There is a common notion that humans are overpopulating the earth and are ruining the ecosystem of the planet. It must however be said that we were created and placed into the ecosystem, and are therefore a necessary component of it. Nature requires stewardship. The proper stewardship of farms and wild lands is not the issue. Many creatures - humans included - need animal foods for their survival, and there is an abundance of male animals which can provide food for them. Most animals have a sex ratio that is roughly 50:50, and many unculled males will end up being killed by other predators or even by other males in their own species. For these reasons it is necessary to farm and to hunt, and to do it ethically.
Nature and Nurture
Did you know that elephants in the wild reach an age when they can no longer chew their food, and they end up starving to death? Unless humans intervene, they don’t get the luxury of dying of old age. And if you have ever seen two bulls fight almost to their death, then you understand the power and determination that one male animal can have to destroy another. Suffering, and even cruelty, is found throughout nature.
People often think that the calves are cruelly torn away from their mothers so that humans can have all the milk at the animals’ expense. This impression exists because of the sad reality of large Holstein farms, but the situation on the typical small dairy farm is much different. These small farmers love their cows, will leave the young with the mom, and only consume the excess milk. Sometimes, of course, the babies will be removed. This is in order to create a better relationship with the calf so that it can be handled more safely in the future. The babies that are removed will either remain with the farm or be introduced into new families where they will provide milk or food at the proper age.
A small farmer or rancher works from before the sunrise until after dark, doesn’t use chemicals, and sleeps in the stalls to nurse sick livestock back to health. They choose the best animals and have good relationships with these animals, including the ones that are dispatched for food. There is always immense gratitude for the life of that animal and its transition is never taken lightly, but always respectfully.
Vegetarians often have this picture inverted. They see nature as being peaceful and caring, and farmers as being cruel and unsympathetic. When it comes to the small farmer, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The animals and humans work cooperatively together, with the goal of creating the best lives possible for both.
When it comes to achieving balance in an ecosystem, predators are a vital component. It was the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone which was needed in order for the area to thrive. Wolves used to make up the majority of the predatory pressure on the elk, which both reduced the elk population and kept them on the move. With the wolves out of the picture, the elk intensely browsed the willow. This in turn affected the beaver population, and on and on.1
Our planet needs all the life forms it was given and that have over time naturally developed in order to function properly. Likewise, our guts cannot thrive without their own living creatures in balance. The lack of this balance is what leads to disease.
Ethical farmers and hunters care about the balance in the ecosystem.
The most destructive force to our planet is monocropping,
which takes fertile land and turns it into arid dirt.
The farming practices they use strip the wildlife of their habitat.
In constrast, regenerative farmers will tell you that
their land beckons many more creatures than it ever has the need to dispatch for food.
Effects of Vegetarianism
Excluding water, there are three macronutrients:
- protein
- fat
- carbohydrate
There are essential proteins and fats that humans cannot make in our own bodies which can only come from animal foods. There are no essential carbohydrates, which all plants are. Due to the way our digestive system functions, our bodies do not utilize the nutrients in plants the way that they use the nutrients in animal foods. We do not need carbohydrates from plants for optimal health and should have very small amounts. Our bodies make their own carbohydrates from animal protein and some fats in a slow, recognizable, and healthy way.
A plant-based diet is a carbohydrate diet, which causes brain atrophy, inflammation, and gut dysbiosis. A vegetarian that supplements with plenty of fats and plenty of fermented, raw dairy and eggs has a chance of being healthy. But a vegan will sadly suffer by their later years, if not sooner.
Avoiding animal products creates a body that has poorly functioning hormones, emotional reactivity, lowered fertility, organs that fail to properly rebuild themselves, gut dysbiosis, and cells without sufficient fat. Plants simply cannot give our bodies they tools they need to rebuild. It is the animal foods which are building; plants are cleansing and medicinal.