing, actually, is one of the main reasons why there is so much plastic in our oceans because fishing gear tends to just get dumped or lost in the waters and the only reason why there is a need for fishing is because of the mass consumption and need for fish; it’s simple supply and demand.
Now I can go on and on about how this affects our environment, but I hope my quick two explanations sheds a bit of light onto the situation and obviously google has many more articles you can read about on these issues. Zucchinifries00, you make a great point in how society decides which animals are for consumption and which animals are for loving and I’m glad I am able to add to this important conversation. Hopefully, this opens more people’s minds to the direness of this situation and how it’s not just about saving the animals, though that is important too, but it’s also about saving our planet as a whole.
Midnight Advice With Sage 