Outside of being a Jainist monk, there’s no escaping that your life on this planet doesn’t cost other animals’ lives. If you were to argue that all lives are equally important (I wouldn’t, but lots of vegans seem to), then you can reasonably make the argument that the calories you get from killing a single free range bison or moose costs fewer total lives than getting the equivalent calories from soy-based substitutes.
Not everyone is comfortable with things being that direct, and that’s ok. It’s a better moral choice for me, and I don’t believe a world where the option was foreclosed, or where everyone was eating meat substitutes would necessarily be a better one.
Outside of being a Jainist monk, there’s no escaping that your life on this planet doesn’t cost other animals’ lives. If you were to argue that all lives are equally important (I wouldn’t, but lots of vegans seem to), then you can reasonably make the argument that the calories you get from killing a single free range bison or moose costs fewer total lives than getting the equivalent calories from soy-based substitutes.
Not everyone is comfortable with things being that direct, and that’s ok. It’s a better moral choice for me, and I don’t believe a world where the option was foreclosed, or where everyone was eating meat substitutes would necessarily be a better one.