Goche21 wrote:
Animals eat other animals, it's the way the world works. Let all the cows and chickens go and they'll die in the wild same as if they were killed by us. At least with humans around they have a chance of a comfortable life and quick death.
A long time ago, that was true, back when people only ate meat about once a week unless they were extremely wealthy. Industrialization led to the advent of factory farming, which meant meat all day for everyone, because the animals are treated with extreme cruelty throughout their entire lives. Mass production of meat requires keeping packed together in tiny enclosures where they can't even turn around, and worse.
I do not think it is wrong to eat other living things for food, no matter what kingdom they belong to. Yes, that is the way the world works. But I disagree with modern meat production techniques. This is done so that we can eat far more meat than is healthy for us. The human body is designed to eat meat once every three days at most. We waste a lot of natural resources by artificially placing ourselves at the top of the food chain in disproportionately large population size. This planet cannot handle having top predators out-number animals lower on the food chain. There just aren't enough resources for it to work that way.
I stopped eating meat (yes, that includes seafood and chicken) fifteen years ago for those reasons. I have been a lot healthier since. I was vegan for a few months and had tons of energy, but I couldn't afford it long-term. Since vegan foods aren't in high demand, they're too expensive for me.