[nm420]

I'm not a vegetarian, though I'm in the process of becoming a pseudo-vegetarian. I like meat, and would never give it up. However, I am troubled by the meat industry and the horrible atrocities inflicted by it. Animal factories literally devastate their surrounding environments and the health of nearby communities, they are destructive to the health of the greater human societies consuming their product. But then most any mega-industry is guilty of similar misdeeds. My main opposition to the meat industry is its horrible treatment of sentient beings. There are much more humane ways to bring meat to the marketplace, but the profits wouldn't be as great and we all know that profit is king of this world.

I had a friend who was mostly a vegetarian, though he would eat meat if it were something hunted or fished by actual people going out into the actual wilderness. That's about where I'd like to be, even including eating meat produced from (preferably local) farmers who I know don't use practices I would consider disgusting. Of course, it's one thing to say that, but when practically everywhere you go there is an abundancy of meat, it takes a bit more than talk to overcome the temptation.