My other issue with the contest was that to say that an ethical argument is needed for eating meat assumes that we have a choice about eating animal products. While human bodies are all different, there are some realities that we do not escape, in this context, the reality is that there are nutrients that our bodies do not manufacture that we cannot get from plants. While some humans can survive for longer without animal products, eventually there are going to be problems.

I agree completely that we should minimize harm. This is why I advocate for pastured meat, which when properly done has the benefit of sequestering carbon, reducing flooding, and building healthy soils. This allows livestock to live and breed the way they evolved, and places us (humans) firmly within the cycle of Nature. Let me be clear, I am against factory farming, both for its cruelty to animals, and because it causes damage to human health.

How do you feel about other animals terminating animal’s lives prematurely? As a fact of nature, it is far from gentle or compassionate. Nothing wants to die. A species that lacks a strong survival drive would, by definition, fail to have a continued presence on the planet. It would get eaten. The “desire to live” is not in itself a good argument.

No, I would not defend cannibalism as being part of nature’s cycle. Generally, species that eat their own would run into the same problem as one that lacked a survival drive. But cannibalism is relatively rare. In his book Good to Eat Marvin Harris makes the argument that it occurs only in places where there is a shortage of animal foods.

As for plants, there is no scientific evidence that they are sentient (consciously aware or able to experience pain or suffering), though they are amazingly sensitive to their environments. But if plants were shown to be sentient, that would make the case for vegetarianism all the stronger, since a meat diet requires far more in the way of plant input than a vegetarian diet. (Animals have to eat plants or eat other animals that eat plants.)

Here’s an interesting piece on the “Number of Animals Killed to Produce One Million Calories in Eight Food Categories”: http://www.animalvisuals.org/projects/data/1mc/