Insects don’t get recognition for their importance as living beings, and are not seen only as crushable critters, but as a food source by some of the social planners. The moral question is, do we have the right to take billions of more lives to feed our faces? There are other ways to feed people, that are more sustainable. We’ll look at those.
Now to begin with, just because a celebrity eats cockroaches and tells me their delicious… it doesn’t convince me.at all. I don’t want to follow. It makes me think the celebrity is really gross. And just as repulsive are those who will eat them willingly and try to enforce it on the rest of us. It will be a new moral crusade that they say will help save the planet. And I can imagine the social planners sitting around eating their steaks and laughing at everyone else because they have to eat bugs.
At one time, when you ate at a restaurant and found a fly in your soup you would be shocked. The waiter would apologize and give you a free meal. But now some restaurants proudly serve beetles to their patrons. Have times changed? Not for most of us. I don’t think the human race has reached such depths yet. And here’s why.
Most of us have a visceral revulsion to eating bugs. We were not raised that way. We think there is something inherently wrong with it. It’s disgusting. Creepy. No matter how much you tell people do do it, the majority won’t. You can’t make it cool.
Humans must do a better job of not over-exploiting other beings for food.
Now from a moral perspective, there are alot of things to consider regarding whether we should feast on insects. To begin with, bugs are sentient beings who are just as important as we or other animals are because they are an expression of universal source. They have to be treated with dignity and respect because they are living creatures. They have similar characteristics as ourselves, such as: they have bodies, organs of perception and consciousness. Two eyes and one mouth as an example. They breath the same air, drink the same water.
If you take the time to sit outside and watch the insects going about their business, you’ll see purposeful behaviour…all of them moving around trying to earn a living. They have important jobs to do to keep the environment in harmony. Quite fascinating.
Let me just take a minute to talk about why we should respect the insect world.
Mosquitoes are a nuisance to us, but without them there would be no food for birds, frogs, fish and dragon flies. Some species even pollinate.
Without bees there would be no pollination. Without beetles and other insects such as ants, dead organisms couldn’t decompose.
And most of us hate ants. But did you know that they help your garden? They dig tunnels in the ground and aerate the soil so that plant roots can get moisture. They till the soil. They eat insects that are a threat to gardens and as they are roaming around, they pollinate flowers and move seeds.
Even though they do all these useful things, I realize that they will become a nuisance if you let them move into your house. But you can keep them out, just by keeping your living space clean.
Instead of Killing Them, Show Compassion
I cooperate with insects. Instead of killing a wasp that is trapped on the inside of a window, I get a glass and cover the wasp who is sitting on the surface. Then I slip a piece of cardboard between the window and the glass. I carry it out and remove the cardboard and watch the wasp fly away. Why would anyone do such a thing you ask? Because I don’t want kill any being. And because wasps protect gardens by controlling pests. They kill and eat the insects and parasites that can damage crops. They also don’t attack me, because they know I’m not trying to destroy them.
One summer we had some ants who were intent on getting into our house because some of their scouts found a honey jar with honey around the rim. So we removed the attraction and used bleach to erase the ant scent track that they follow to get to the food. Instead of killing the ants, I swept them up into a dustpan and later used a shop vac to vacuum them up. I found the dustpan wasn’t effective because they kept escaping before I could get them outside. I then let them all go free in the garden.
Everything has a purpose. And they are not stupid or exploitable because they are small.
As far as a bug’s consciousness goes: When you were a kid, do you remember catching grasshoppers and looking at their eyes. They look back at you. It’s amazing.
But most humans won’t see that because they have been educated to be species centric. They see the human race as being at the top of the food chain. They would just see a dumb insect and couldn’t care less about it. If it gets in the way, just step on it. That goes for all insects. They are there for us to destroy because we see them as being smaller or less advanced than us. Who is going to be morally outraged about the violation of their rights? I mean farm animals have a tough enough time getting rights. Imagine how hard it is for an insect? By the way, how we treat other species is a good indication of how we will end up treating our own.
Murder of Other Life Forms is as Immoral as Murder of Humans
Now let’s move on to another moral issue to consider when you encourage people to eat insects. By doing so, you are promoting mass murder. We already slaughter so many chickens, cows, pigs, fish that it is absolutely insane. We have a rapacious appetite for flesh. Say a family eats one cow per year. How many insects would that family have to eat in a year to get the same protein from one cow? How many thousands? I’m not sure, but it would be alot of lives. You’re replacing the slaughter of cows and chickens with the slaughter of bugs.
Factory farms for animals are bad enough….but the factory farms for insects would be in the trillions of lives. Beings packed into small areas, and only being raised as food. You can say it doesn’t matter because they are only a lower form of life but as a purportedly higher species, we are supposed to respect all life. And I’m wondering what they will be feeding on. Maybe dung? Or cadavers?
How are they going to slaughter the bugs? Taking away their oxygen? Gassing them? No matter how you look at it, it will be mass suffering. And will the toxic gas still be in their systems when you eat them?
Think About The Health Implications When You Ingest The Insects’ Internal Organs
There is one other thing to think about if you don’t care about the moral implications of mass murder or not respecting all life. When you sit down to a fresh bowl of beetles, what will you be eating? Sure there may be some good protein in there, but what else will there be? You’ll be snacking on their digestive tract and their internal feces for sure.
Let’s Slow Down Our Need to Devour Other Creatures
Let’s put this insect as food idea to rest. If, as they say, we have to live a sustainable lifestyle, we have a few things to consider. Knowing the basics such as needing protein, carbohydrates and fats in our diet.
Then you have different healthy types of diets where people get nourishment from plants, nuts and animal products such as dairy and eggs. Another diet would be do to the same but add meat.
But we don’t have to overeat. We could cut back on food and lower the destruction our appetites create. We can cut back on the slaughter of animals just by decreasing the consumption of meat.
How do we do that? By educating people about how much protein you need per meal and per day. Basically your body can only digest 30 grams of protein at one meal. The rest of it becomes waste. So when you eat ten chicken legs for example, you’ll waste alot of protein.
Using a USDA calculator for how much protein you need per day you can enter your information and see how much protein you need. I did a few examples for you by entering information for a male and female. You don’t need 30 grams per meal…remember, that is the maximum we can digest.
An active male 50 years old, 6 feet tall and 200 pounds. Protein suggested was 73 grams per day. Calculate based on 3 meals per day, that would be 24 grams per meal.
Then an active female 30 years old, 5 foot 4 inches, 130 pounds. She only needs 47 grams per day which works out to only 15 grams of protein per meal if she eats 3 times per day.
So based on these numbers, what kind of portions do you need to get the required amount of protein. Two table spoons of peanut butter is 30 grams. The man would only have to get 43 more grams for the day and the woman would need to get 17 more grams for the entire day.
To get 30 grams of protein from chicken or turkey you need about 4 ounces. The equivalency is chicken thighs which are 10 grams protein each. The maximum protein you can digest would be three thighs. Each chicken wing has 6 grams of protein. So if you eat 5 chicken wings, there is your maximum digestible protein for that meal. However, most people will eat 10 chicken wings in one sitting, doubling what they should be eating, because they are so good.
For beef, a quarter pound has close to 30 grams of protein. Eggs: 6 grams.
Full disclaimer: I am not a dietitian. But based on this information, as a layperson, I am just going to come up with an example of how we could cut back on our meat intake if we just don’t feel we can go vegetarian.
For the guy I mentioned earlier: (2 eggs in the morning: 12 grams), (2 peanut butter sandwiches noon 30 grams), (1 hamburger evening 30 grams)
The woman only needs 47 grams. (2 eggs breakfast 12 grams), (1 peanut butter sandwich lunch 15 grams), ( 2 chicken thighs supper 20 grams)
I made these examples simple. But you can find out for yourself how many grams of protein are in different food and create your own diet accordingly. Remember there is protein in grain bread, avocados, nuts, vegetables, etc.
A few other suggestions would be to eat less. We don’t need as much food as we think we do. Some of us eat because we’re bored. Go find something else to do. Most of us have to lose weight anyway. Do intermittent fasting. Eat 2 or 3 times per day.
Remember, we’re not just talking about a protein only diet. Carbohydrates and fats are necessary as well. But we mostly eat meat for the protein, so that’s the reason for the focus.
A Reasonable Diet Equals Healthier Living, Which Saves All Lives
Having said all that, fewer animals and insects will have to die, because you will have reduced your dietary waste. And you will be healthier. If you eat too much meat, you can develop all kinds of digestive tract issues, and obesity. If people aren’t educated about what a proper dietary plan looks like, there should be an effort from health experts to educate them about how they could have less impact on the planet by eating properly. Show how people will be wealthier because they’re not spending all their money on meat and medical bills caused by poor eating habits. It would be a win – win for the people, animals and bugs.
I don’t know if you can completely break free of using animals for food. We’ve been doing that for a long time. Humans as well as other animals like to eat meat. But I’ve gotta tell you that I still feel guilty when I eat meat, because I know an animal was sacrificed to feed me. That’s why I try not to eat too much of it.
Anyways, we have to get away from this idea that we are in charge here and all other species of life are lower than us and have to be exploited for food. Bugs and animals are also important sentient beings and it’s about time we saw that they, just like us, are an emanation of universal consciousness. Whether that leads you to lessen your meat intake or cut it out all together would be helpful. If people didn’t gorge themselves on flesh, we would lessen the slaughter of animals and not need to go in search of other life to satiate our craving for food.
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