Howfarshouldwego?Thecaseforaradicalbreakinour
eating habitsis clear;but shouldwe eatnothing but plant
foods? Where exactly do we draw the line?
Drawingpreciselinesisalwaysdifficult.Ishallmakesome
suggestions,butthereadermightwellfindwhatIsayhere
lessconvincingthanwhatIhavesaidbeforeaboutthemore
clear-cutcases.Youmustdecideforyourselfwhereyouare
goingtodrawtheline,andyourdecisionmaynotcoincide
exactlywithmine.Thisdoesnotmatterallthatmuch.Wecan
distinguish baldmen from men whoare not bald without
deciding every borderline case. It is agreement on the
fundamentals that is important.
Ihopethatanyonewhohasreadthisfarwillrecognizethe
moralnecessityofrefusingtobuyoreatthefleshorother
productsofanimalswhohavebeenrearedinmodernfactory
farmconditions.Thisistheclearestcaseofall,theabsolute
minimum that anyone with the capacity to look beyond
considerations of narrow self-interest should be able to
accept.
Letusseewhatthisminimuminvolves.Itmeansthat,unless
wecanbe sureoftheoriginof theparticularitem weare
buying, we must avoidchicken, turkey,rabbit, pork, veal,
beef,andeggs.At thepresenttime relativelylittlelamb is
intensivelyproduced;butsomeis,andmoremaybeinfuture.
Thelikelihoodofyourbeefcomingfromafeedlotorsome
otherformofconfinement—orfromgrazinglandcreatedby
clearingrainforest—willdependonthecountryinwhichyou
live.Itispossibletoobtainsuppliesofallthesemeatsthatdo
notcomefromfactoryfarms,butunlessyouliveinarural
areathistakesalotofeffort.Mostbutchershavenoideahow