The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter - Singer, Peter; Mason, Jim Review & Synopsis

 Synopsis

Peter Singer, the groundbreaking ethicist whom The New Yorker calls the most influential philosopher alive teams up again with Jim Mason, his coauthor on the acclaimed Animal Factories, to set their critical sights on the food we buy and eat: where it comes from, how it is produced, and whether it was raised humanely. 

The Ethics of What We Eat explores the impact our food choices have on humans, animals, and the environment. Recognizing that not all of us will become vegetarians, Singer and Mason offer ways to make healthful, humane food choices. As they point out: You can be ethical without being fanatical.

Review

PETER SINGER, is author of Animal Liberation and coauthor of Animal Factories, is one of the highest-profile writers on ethics today, regularly drawing fire for his views on such hot-button issues as abortion, euthanasia, war, and animal rights. Born in Australia, he has taught at Princeton University since 1999 and lives in New York.

JIM MASON is the author of An Unnatural Order and the coauthor of Animal Factories. He is also an attorney and the fifth generation of a Missouri farming family. He lives on Virginia's Eastern Shore.PART I

EATING THE STANDARD AMERICAN DIET

1

JAKE AND LEE

There is no downtown, no bustling public square, no quaint historic district in Mabelvale, Arkansas. The "main drag" is Baseline Road--four lanes of traffic running through a corridor of gas stations, convenience stores, and strip malls in the urban sprawl southwest of Little Rock, to which it was annexed in 1980. Sixty percent of Mabelvale's 5,000 inhabitants are white, 25 percent are African-American, and 10 percent are Latino; they live in homes worth around $75,000 and earn about $30,000 annually.

Among the residents of Mabelvale is the family of Jake Hillard, 36, and Lee Nierstheimer, 26. We chose them for their basic meat-and-potatoes diet-- sometimes called the Standard American Diet, or SAD. Though the term lacks a precise definition, it is the most widely eaten diet in America. The Standard American Diet is high in meat, eggs, and dairy products. Carbohydrates such as bread, sugar, and rice are usually eaten in refined form, which, combined with a low intake of fruit and vegetables, means that the diet is low in fiber. Frequent consumption of fried foods contributes to a high intake of fat, with as much as 35 percent of calories coming from fat, most of it saturated and much of it animal fat. A burger on a bun with a serving of french fries, followed by an ice-cream sundae and washed down with a can of cola, fits squarely in this American tradition. It's a quick and easy way of putting enough food in your stomach to feel satisfied. With America's low prices for meat, eggs and dairy products, it's not expensive either.

We met Lee Nierstheimer at his place of work, a local firm that makes custom-made handling systems and conveyors for major manufacturers. A man of medium height and build, he has a boyish face and a full head of straight brown hair. He tells us that had we come a few months earlier, he would have been at work in the machine shop, welding and bending metal into the sizes and shapes called for in customers' specifications. But he has recently been promoted and is now an engineer, designing and drawing plans for the equipment manufactured by his company. It's the end of the working day and he takes us back to his home, where he lives with his wife, Jake, and their two children, Katie, 2, and Max, 6 months. They are at the end of a dead-end street in a neighborhood of modest homes that date from the 1950s and 1960s. On the corner is a little old house renewed by white vinyl siding, next to a tattered blue mobile home, then a neat, small, brick house, then a couple more clad in vinyl, and so on. At their gate we're greeted by a couple of very friendly dogs: one looks like a mid-sized St. Bernard--large, fluffy, brown-and-white. "That's Baggie," Lee says. The other one, Annie, a Border collie with maybe a bit of Australian shepherd mixed in, is the current neighborhood hero--she roused several people in time to catch a burglar in the act of breaking and entering a house up the street.

The yard, walkway, and stoop are cluttered with bright, primary-colored plastic tricycles, wagons, miniature chairs, balls, and toys. Inside, there's more of the same, with Jake--snugly curled up in an overstuffed chair--breast-feeding baby Max. At her feet, Katie is engrossed in watching Finding Nemo on the VCR. A black-and-white cat dozes among the toys on the sofa. Lee immediately goes over to Katie, kisses her, then Jake, and takes the baby in his arms.

Jake gets up apologizing for "the mess," saying she's tired from being up all night with Max, who has been fussy with teething and allergies lately. She's nearly Lee's height, with a full, pretty face. She wears her auburn hair long and straight, with a thick hank of bangs that curl down to her eyes. They show us around the house, including the kids' room, which they have painted and decorated. Then it's time for dinner. Jake serves Katie her favorite meal: macaroni and cheese, green beans, and a slice of bread and butter. Katie, between giggles, sips from her glass of milk and takes bites of the macaroni and cheese. Lee adjusts Max's high-chair and then spoon-feeds him bites of pureed spinach lasagna and green beans with potatoes. Meanwhile, Jake puts food on plates for herself and her husband. Tonight they're having barbequed chicken breasts, a lettuce and tomato salad, and some of the green beans that Katie is also eating, but seasoned in the Southern way with bits of bacon and onion.

There is a small plate of paprika-sprinkled deviled eggs on the table, which Lee had snitched from a large platter in the refrigerator while Jake was tending to the chicken under the broiler. Jake takes one, and in a tone more teasing than scolding, tells Lee that she made them for tomorrow's family picnic with her parents. Then she takes a bite, which sends Katie into a fit of giggles.

Lee is drinking a Samuel Adams beer and Jake a Diet Coke.

After dinner, Lee clears the table and rinses the dishes while Jake tends to Max.

"Can we have some ice cream now?" Katie burbles, and, seeing her mother's look, quickly adds, "Please?"

"Only if we have some strawberries too," Jake says.

"And chocolate sauce," chimes in Lee from the sink.

"Oh, brother," Jake says, rolling her eyes. "It's chocolate chip."

Lee takes a tub of ice cream from the freezer and puts it on the table. "The berries are in that white bowl on the bottom shelf,' Jake says, and after two beats she adds, "You've got to be kidding about that chocolate sauce, right?"

GROCERY SHOPPING AT WAL-MART

The next day, Jake arranges for child care and takes us on her shopping trip to the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Baseline Road. As we enter the store we find the manager and explain our project. When we tell him that we want to use a video camera to tape Jake's shopping trip, he becomes agitated and tells us that this is against company policy. Permission to do so "would have to come from Bentonville," he says, referring to the national head office, and indicates that it is rarely given. After assuring him that we will be leaving the video recorder outside, we ask about using a small pocket audiotape recorder. He becomes even more agitated and emphasizes the company's policy against recording of any kind in its stores. Defeated, we go back to Jake's car, lock up the equipment, gather pens and a notebook, and get on with the shopping.

We begin at the dairy case, where Jake picks up a half-gallon of milk. "Skim milk for momma. Great Value--that's a Wal-Mart brand. I get Coleman Dairy whole milk for Katie; it's kind of a local brand. They're down in Batesville." Next she picks up a carton of a dozen "Country Creek" eggs. The fine print says: "Moark Productions, Inc., 1100 Blair Avenue, Neosho, MO." There is a logo on it as well--it has the words "Animal Care Certified" in a semi-circle, and there is a big check mark in the middle. Jake moves along the dairy case pulling out products and putting them in the shopping cart: Oscar Mayer bacon, Daisy Sour Cream, Great Value Extra Sharp Cheddar, and Kraft 100 percent parmesan cheese. From the meats, Jake picks out Armour pepperoni, Petit Jean brand peppered bacon, Jimmy Dean sausage, some store brand skinless chicken breasts, an unlabeled package of "beef loin porterhouse steak," Ball Park corn dogs, and Advance Brand "steak fingers." She gets orange juice, too, and some vegetables, including an iceberg lettuce and tomatoes. So it goes, aisle after aisle, until we have enough of the favorite foods to feed this family of four for the next two weeks.

We pick up the kids from Jake's sitter, and by the time we get back to the house, Lee is home from work. As we unpack the groceries and put them away, we talk about the family's food choices at both supermarkets and restaurants. When they want a dinner out as a family, they go to El Chico for Mexican food, Smokey Joe's Barbeque, or Larry's Pizza. When Jake and Lee are by themselves and in a hurry, Lee goes to Sonic and Popeye's; Jake likes McDonald's, Burger King, and Arby's, where she favors the turkey sandwich.

After the kids are put to bed, we drink beer and talk. The main thing on their minds is the time consumed by Lee's job and the needs of two small children. Before she became a mother, Jake had a busy job as a lobbyist and administrator for an association of insurance and financial advisors. Lee used to play guitar in a local rock and roll band. They no longer have time for the boating, skiing, and camping that they once enjoyed. But there's no tone of complaining or nostalgia for more carefree days; now with a toddler and an infant they have new joys and new responsibilities. It's as simple as that.

Eventually we get around to talking about what drives their food choices.

"Price and convenience are way up there, especially now with the kids," Jake says. She goes on to explain how pregnancy made her appetites shift, how she hated eggs, had little appetite for red meat, but craved cookies. Now she's starting to eat more meat again, except for sausage. "I have sort of a disdain for pig meat," she says. Lee reminds her of bacon, which she admits to enjoying. We ask them what they know about the origins of these products and the controversies about some of the modern ways of raising cattle, pigs, and chickens.

Lee knows about the chicken farms. "They're just big, long shacks packed full of chickens. You know that just from driving around the state." Arkansas is the home base of Tyson Foods, the world's largest producer of meat chickens. Neither of them knows much about pig farms or cattle feedlots. "We don't hear much about that around here," Lee says. "Most of the cattle around here are free-range, as far as I know."

For Jake, the controversy over veal calves sticks out in her mind. "That's the first one that came up when I was growing up. Veal was definitely out, without question. I mean, it was so well covered in the media, how the calves could barely move. Eating it just didn't seem worth it for the cost to the animals . . . and the horror." She admits that she, too, is not very aware of any controversies over pig farming methods. "But the chickens concern me, because I'm well aware of that, living here in Arkansas. But there's the rub, you see. We're told by dieticians to choose chicken over red meat, for health reasons."

Jake stops for a moment, obviously thinking about something related. "To be perfectly honest about it, I do think there's a hierarchy of animals. I believe I would favor mammals over birds. I think I probably feel sorrier for a cow than I would for a chicken."

"Honestly, I don't think about it that much," Lee adds. "I guess I'm pretty absorbed in my life and my family most of the time and I don't think very much about the welfare of the meat I'm eating." Lee grew up near Little Rock, and meat was always the center of the family meals. "It was either fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fried okra, or it was sweet-and-sour meatballs or rump roast, pork loins. There was always a side of vegetables, but it was the meat that was the center of any meal." For school lunches there was usually hamburger or pizza.

Jake's formative years were spent in Florida and Washington, D.C. Her mother cooked a lot from scratch, not liking pre-packaged food. There was usually some kind of meat with vegetables and potatoes on the side, but Jake's mother also made spaghetti and a lot of Chinese stir-frys, usually with chicken, beef, or shrimp. Though Jake and Lee have started to eat more vegetables than they used to, Lee doesn't anticipate any significant change in his consumption of meat: "My own philosophy is that we evolved to become omnivores, which was one of our steps in survival and in becoming what we are today. Being opportunists, we could survive the longest winters or the desert or whatever, because we ate meat. We would eat anything. It just seems like a natural order to me."

"Well, I have more qualms about it." Jake says. "There's a feeling in me that says, okay, yeah, we're adapted to eat meat, but if we don't have to, then why do it? If it was a matter of necessity, that would be one thing. Like if we're stuck in a cave and starving to death, I'm going to cut off your leg and chow down, you know?"

"Don't go hiking with her," Lee laughs.

We talk about the demands of marriage and children and how other considerations affect their food choices. Would they choose differently if they had more information about how their food was produced? Probably not-- the alternatives are inconvenient and cost more. "Laziness is part of it, too," Jake says. "There's one store here where you can be assured that everything you buy is organically grown and all the meats are free-range. Everything is politically correct for the ethical meat eater, the careful carnivore. But it's about a twenty-five-minute drive from here . . . in nasty traffic. And all of the meat there is two or three times more expensive than what I get at Wal-Mart, which is only about five minutes away." Then she pauses a moment before saying: "Isn't it a sad thing when our morals become so disposable?"

Later, driving on from Mabelvale, we ponder that line. It's easy to understand why Jake and Lee make the food choices they do. They are, as Lee said, absorbed in their family and, in his case, his work, too. Making different choices would take time and add to their food bills. It's reasonable for a couple in their situation to recoil from the prospect of paying substantially more for their food, especially when buying organically grown vegetables and free-range meats would take more time as well. Is organic food really better for you, or for the environment? It's not easy to be sure. Nothing in the television they watch or the newspapers they read suggests that there is anything unethical about the choices they are making. Doesn't all of America shop at Wal-Mart? How can it be wrong to do as everyone else does?

The Way We Eat

A thought-provoking look at how what we eat profoundly affects all living things—and how we can make more ethical food choices Five Principles for Making Conscientious Food Choices 1. Transparency: We have the right to know how our food is produced. 2. Fairness: Producing food should not impose costs on others. 3. Humanity: Inflicting unnecessary suffering on animals is wrong. 4. Social Responsibility: Workers are entitled to decent wages and working conditions. 5. Needs: Preserving life and health justifies more than other desires. Peter Singer, the groundbreaking ethicist who "may be the most controversial philosopher alive" (The New Yorker), now sets his critical sights on the food we buy and eat: where it comes from, how it's produced, and whether it was raised humanely. Teaming up once again with attorney Jim Mason, his coauthor on the acclaimed Animal Factories, Singer explores the impact our food choices have on humans, animals, and the environment. In The Way We Eat, Singer and Mason examine the eating habits of three American families with very different diets. They track down the sources of each family's food to probe the ethical issues involved in its production and marketing. What kinds of meat are most humane to eat? Is "organic" always better? Wild fish or farmed? Recognizing that not all of us will become vegetarians, Singer and Mason offer ways to make the best food choices. As they point out: "You can be ethical without being fanatical."

In The Way We Eat, Singer and Mason examine the eating habits of three American families with very different diets. They track down the sources of each family's food to probe the ethical issues involved in its production and marketing."

The Ethics of What We Eat

An investigation of the food choices people make and practices of the food producers who create this food for us leading to a discussion of how we might put more ethics into our shopping carts.

But you can't truly grow your business if you're doing all the work yourself. How do you do it?"

Eating

Written with investigative vigour, provocative and controversial but always accessible, Eating is a hard-hitting exploration of our eating habits, making us look at what we eat as a moral issue. Organic foods are the fastest growing section of the food industry, and it is estimated that vegans are now almost as common as vegetarians. Veal consumption in the US has fallen by more than 75% since 1975, and in the UK, sales of free-range eggs have now passed in value sales of eggs from caged hens. Evidently we are concerned. But how concerned should we be about where our food comes from? Does the food we buy really affect the world around us? And what can we do? In Eating, philosopher Peter Singer and environmentalist Jim Mason follow three families with varying eating habits, from fast-food eaters to vegans, to explore how the food we eat makes its way to the table, and at what expense. The authors peel back each layer of food production, and examine how they ought to factor into our buying choices. Recognising that we are not all likely to become vegetarian or vegan, they go on to offer ways to make the most ethical choices within the framework of a diet that includes animal products.

In Eating, philosopher Peter Singer and environmentalist Jim Mason follow three families with varying eating habits, from fast-food eaters to vegans, to explore how the food we eat makes its way to the table, and at what expense."

History of the Soyfoods Movement Worldwide (1960s-2019)

The world's most comprehensive, well documented and well illustrated book on this subject. With extensive subject and geographical index. 615 photographs and illustrations - mostly color. Free of charge in digital PDF format on Google Books.

 Singer , Peter ; Mason , Jim . 2006. The way we eat : Why our food choices matter . Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press, Inc. viii + 328 p. Index. ... Introduction: Food and ethics . Part I: Eating the standard American diet. 1. Jake and Lee."

History of Tofu and Tofu Products (1995-2022)

The world's most comprehensive, well documented, and well illustrated book on this subject. With extensive subject and geographic index. 292 photographs and illustrations - mostly color. Free of charge in digital PDF format.

3–Third International Symposium on the Role of Soy in Preventing and Treating Chronic Disease, held in Washington, DC. ... Alford , Jeffrey ; Duguid , Naomi . 2000. Hot sour salty sweet : a culinary journey through Southeast Asia ."

History of Meat Alternatives (965 CE to 2014)

The world's most comprehensive, well documented and well illustrated book on this subject. With extensive index. 435 color photographs and illustrations. Free of charge in digital PDF format on Google Books.

Note: Cool Whip is a brand of imitation whipped cream named a whipped topping by its manufacturer. Cool Whip was introduced in 1967 by the Birds Eye ... Singer , Peter ; Mason , Jim . 2006. The way we eat : Why our food choices matter ."

History of Soy Ice Cream and Other Non-Dairy Frozen Desserts (1899-2013)

 He advocates eating soybeans and soy products; because of their “extensive and well researched health benefits” and because they come in such a wide ... Singer , Peter ; Mason , Jim . 2006. The way we eat : Why our food choices matter ."

Peter Singer Under Fire

One of the leading ethical thinkers of the modern age, Peter Singer has repeatedly been embroiled in controversy. Protesters in Germany closed down his lectures, mistakenly thinking he was advocating Nazi views on eugenics. Conservative publisher Steve Forbes withdrew generous donations to Princeton after Singer was appointed professor of bioethics. His belief that infanticide is sometimes morally justified has appalled people from all walks of life. Peter Singer Under Fire gives a platform to his critics on many contentious issues. Leaders of the disability rights group Not Dead Yet attack Singer’s views on disability and euthanasia. Economists criticize the effectiveness of his ideas for solving global poverty. Philosophers expose problems in Singer’s theory of utilitarianism and ethicists refute his position on abortion. Singer’s engaging “Intellectual Autobiography” explains how he came by his controversial views, while detailed replies to each critic reveal further surprising aspects of his unique outlook.

The Moral Iconoclast Faces His Critics Jeffrey A . Schaler. With Ruth Chadwick, Helga Kuhse, Willem A . Landman, and Udo Schüklenk. The Bioethics Reader: Editors'Choice. ... With Jim Mason . The Way We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter ."

Animals and Business Ethics

This book engages with some of the most pressing ethical issues that arise from the use of animals in various business practices, providing interdisciplinary approaches to improving the nonhuman and human lives in animal-related industries. The chapters in this volume provide conceptual, theoretical and practical analyses of these issues that will shape the future direction of business ethics to more fully refl ect the impacts and implications of animal-based businesses on society, its members, and nature. The authors in this volume engage with topics including animal suffering and emotions, the commodifi cation of animals, vegetarian and vegan businesses and diets, technological innovations such as gene editing and lab-cultured meat, as well as captivity, corporate disclosure of animal welfare policies, and the possibility of humane jobs as well as the consideration of animals as stakeholders.

 Singer , Peter . 2002. Animal Liberation. New York: Harper Collins. Singer , Peter , and Mason , Jim . 2006. The ethics of what we eat : Why our food choices matter . New York: Rodale, Inc. Sullivan, Rory, Amos, Nicky, and van de Weerd, ..."

The Oxford Handbook of Food Ethics

Academic food ethics incorporates work from philosophy but also anthropology, economics, the environmental sciences and other natural sciences, geography, law, and sociology. Scholars from these fields have been producing work for decades on the food system, and on ethical, social, and policy issues connected to the food system. Yet in the last several years, there has been a notable increase in philosophical work on these issues-work that draws on multiple literatures within practical ethics, normative ethics and political philosophy. This handbook provides a sample of that philosophical work across multiple areas of food ethics: conventional agriculture and alternatives to it; animals; consumption; food justice; food politics; food workers; and, food and identity.

 of health for individual human beings are also gendered (as is the act of eating, attitudes toward appetite, ... 48 Vani Hari , The Food Babe Way : Break Free from the Hidden Toxins in Your Food and Lose Weight , Look Years Younger , ..."

Animalkind

By exploring the ethical differences between humans and animals,Animalkind establishes a middle ground betweenegalitarianism and outright dismissal of animal rights. A thought-provoking foray into our complex and contradictoryrelationship with animals Advocates that we owe each animal due respect Offers readers a sensible alternative to extremism by speakingof respect and compassion for animals, not rights Balances philosophical analysis with intriguing facts andengaging tales

What We Owe to Animals Jean Kazez ... Chapter 8 grapples with “ moral saints” and the question of how good we have to be. ... Singer , Peter and Jim Mason , The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter . New York: Rodale, 2006."

This is Environmental Ethics: An Introduction

Provides students and scholars with a comprehensive introduction to the growing field of environmental philosophy and ethics Mitigating the effects of climate change will require global cooperation and lasting commitment. Of the many disciplines addressing the ecological crisis, philosophy is perhaps best suited to develop the conceptual foundations of a viable and sustainable environmental ethic. This is Environmental Ethics provides an expansive overview of the key theories underpinning contemporary discussions of our moral responsibilities to non-human nature and living creatures. Adopting a critical approach, author Wendy Lynne Lee closely examines major moral theories to discern which ethic provides the compass needed to navigate the social, political, and economic challenges of potentially catastrophic environmental transformation, not only, but especially the climate crisis. Lee argues that the ethic ultimately adopted must make the welfare of non-human animals and plant life a priority in our moral decision-making, recognizing that ecological conditions form the existential conditions of all life on the planet. Throughout the text, detailed yet accessible chapters demonstrate why philosophy is relevant and useful in the face of an uncertain environmental future. Questions which environmental theory might best address the environmental challenges of climate change and the potential for recurring pandemic Discusses how inequalities of race, sex, gender, economic status, geography, and species impact our understanding of environmental dilemmas Explores the role of moral principles in making decisions to resolve real-world dilemmas Incorporates extensive critiques of moral extensionist and ecocentric arguments Introduces cutting-edge work done by radical “deep green” writers, animal rights theorists, eco-phenomenologists, and ecofeminists This is Environmental Ethics is essential reading for undergraduate students in courses on philosophy, geography, environmental studies, feminist theory, ecology, human and animal rights, and social justice, as well as an excellent graduate-level introduction to the key theories and thinkers of environmental philosophy.

Regan extends Immanuel Kant's moral principle, the Categorical Imperative, to what he calls a ... Singer , Peter and Jim Mason (2006). The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter (Emmaus, PA: Rodale). Singer and Mason offer a ..."

History of Soy Nutritional Research (1990-2021)

The world's most comprehensive, well documented, and well illustrated book on this subject. With extensive subject and geographical index. 30 photographs and illustrations - mostly color. Free of charge in digital PDF format.

 Singer , Peter ; Mason , Jim . 2006. The way we eat : Why our food choices matter . Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press, Inc. viii + 328 p. Index. 24 cm. [396 endnotes + 37 refs] soybeans to produce a pound of boneless pork, and 3 pounds grain ..."

Animals and the Environment

Contemporary Earth and animal activists rarely collaborate, perhaps because environmentalists focus on species and ecosystems, while animal advocates look to the individual, and neither seems to have much respect for the other. This diverse collection of essays highlights common ground between earth and animal advocates, most notably the protection of wildlife and personal dietary choice. If earth and animal advocates move beyond philosophical differences and resultant divergent priorities, turning attention to shared goals, both will be more effective – and both animals and the environment will benefit. Given the undeniable seriousness of the environmental problems that we face, including climate change and species extinction, it is essential that activists join forces. Drawing on a wide range of issues and disciplines, ranging from wildlife management, hunting, and the work of NGOs to ethics, ecofeminism, religion and animal welfare, this volume provides a stimulating collection of ideas and challenges for anyone else who cares about the environment or animals.

4 As an example of this blended ethic, Dale Jamieson (2002) contends we can respect nature as a home for all animal beings. ... Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason . 2006. The ethics of what we eat : Why our food choices matter ."

Doing Environmental Ethics

Doing Environmental Ethics explains how we may transform our fossil-fuel-burning economy, which continues to intensify our ecological crisis, into a circular and ecological economy. The text resists political corruption and personal greed by gleaning ethical insights from our philosophical and religious cultures and by embracing the scientific Gaia hypothesis for the Earth. Its reasoning ascribes intrinsic worth to uplifting duties and rights as well as inspiring virtues and relationships, and tests applying these values by predicting the likely consequences of acting on them. It affirms all life has value for itself, and that human life also values reasoning and feelings and being ethical. The third edition examines US and international environmental policies through 2018. It analyzes the Trump administration’s repudiation of the environmental policies of the Obama administration and its new rules slashing the social costs of climate change. The text reviews a draft UN treaty that would impose human rights and environmental constraints on transnational corporations, but it also highlights outstanding examples of corporate upcycling and low-carbon innovation. Finally, the third edition explains why food security requires protecting the food sovereignty of farming communities and cooperatives, as well as public policies ensuring fair profits for farmers practicing agro-ecology.

Bringing Up a Moral Child: A New Approach for Teaching Your Child to Be Kind, Just, and Responsible (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley ... Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason . The Way We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter (Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 2006)."

Food Matters

From the award-winning champion of culinary simplicity who gave us the bestselling How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian comes Food Matters, a plan for responsible eating that's as good for the planet as it is for your weight and your health. We are finally starting to acknowledge the threat carbon emissions pose to our ozone layer, but few people have focused on the extent to which our consumption of meat contributes to global warming. Think about it this way: In terms of energy consumption, serving a typical family-of-four steak dinner is the rough equivalent of driving around in an SUV for three hours while leaving all the lights on at home. Bittman offers a no-nonsense rundown on how government policy, big business marketing, and global economics influence what we choose to put on the table each evening. He demystifies buzzwords like "organic," "sustainable," and "local" and offers straightforward, budget-conscious advice that will help you make small changes that will shrink your carbon footprint -- and your waistline. Flexible, simple, and non-doctrinaire, the plan is based on hard science but gives you plenty of leeway to tailor your food choices to your lifestyle, schedule, and level of commitment. Bittman, a food writer who loves to eat and eats out frequently, lost thirty-five pounds and saw marked improvement in his blood levels by simply cutting meat and processed foods out of two of his three daily meals. But the simple truth, as he points out, is that as long as you eat more vegetables and whole grains, the result will be better health for you and for the world in which we live. Unlike most things that are virtuous and healthful, Bittman's plan doesn't involve sacrifice. From Spinach and Sweet Potato Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing to Breakfast Bread Pudding, the recipes in Food Matters are flavorful and sophisticated. A month's worth of meal plans shows you how Bittman chooses to eat and offers proof of how satisfying a mindful and responsible diet can be. Cheaper, healthier, and socially sound, Food Matters represents the future of American eating.

 A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes Mark Bittman ... New York: Nation Books, 2006. singer , Peter , and Jim Mason . The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter . New York: Rodale Books, 2007. steinman, David."

The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics

Edited by Tom L. Beauchamp and R.G. Frey.

... A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. ——— . Taking Animals Seriously: Mental Life and Moral Status. ... Mason , Jim , and Peter Singer . The Way We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter . New York: Rodale, 2006."

Arguments about Animal Ethics

Bringing together the expertise of rhetoricians in English and communication as well as media studies scholars, Arguments about Animal Ethics delves into the rhetorical and discursive practices of participants in controversies over the use of nonhuman animals for meat, entertainment, fur, and vivisection. Both sides of the debate are carefully analyzed, as the contributors examine how stakeholders persuade or fail to persuade audiences about the ethics of animal rights or the value of using animals. The essays in this volume cover a wide range of topics, such as the campaigns waged by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (including the sexy vegetarian and nude campaigns), greyhound activists, the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, food manufacturers, and the biomedical research industry, as well as communication across the human-nonhuman animal boundary and the failure of the animal rights movement to protest research into genetically modifying living beings. Arguments about Animal Ethics' insightful analysis of the animal rights movement will appeal to communication scholars, as well as those interested in social change.

This is a term coined by Herbert Spencer, Principles of Biology (1864; Honolulu, HI: University Press of the Pacific, ... Peter Singer and Jim Mason , The Ethics of What We Eat : Why our Food Choices Matter (Emmaus, PA: Rodale, 2006), 3."

Animals in China

Just as China is called the world factory for manufactured goods, it is also a world factory for manufactured animal cruelty in a new phenomenon of globalized animal cruelty. Animals in China examines animal protection in China in its legal, social and cultural contexts.

 Singer , Peter and Mason , Jim (2007) Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter (New York: Rodale Books). Steiner, Gary (2005) Anthropocentrism and Its Discontents: The Moral Status of Animals in the History of Western Philosophy ..."

A New Environmental Ethics

This Second Edition of A New Environmental Ethics: The Next Millennium for Life on Earth offers clear, powerful, and often moving thoughts from Holmes Rolston III, one of the first and most respected philosophers to write on the environment and often called the "father of environmental ethics." Rolston surveys the full spectrum of approaches in the field of environmental ethics and offers critical assessments of contemporary academic accounts. He draws on a lifetime of research and experience to suggest an outlook, and even hope, for the future. This forward-looking analysis, focused on the new millennium, will be a necessary complement to any balanced textbook or anthology in environmental ethics. The First Edition guaranteed "to put you in your place." Beyond that, the Second Edition asks whether you want to live a "de-natured life on a de-natured planet." Key Updates in the Second Edition Covers the worsening environmental situation due to actions of the Trump administration, including withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change Includes information on legislation in key U.S. states (e.g., California and New York) aimed to ameliorate the damage done at the federal level Increases coverage of group knowledge, group agreement and disagreement, and group action in collective environmental ethics, as distinguished from individual knowledge and action Examines the deleterious effects of online consumer behavior Explains how a loss of solidarity among a nation’s citizens and even a larger solidary among humanity leads to environmental degradation Offers new analysis of the effects of epistemic bubbles, echo chambers, and fake news on the behavior of voters and consumers Provides an extended critique of the Anthropocene Epoch, and the prospect of geo-engineering Earth to become a synthetic environment.

 Singer , Peter , 1994. Ethics . New York: Oxford University Press. Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason , 2006. The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter . Emmaus, PA: Rodale; New York: Holtzbrinck Publishers. Steffen, Will, et al."

Ethics in Practice

The bestselling and field-defining textbook which has introduced generations of students to the field of practical ethics, now in a new fully-revised fifth edition For more than twenty years, Ethics in Practice has paved the way for students to confront the difficult ethical questions they will, must, or do already face. Accessible to introductory students yet sufficiently rigorous for those pursuing advanced study, this celebrated collection encourages and guides readers to explore ethical dimensions of important, controversial topics such as euthanasia, environmental action, economic injustice, discrimination, incarceration, abortion, and torture. In combining new and revised modern texts with works of classic scholarship, Ethics in Practice equips readers to consider wide-ranging ideas in practical ethics and to understand the historical basis for contemporary developments in ethical theory. Revisions and updates to the new edition of Ethics in Practice focus on covering pressing global issues and adding depth to key sections. Many sections have been expanded to offer more thorough coverage of topics in ethical theory. Edited by Hugh LaFollette, highly regarded for his contributions in the field of practical ethics, this important volume: Explores the connections between ethical theory and divisive contemporary debates Includes general and section introductions which map the conceptual terrain, making it easy for students to understand and discuss the theoretical and practical dimensions of the issues Offers up-to-date incisive discussion global, local, and personal ethical issues Provides original essays, new perspectives, and revisions of key critical texts Enables instructors to discuss specific practical issues, broader groupings of topics, and common themes that connect major areas in ethics Already a market-leading text for introductory and applied ethics courses, the latest edition of Ethics in Practice: An Anthology continues to bean essential resource for instructors and students in philosophy departments around the world.

King, Barbara J. Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat . Chicago: University of Chicago ... Singer , Peter and Jim Mason . The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter , 3rd edn. New York: Rodale, 2007."

How Television Shapes Our Worldview

Despite the fractured media scape and ideological distortions, the voice from television offers important lessons and ways to understand who we are as humans and how we interact with others, both locally and globally. This book offers a global perspective on how television shapes our perception of the world.

Media Representations of Social Trends and Change Deborah A . Macey, Kathleen M. Ryan, Noah J. Springer. Shanahan, James ... and Jim Mason . The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter . New York: Rodale, 2006. Singer , Peter ."

Eating and Ethics in Shakespeare's England

David B. Goldstein argues for a new understanding of Renaissance England from the perspective of communal eating. Rather than focus on traditional models of interiority, choice and consumption, Goldstein demonstrates that eating offered a central paradigm for the ethics of community formation. The book examines how sharing food helps build, demarcate and destroy relationships – between eater and eaten, between self and other, and among different groups. Tracing these eating relations from 1547 to 1680 – through Shakespeare, Milton, religious writers and recipe book authors – Goldstein shows that to think about eating was to engage in complex reflections about the body's role in society. In the process, he radically rethinks the communal importance of the Protestant Eucharist. Combining historicist literary analysis with insights from social science and philosophy, the book's arguments reverberate well beyond the Renaissance. Ultimately, Eating and Ethics in Shakespeare's England forces us to rethink our own relationship to food.

 Singer , Isidore, ed. The Jewish Encyclopaedia. Funk & Wagnalls, 1901. Singer , Peter . Practical Ethics . 3rd edn. Cambridge University Press, 2011. Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason . The Way We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter ."

Duties Regarding Nature

In this book, Toby Svoboda develops and defends a Kantian environmental virtue ethic, challenging the widely-held view that Kant's moral philosophy has little to offer environmental ethics. On the contrary, Svoboda contends that on Kantian grounds, there is good moral reason to care about non-human organisms in their own right and to value their flourishing independently of human interests, since doing so is constitutive of certain (environmental) virtues. Svoboda argues that Kant’s account of indirect duties regarding nature can ground a compelling environmental ethic: the Kantian duty to develop morally virtuous dispositions strictly proscribes unnecessarily harming organisms, and it also gives us moral reason to act in ways that benefit such organisms. Svoboda’s account engages the recent literature on environmental virtue (including Rosalind Hursthouse, Philip Cafaro, Ronald Sandler, Thomas Hill, and Louke van Wensveen) and provides an original argument for an environmental ethic firmly rooted in Kant’s moral philosophy.

Character and Environment: A Virtue-Oriented Approach to Environmental Ethics . New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. ... Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason . The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter . Emmaus: Rodale, 2006."

History of the Natural and Organic Foods Movement (1942-2020)

The world's most comprehensive, well documented and well illustrated book on this subject. With extensive subject and geographical index. 66 photographs and illustrations - mostly color. Free of charge in digital PDF format on Google Books.

[26 ref] • Summary: This is a book about green and ethical products. The ratings are not about flavor or sales or ... Singer , Peter ; Mason , Jim . 2006. The way we eat : Why our food choices matter . Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press, ..."

The Human Animal Earthling Identity

With The Human Animal Earthling Identity Carrie P. Freeman asks us to reconsider the devastating division we have created between the human and animal conditions, leading to mass exploitation, injustice, and extinction. As a remedy, Freeman believes social movements should collectively foster a cultural shift in human identity away from an egoistic anthropocentrism (human-centered outlook) and toward a universal altruism (species-centered ethic), so people may begin to see themselves more broadly as “human animal earthlings.” To formulate the basis for this identity shift, Freeman examines overlapping values (supporting life, fairness, responsibility, and unity) that are common in global rights declarations and in the current campaign messages of sixteen global social movement organizations that work on human/civil rights, nonhuman animal protection, and/or environmental issues, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, CARE, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the World Wildlife Fund, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Nature Conservancy, the Rainforest Action Network, and Greenpeace. She also interviews the leaders of these advocacy groups to gain their insights on how human and nonhuman protection causes can become allies by engaging common opponents and activating shared values and goals on issues such as the climate crisis, enslavement, extinction, pollution, inequality, destructive farming and fishing, and threats to democracy. Freeman’s analysis of activist discourse considers ethical ideologies on behalf of social justice, animal rights, and environmentalism, using animal rights’ respect for sentient individuals as a bridge connecting human rights to a more holistic valuing of species and ecological systems. Ultimately, Freeman uses her findings to recommend a set of universal values around which all social movements’ campaign messages can collectively cultivate respectful relations between “human animal earthlings,” fellow sentient beings, and the natural world we share.

Really Matters , What Really Works, edited by David Schmidtz and Elizabeth Willott, 105– 108. New York: Oxford University ... Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason . 2006. The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter . New York: Rodale."

Philosophy Comes to Dinner

Everyone is talking about food. Chefs are celebrities. "Locavore" and "freegan" have earned spots in the dictionary. Popular books and films about food production and consumption are exposing the unintended consequences of the standard American diet. Questions about the principles and values that ought to guide decisions about dinner have become urgent for moral, ecological, and health-related reasons. In Philosophy Comes to Dinner, twelve philosophers—some leading voices, some inspiring new ones—join the conversation, and consider issues ranging from the sustainability of modern agriculture, to consumer complicity in animal exploitation, to the pros and cons of alternative diets.

Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. Singer , Peter . Animal Liberation (reissued ed.). New York: Harper Perennial Modern Clas- sics, 2009. Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason . The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter ."

Food Justice and Narrative Ethics

Beth A. Dixon explores how food justice impacts on human lives. Stories and reports in national media feature on the one hand hunger, famine and food scarcity, and on the other, rising rates of morbid obesity and health issues. Other stories-food justice narratives-illustrate how to correct the ethical damage created by the first type of story. They detail the nature of oppression and structural injustice, and show how these conditions constrain choices, truncate moral agency, and limit opportunities to live well. With stories from national media, food and farming memoirs, and scholarly ethnographies, Dixon reveals how different food narratives are constructed, and enable identification of just solutions to issues surrounding food insecurity, farm labor, and the lived experience of obesity. Drawing on Aristotle's concept of ethical perception, Dixon demonstrates how we can use narratives to enhance our understanding and ethical competence about injustice in relation to food. Learning to See Food Justice is a must-read for students of food studies, philosophy, and media studies.

“ Growing Food Justice by Planting an Anti- Oppression Foundation: Opportunities and Obstacles for a Budding Social Movement . ... Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason . 2006. The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter ."

Right Research

The book is current and interdisciplinary, engaging with recent developments around this topic and including perspectives from sciences, arts, and humanities. It will be a welcome contribution to studies of the Anthropocene as well as studies of research methods and practices. —Sam Mickey, University of S. Francisco Educational institutions play an instrumental role in social and political change, and are responsible for the environmental and social ethics of their institutional practices. The essays in this volume critically examine scholarly research practices in the age of the Anthropocene, and ask what accountability educators and researchers have in ‘righting’ their relationship to the environment. The volume further calls attention to the geographical, financial, legal and political barriers that might limit scholarly dialogue by excluding researchers from participating in traditional modes of scholarly conversation. As such, Right Research is a bold invitation to the academic community to rigorous self-reflection on what their research looks like, how it is conducted, and how it might be developed so as to increase accessibility and sustainability, and decrease carbon footprint. The volume follows a three-part structure that bridges conceptual and practical concerns: the first section challenges our assumptions about how sustainability is defined, measured and practiced; the second section showcases artist-researchers whose work engages with the impact of humans on our environment; while the third section investigates how academic spaces can model eco-conscious behaviour. This timely volume responds to an increased demand for environmentally sustainable research, and is outstanding not only in its interdisciplinarity, but its embrace of non-traditional formats, spanning academic articles, creative acts, personal reflections and dialogues. Right Research will be a valuable resource for educators and researchers interested in developing and hybridizing their scholarly communication formats in the face of the current climate crisis.

 Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason , The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter (New York: Rodale Press, 2006). Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter, 'It's not my fault: Global warming and individual moral obligations', in Perspectives on ..."

Food Justice in US and Global Contexts

This book offers fresh perspectives on issues of food justice. The chapters emerged from a series of annual workshops on food justice held at Michigan State University between 2013 and 2015, which brought together a wide variety of interested people to learn from and work with each other. Food justice can be studied from such diverse perspectives as philosophy, anthropology, economics, gender and sexuality studies, geography, history, literary criticism, philosophy and sociology as well as the human dimensions of agricultural and environmental sciences. As such, interdisciplinary workshops are a much-needed vehicle to improve our understanding of the subject, which is at the center of a vibrant and growing discourse not only among academics from a wide range of disciplines but also among policy makers and community activists. The book includes their perspectives, offering a wide range of approaches to and conceptions of food justice in a variety of contexts. This invaluable work requires readers to cross boundaries and be open to new ideas based on different assumptions.

 we should not overlook: Do the examples of innovation in food system governance that we have before us in this section represent resistance ... Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason . 2006. The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter ."

The Ecophobia Hypothesis

The Ecophobia Hypothesis grows out of the sense that while the theory of biophilia has productively addressed ideal human affinities with nature, the capacity of “the biophilia hypothesis” as an explanatory model of human/ environment relations is limited. The biophilia hypothesis cannot adequately account for the kinds of things that are going on in the world, things so extraordinary that we are increasingly coming to understand the current age as “the Anthropocene.” Building on the usefulness of the biophilia hypothesis, this book argues that biophilia exists on a broader spectrum that has not been adequately theorized. The Ecophobia Hypothesis claims that in order to contextualize biophilia (literally, the “love of life”) and the spectrum on which it sits, it is necessary to theorize how very un-philic human uses of the natural world are. This volume offers a rich tapestry of connected, comparative discussions about the new material turn and the urgent need to address the agency of genes, about the complexities of 21st century representations of ecophobia, and about how imagining terror interpenetrates the imagining of an increasingly oppositional natural environment. Furthermore, this book proposes that ecophobia is one root cause that explains why ecomedia—a veritably thriving industry—is having so little measurable impact in transforming our adaptive capacities. The ecophobia hypothesis offers an equation that determines the variable spectrums of the Anthropocene by measuring the ecophobic implications and inequalities of speciesism and the entanglement of environmental ethics with the writing of literary madness and pain. This work also investigates how current ecophobic perspectives systemically institutionalize the infrastructures of industrial agriculture and waste management. This is a book about revealing ecophobia and prompting transformational change.

“Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene.” The New York Times, ... Singer , Peter , and Jim Mason . Practical Ethics , 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1993. –––. The Ethics of What We Eat : Why Our Food Choices Matter . Rodale, 2007."

History of Cheese, Cream Cheese and Sour Cream Alternatives (With or Without Soy) (1896-2013):

The world's most comprehensive, well documented, and well illustrated book on this subject. With extensive index. 28 cm. Free of charge in digital format on Google Books.

[26 ref] • Summary: This is a book about green and ethical products. The ratings are not about flavor or sales or ... Singer , Peter ; Mason , Jim . 2006. The way we eat : Why our food choices matter . Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Press, ..."