u/skulloflugosi

Omnivorous students sat down at a desk to consider this question: do animals have minds? People’s answers were influenced by whether they expected to eat meat in the coming minutes. 

Those whose next beef burger was a more distant prospect were more willing to allow that animals are not automata.

But whether or not an animal has a mind can’t depend on the precise timing of one’s next sausage roll. 

What was doing the work for these participants was guilt suppression: their actions conflicted with their beliefs, so they were ready to alter their beliefs just so that their actions prompted less discomfort. 

Their emotions, not their rationality, were in the driving seat.

>The number of mammals and poultry farmed worldwide has increased by half in the last two decades, research shows, and the amount of cropland used for feeding livestock has increased by about a quarter.

>These increases are putting rising pressure on natural systems, threatening wildlife and plant species and adding to the climate crisis.

>The rising demand for meat comes at a time when agricultural land is already becoming less fertile, with an area the size of Canada now suffering degradation. This situation is worsening: about 90% of water withdrawn from natural systems for irrigation is used to grow animal feed.