Meat consumption was needed for the evolution of human kind.
1Eating meat in the early stages of mankind’s existence played a major role in how mankind has evolved into the race that is seen today. Cut marks found on bones found around 2.6 million years ago suggest that the early humans started eating meat around that time. When tools and weapons became available, it changed everything for human kind. The use of tools and weapons allowed humans to hunt their food, and the use of the animals was a huge change to their way of life. Hunting allowed early man shelter, clothing, and food. Adding protein to early man’s diet was a huge step in brain development. Scientists began to recognize butchery marks on early stone age fossils in the 1980’s. In a study by Leslie Aiello, an anthropologist and director of the Wenner-Gren Foundation in New York City, she says that early humans ate a lot of berries, and roots, and shrubbery. In order to get the nutrients that they needed for survival they had to consume large amounts of berries, and roots, and plant material. Because of this they had larger guts, but there was a drawback to having these large guts, the body would put more energy into the growth of the guts instead of into the brain. Eating Meat and marrow are calorie dense resources with essential amino acids and nutrients. Eating meat allowed early man’s body to devote more energy towards the development of the brain instead of the large gut that processed all the veggie material. Leslie Aiello quotes "you can't have a large brain and big guts at the same time."
2According to the National Cattleman’s Association there are 2 types of proteins. Lean meats, eggs and dairy products are considered complete high quality sources...
... middle of paper ...
...e Least Harm Principle May Require That Humans Consume a Diet Containing Large Herbivores, Not a Vegan Diet," Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. 2003.
Hermann Wolfgang. et al., "Vitamin B-12 Status, Particularly Holotranscobalamin II and Methylmalonic Acid Concentrations, and Hyperhomocysteinemia in Vegetarians," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. July 2003.
Jensen Derrick. "The Plants Respond: An Interview with Cleve Backster." The Sun, July 1997.
Milton R. Mills, "The Comparative Anatomy of Eating," www.vegsource.com, Nov. 21, 2009
National Cattlemen's Beef Association. "The Environment and Cattle Production: Fact Sheet" (533 KB). www.explorebeef.org (accessed Jan. 13, 2011.)
Herman Pontzer (Dept. of Anthropology, Hunter College; New York Consortium for Evolutionary Primatology) © 2012 Nature Education
http://vegetarian.procon.org/#did_you_know
“U.S. Meat Production,” PSR, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Washington, D.C. 2014. Print. Web 1 Apr. 2014.
Corliss, Richard. “Should We All Be Vegetarians?” Time. Time Inc., 15 Jul. 2002. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
The average American gets 67% their dietary protein from animal sources (Fig.7 and Public Health), compared with a world-wide average of 34%. This quite is a significant difference and the US’s 67% is largely made up of store bought animal products (Public Health).
Stanford, Craig B., John S. Allen, and Susan C. Antón. Exploring Biological Anthropology: The Essentials. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010. 17. Print.
Vegetarianism finds its origins in numerous different cultures. Most prominent of these are the Native American and Indian backgrounds. Though the image resigning in all our brains of the Native American ancestors is that of carnivorous men adorned out in buffalo skinned loincloths. Conversely, very rarely were Native Americans privy to the luxury of meat or “game”. They were the earliest recollection of human beings surviving without meat. The regular diet for Choctaw Indians consisted of a stew with the main ingredients being corn, pumpkin, and beans eaten from an earthen pot. Also among their favorites were bread, roasted corn, and corn porridge. The reasoning behind their lifestyle mainly all that they could find amongst their land were fruits and vegetables. George Catlin, a famous 19th century historian, described the Choctaw land as grounds covered literally with lines. Grapes ...
...farmers and ranchers today raise 13 percent more beef from 30 percent fewer cattle. The modern cattle rancher uses less water, produces less greenhouse gas, and is preventing overgrazing. Cattlemen today are more environmentally sustainable than they were 30 to 40 years. Although cattle farmers have a more efficient beef production today, producing 16 percent less carbon emissions, using 33 percent less land, and requiring 12 percent less water to maintain.
Every day across America millions of people wake up to start their morning. Throughout the day the vast majority of these people will consume meat, but 3% will replace the pig, cow, and chicken products for vegetable or fruit made meals (Harris). These vegetarians all have many different reasons to make this choice. This decision is a huge change in one’s life and is not without questions. Some people may wonder why would anyone abstain from the amazing food that contains meat. This essay will briefly explain the history of vegetarianism, the reasons for vegetarianism, and answer questions about vegetarianism. Vegetarian diets are all around better than diets containing meat because of three main reasons; the abuse of animals, the environmental damage, and the health benefits for humans.
...dable, then the harm should be little and justified. It is clear that eating meat is morally unjustified because animals have a moral choice, but they are incapable of controlling their behavior. This leads to a one sided argument because only humans have the ability to make moral choices. Thus, humans should make choices that treat animals with dignity, conserve the environment, safeguard animal’s rights, do not cause pains to animals, and are morally, religiously, and legally right. By making such decisions, humans will not be morally justified to take meet because previous paragraphs discuss every point mentioned in the previous sentence. For instance, it is clear that animals are moral patients, and humans should use their position as moral agents to make a choice of not eating meat. Therefore, it sufficed to deduce that it is morally impermissible to eat meat.
1. Stanford, Craig. Allen, John S. Anton, Susan C. Exploring Biological Anthropology second edition. Pearson Education, Inc. 2008. Pages 238-420.
Many people don’t believe think anything of what they eat or how it got there. But the harsh truth is the meat that you eat was once a living, breathing creature that had feeling and emotions. Maybe next time you order a steak or chicken nuggets you should think about the animals that went through extreme pain and conditions for you to eat. Not only is it inhumane to put animals through such pain, not eating meat and having a vegetarian lifestyle can have huge benefits to animals, the environment, and your health.
Therefore, by being herbivorous, a person isn’t really helping the world by not eating meat but they are only hurting themselves. However, by being carnivorous, a person can receive all of the necessary nutrients and healthy benefits from eating meats and not be robbed of anything as herbivores are. As a result of being the superior species on Earth, humans can easily be allotted their daily nutrients if chosen to do so.
If a plant based diet has all the nutrients an omnivore diet has, why are we still eating meat? Many say that it’s easy to be deficient in certain vitamins and minerals, but a well-planned vegetarian diet can provide all the nutrients and more. Vegetarianism not only is beneficial to your health, but to the environment too.
In general, veganism is understood as eating strictly vegetables and abstaining from animal products altogether. Anthropologists believe, according to their studies of many human fossils around the world, that sixty five million years ago most humans ate mainly plant foods, being more likely gathers than hunters. In fact, the human digestive system resembles this early vegetarian condition from other plant-eaters in the coprolites and rudimentary tools discovered through archaeological findings at primitive human settlements. As climate changed, physical structure also changed: the discovery of fire and the increase of brain size modified diet to include meat products. These facts, argue proponents of banning animal products, illustrate that humans are not meant to be meat eaters.
“Currently 80% of the world’s agricultural land is used directly or indirectly for animal production. In the US over half the total land mass is used for the production of meat and dairy products” (Clarke).
They used every part of the animal they hunted for survival. However, now we have all kinds of clothing, housing, and are not constantly being hunted by other animals, so eating their meat is simply a luxury. Before man figured out how to hunt larger animals, plants and grains were consumed. This was not a drawback and man lived on fine. Going back to this lifestyle would transform the world into a cleaner place, and could help the world eventually obtain an organic lifestyle, which would be beneficial for the