The other morning, Kate and I watched a roadrunner getting his breakfast – a good-sized lizard. The whole process was filled with intensity, and, as it seemed to us, violence. The big bird repeatedly beat the lizard against a rock. The lizard repeatedly tried to run away, but was invariably caught by the roadrunner and brought back to the killing ground, until he was (finally!) dead, and could be eaten.

Then I thought, “…is ‘violence’ really the correct word/thought here?” The roadrunner was simply fulfilling his role in the divine design, which seems filled with predators and prey. He was just “doing his job” – and doing it well. All creatures need to eat.

Kate and I have had many discussions about predation and, and the fact that I am a carnivore. Philosophically, and for many other reasons, I would prefer to be a vegetarian. But, I simply feel better when I eat animal protein.

Vegetarianism fits better with my values, however. There are huge environmental consequences from our dietary choices. It takes much less land to grow vegetables, grains or legumes, than it does to “grow” meat. For example, it takes 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of feedlot beef. One pound of grain will produce a pound of bread. One acre of prime land can grow 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 30,000 pounds of carrots, 60,000 pounds of celery, or 250 pounds of beef. If Americans alone reduced their current meat consumption by 10 %, enough grain would be saved to feed another 60 million people. That’s almost the entire number of people that die of hunger every year globally. Also, there’s the whole killing thing. And the way that most meat animals are treated. Factory farming and factory killing are horrific businesses, full of violence – and not just the simple violence of ending a life, but violence in the worst way – that of reducing a living creature to a thing.

So called “primitive” peoples mostly used to honor their prey – they would regard hunting as a sacred pursuit, and would purify themselves before they went on a hunt. If they were sucessful in killing an animal, they would say prayers over it, giving thanks to it for giving its life to feed them. They had a relationship with their prey, like all “natural” predators have. Contrast that with the life of say, a pork chop in a conventional commercial enterprise – from factory farm to factory slaughterhouse to plastic-wrapped supermarket package. We’re insulated from the messy realities of our choice to eat part of an animal.

Some farmers who raise animals for slaughter treat their animals humanely, although they are clearly very much in the minority. Now some stores are looking at how their meat suppliers treat their animals, and are making purchasing decisions accordingly. Whole Foods, the nation’s largest chain of natural food supermarkets, has just instituted a policy whereby most of the meat they now sell comes from suppliers or farmers who treat animals raised for meat in a more compassionate way. This is in stark contrast to the horrifying (to me) environment of a factory farm, where animals have virtually no room to move, and a completely artificial environment.

An Australian friend of mine became a vegetarian after working on a sheep farm, and having to take part in killing lambs for food. I applaud and support his choice, and yet he’s told me that he doesn’t judge me for eating meat. I think there can be a certain sort of “new age fascism” in the judgment of certain vegetarians toward carnivores. Once someone said to me, “Oh so you’re still eating meat!” as if it were surprising to them. The subtext seemed to be that the only “enlightened” choice would be to a vegetarian.

Yes, although I’m unlikely to be bludgeoning any lizards to death for my breakfast any time soon, I’m still a predator. Please don’t hate me for it.