Do I have to be a Vegetarian in order to be an Environmentalist and Animal Activist ?

Question

I really would like to help out the world alot more and hopefully become a major part of the Enviornmental movement and being an Animal Activist....hence, im 18 .....Im willing to give up meat like beef and all pork (which I barely eat to begin with) but chicken for me to give up also seems a little difficult.I wanna eat only natural and organic foods and really incorporate a vegetarian and slightly vegan lifestyle but I just wanna know peoples opinions on this whether its ideas on how to stop eating chicken or if its ok for me to eat as long as its organic and free-range.Cause alot of people always say how if your an animal activist you have to be a vegetarian but I wanna know if I just eat chicken as long as its humanly raised is it ok oh, also what about fish and seafood is that ok to eat as a animal activist? I know how even the seas are being effected by over fishing but I would like others opinions.Thanks!

Answer 1

Organic and free range chickens are no better than regular chickens environment-wise.  Animal farming is bad for the environment.

There is no such thing as a humanely raised chicken.  At the hatchery where the chicks are hatched, they always kill the male chicks.  

The chickens are all slaughtered the same way.  www.meat.org

Answer 2

No, you don't have to.   You can if you want.  Many people become environmental activists for a couple of years and then become vegetarian gradually.  Others don't.  There are a lot of environmental and animal-rights related issues that have nothing to do with food.

Answer 3

Yes, otherwise you are just a hypocrite.

Answer 4

How you expect people to tek you seriously about saving the little animals when you eat dem?? Tek off your lether shoes and walk barefoot while you munch on your carrot stick . I got to go now me got a big steak waitin, i don't protest about dem killing de animals we all ave to eat>> BUt you should stick with your principles so mek your mind up you going to eat dem or not?

Answer 5

It's wonderful that you want to be involved in the environmental and animal rights movements!

One thing to consider is that for every 100 animals killed in the U.S., 99 of them are farmed animals. The vast majority of animal suffering is caused by the meat industry. It's possible to advocate for only certain animals, like animals killed for their fur. (Everything helps!) But if you're really dedicated to helping animals, the single best thing you can do is to stop eating them.

Unfortunately, chickens are (arguably) the most abused creatures on the planet. They're excluded from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, so most are still conscious when their throats are cut open. Many are literally scalded to death in the feather-removal tanks after missing the throat cutter. Also, chickens are smaller animals so many more of them have to be killed than larger animals like cows and pigs.

“Organic” simply means drug- and chemical-free. It has nothing to do with animal welfare, and organic animals can be subjected to all the same types of cruelty that occur in factory farms.

Similarly, "free range" just means that the birds have USDA-certified access to the outdoors. "Free-range" chickens end up at the same slaughterhouses as factory-farmed birds.

Problems with organic and "free range" animal products:

http://www.cok.net/lit/freerange.php

http://www.goveg.com/organic.asp

There are a lot of delicious faux chicken meats available these days, like Boca Chik'n Patties. It's possible to go vegetarian without giving up the taste of meat.

Chicken substitutes include:

Gardenburger Flame Grilled Chik’n

Gardenburger Buffalo Chik’n Wings

Nate’s Chicken Style Nuggets

Yves Veggie Cuisine—Veggie Chick’n Burgers

Tofurky Deli Slices

Yves Veggie Cuisine—Veggie Turkey Slices

Boca Chik’n Patties

Boca Chik’n Nuggets

Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik’n Strips

Vegetarians and animal activists don't eat fish. Fish do suffer when they're impaled, crushed, suffocated, or sliced open and gutted, all while they're fully conscious.

Going vegetarian, rather than looking for less inhumane animal products, is the most ethical decision to make.

I hope this helps!

Answer 6

It kind of defeats the purpose if you eat the animals your trying to save

Answer 7

In my opinion it really comes down to what you want to do. If you are doing your part by working to promote wellness for animals, then i'd say you are an animal rights activist. It sounds like something of importance to you, so i know you want to do it right, and i think that cutting out pork and beef is a good step, but i dont think you should feel obligated to become a strict vegetarian in order to be an a.r.a.

Im sure though, that you are well aware of how cruelly chickens are treated, so if you are going to eat them it is wise to make sure you know where they are coming from, and yes, free range is the best way to go. but i honestly i believe that with time, you may just find out that you dont want to eat chicken anymore. I find any animal flesh disgusting myself. If you want support on going all the way, shoot me an email. good luck.

Answer 8

IMO, eating humanely AND locally raised animals is better for the environment and for the animals.  I support a local farmer who follows Joel Salatin's grass farmer method of raising animals.  

It means paying more and eating way less meat than most Americans do, but it's worth it.  

I was a veg*n for a decade and wasn't healthy.  I'm still not sure how monocropping soy for meat substitutes is good for anyone or the planet...  Not to mention that soy is NOT healthy  in the levels most Americans consume it.  Fermented soy is extremely healthy.

Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma" has an incredibly interesting section on the animal activist movement and talks about the environmental and animal atrocities that take place in our current, messed up food culture.  

I love the WAPF site tour for vegetarians, too...

http://www.westonaprice.org/tour/vegtour...

The Myths of Vegetarianism by Stephen Byrnes, PhD, RNCP

also addresses and rebukes many of the veg*n talking points...

http://www.westonaprice.org/mythstruths/...

(now bring on the thumbs down...)

Answer 9

I don't think there are any hypocrates when it comes to being an Environmental and Animal Activist.  Just because you eat meat does not mean you are cruel or are not fit to be an animal activist.  Whatever you are doing to help is enough, and you should be free to make your own choices.  Good for you!

Answer 10

NO.  The best way to help small farmer, workers, and animal is by buying the products from farms that do the right thing.  The only way we can change the way farming is practiced is by supporting those who do it right, like buying chicken from a small organic chicken farmer.  If we can make good farming a fair business, more people would do it.  If everyone that cared went vegan, there would be no free range farms, only factory slaughter houses in the US, and vegetable farms in Chile.  This means buying more expensive, and therefore less meat, but a healthy meat.  I eat meat 1-2 times a week, fish once, and a lot of beans, soup, vegetables, eggs, pasta (ect).  

Check out Slow Food International, and some of Micheal Pollan's books for more on this.  I have a long (but good) slow food lecture given at UC Berkley linked below.

If you must be vegan, Indian food is the only way to go.  Everything else (ie vegan cream cheese, veggie burgers) is an abomination of food, playing right into the hands of the same big business that are destroying the planet.

Answer 11

its really good that you are willing to go out of your way to change your diet and to become an animal activist!

im slightly a new vegitarian, but i know enough from my boyfriend who has been one for years. he continued to eat chicken for quite a long time, but really its a choice. shell fish is ok for vegitarians im told, but not really fish, fish. i eat shellfish. but if you want to be vegan,  then that means you may not eat ANYTHING that had a face. you also cant drink milk, or eat cheese or anything that came from an animal. strickly fruits and veggies. vegan is a big step, so start out small. also i dont recommend jello, because it contains horses hooves, belive it or not! but just make sure to do this for good reasons, and be healthy.

ps, your welcome!