On Mon, Mar 22, 1999 at 09:34:59AM +0200, Evelyn Kaldoja wrote:
> Human SHOULD eat meat because that's the way we have been created -- not
> eating meat might influence our health (esp. brainwork). We haven't been
> created to eat just grass and carrots like rabbits.
Whilst the topic of vegetarianism is relevant to ecofeminism, your
specific concerns aren't. However I think they need to be addressed.
Perhaps any further discussion from this message could be taken
up in private email...
Am I to infer that you think we (as a species) "should" do what we
have done throughout the bulk of our recent evolutionary history? I
will work on this definition for now. An alternative interpretation of
your message would be that you believe our species was created by some
entity (God) with some purpose in mind. However, since you claim to
know what we (and rabbits) were created to eat, this would also imply
that you are God, or at least, that God speaks to you. I will go with
the former, more likely interpretation for now.
My first comment is that for most of our recent evolutionary history,
humans have NOT eaten large quantities of meat. There is a lot of
evidence to suggest that we evolved eating a small (but, granted, nonzero)
amount of meat. People in developed and developing nations today
generally eat a much greater quantity of meat than the species has
historically.
My second comment is that your statement implies that the lifestyles
of humans is static over all history. A major body of scientific
evidence (in support of evolution) indicates that this is not the case.
I tried to approximate your assupmtion by presuming that you meant that
we should behave as we did "until recently", however in reality there
has been no real period of stasis we could define as our "natural
state". We have been evolving and devloping the use of tools for a
very, very long time. We use tools to consciously alter our environment
and hence our lifestyle. A natural outcome of this has been that we
have discovered a superior diet that can be achieved through the use of
modern techniques and nutritional knowledge. As it turns out, the most
superior diet in terms of quality of life by just about any rational
criteria you care to chose, excludes meat. Your message possibly seems
to indicate that physiological health is a prime concern. All of the
available scientific evidence indicates very strongly that a well
conceived vegan diet is probably the healthiest.
Did you know that the average vegetarian lives 7 years longer than
the average meat eater? Did you know that the average non-smoker lives
7 years longer than the average smoker?
Do you smoke?
Do you eat meat?
One more thing. You mention "brainwork". I'm not aware off the top of
my head of any studies relating to vegetarianism and IQ (if you believe
this supposedly objective measure of "intelligence"), although I think
some have been done. I can offer some anecdotal comments: 1) In terms
of the great philosophical mystics of the world, most are vegetarian 2)
I have encountered many more vegetarians since I entered the world of
professional science (I am still a student), ie professional brainwork
3) A friend of mine, a vegan nutritionist, is always at pains to point
out to (usually well-meaning) critics that her daughter, vegan since
conception (!), has skipped something like FIVE YEARS of schooling due
to her exceptional intelligence. Seriously!
love
Russell (not a health freak but it makes for a good argument in this case)
--
Russell Edwards (Postgraduate student, pulsar (BH) +61 3 9214 5622
group, Swinburne University) (AH) +61 3 9755 3242
Email: redwards at pulsar dot physics dot swin dot edu dot au
PGP Public Key at http://mania.physics.swin.edu.au/~redwards/pgp.html
