{"id":3145,"date":"2017-08-22T22:41:17","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T04:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/?p=3145"},"modified":"2019-10-22T14:57:25","modified_gmt":"2019-10-22T20:57:25","slug":"why-i-changed-my-mind-about-vegetarianism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siever.ca\/kim\/2017\/08\/22\/why-i-changed-my-mind-about-vegetarianism\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I changed my mind about vegetarianism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well, sort of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roughly three years ago, I publicly announced that I had become vegetarian. I had become a pacifist, and not eating meat as a way to avoid killing animals seemed a logical extension of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I progressed in my understanding of anarchist and communist philosophy, I started to also critique the meat industry from an anti-capitalist perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I’ve changed my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I’ve had some spiritual experiences over the last few months that have ignited within me a stronger appreciation for nature. These experiences have caused me to deeply reflect on my place in nature and how we as individuals are connected to nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pacifism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, I’m no longer a pacifist. Well, not fully. I’m still firmly against imperialist war actions. But I also recognize that sometimes violence is necessary. Against an oppressive state, to defend my family, to defend myself, to stand up to oppressors on behalf of the oppressed, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pantheism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Recently, I took one of those online religion quizzes that tell you what religion you are based on your answers to some questions. My answers gave me pantheism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This made sense in a way. My spiritual beliefs have been heavily influenced by Mormonism, and its esoteric beginnings contain ideas and teachings that parallel aspects of pantheism. Ideas such as all things being created spiritually before being created temporally, all of us being embryonic gods, being stewards of the earth<\/a>, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the quiz is hardly empirical, it made me reflect on my spiritual beliefs, especially in light of the recent experiences I briefly mentioned above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My outlook on the natural world around me today is that we are spiritually connected to the animals, plants, weather, soil, heavenly bodies, and so on, and that we have a divine mandate to be their caretakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anarchism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While anarchism and communism didn\u2019t \u00a0significantly influence my decision to become vegetarian, they have helped my ideas on veganism and vegetarianism evolve over the last three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anarchists and communists are fervent supporters of securing natural resources as public resources, that they shouldn\u2019t be exploited or destroyed in the pursuit of private, profitable interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As such, what began as a desire to avoid killing animals, my vegetarianism slowly began to include things like wanting to reduce my carbon footprint. The meat industry has a huge impact on the Earth\u2019s ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where I stand today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While I consider myself functionally a vegetarian, I am no longer strictly a vegetarian. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, anarchist discourse I\u2019ve recently studied helped me to understand that my outlook on vegetarianism\/veganism as a solution to resource exploitation was misguided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veganism and vegetarianism are consumer activities. Maintaining a plant-based diet (particularly a healthy one that provides your body with all the nutrients it needs) isn\u2019t sustainable in most parts of the world. It certainly isn\u2019t here in Canada, where we have a relatively short growing season (even shorter the further north you go).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our legumes, our vegetables, our fruit, even some of our grains (quinoa, anyone?) have to be grown elsewhere. These distant crops are often grown by low-paid labour working on plantations where rain forests once grew. Then they\u2019re shipped long distances, requiring vast transportation networks, large amounts of fossil fuel, and numerous staging locations (warehouses, distributions centres, terminals, stores, etc).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, animals are killed and used during the planting, maintaining, and harvesting of crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To say nothing of the fact that multinational corporations that produce meat often also produce the foods vegans\/vegetarians love to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is nearly impossible to positively impact the environment while subsisting on a typical vegan\/vegetarian diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, death is a natural part of life. It\u2019s one of the hallmarks of mortality. In LDS theology, death is but a portal into another phase of existence. Through birth, we transition from premortality to mortality, and through death, we transition from mortality to immortality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything will die. I will die. Everyone I love will die. Some of them have already died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Death is a part of the non-human animal world as well. Animals are eaten, and animals eat. Animals kills plants to eat, and other animals kill animals to eat. But this dance between life and death is a balance; it\u2019s not excessive or exploitative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider this video about the effects of reintroducing wolves into Yellowstone National Park (it is a bit exaggerated, but it raises an important point about predation\u2019s role in ecosystems):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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