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DctrLife t1_ix9gagq wrote

Reply to comment by frostygrin in Environmental Impacts of Food Production by Corvid-Moon

This is actually a pretty good footnote that a developed discussion should take into account.

As a Vegan (moral position on animals), there is pretty solid evidence that bivalves can be consumed by vegans morally due to their seeming absence of cognitive process.

And the environmental impacts of bivalves in particular are, to my understanding, the best of any form of animal agriculture. They actually increase the cleanliness of water because they are filter feeder, and they don't take up land that is used for other things for the most part

I don't eat them at this juncture. But I see no moral or environmental issue with those who do so, and think one can safely identify themselves as vegan and still eat them.

And the issue with eggs is a bit different. You still have animals that inefficiently convert plant-calories into non-plant calories, taking up land for them to live on, and the land to produce the food to feed them. You end up with massive quantities of chicken waste, which, while better managed than cow waste, still ends up polluting the local environment.

And as a side note, for commercial agriculture, egg production is still atrocious.

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Corvid-Moon OP t1_ix9lrz4 wrote

I can grant that bivalves are ethically ambiguous, but you're right, eggs certainly are not. The commenter you responded to diminishes the harsh reality by saying:

>This attitude of 'summary judgment of all animal agriculture' is unhelpful.

Likely so they don't have to think about the consequences of their consumer choices & continue with the status quo, likely not even going so far as to only consume the things they deem okay to continue consuming; though of course I hope I'm wrong. Hopefully they look into it more & come to right conclusions on matters of ethics & environment.

The following is some insight into the human psychology of eating animals & why there tends to be so much push back against veganism/plant-based eating in general:

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