Human beings have developed the science and technology to grow crops to feed the population on a massive scale. In fact, growing plants takes a much lower energy input per output calorie than farming animals for meat. Meat production requires the production of plants first in order to feed the meat animals; it’s extremely inefficient compared to producing plants for direct human consumption. Not only does a vegetarian diet reduce animal suffering, it’s also a more efficient use of natural resources.

Predatory animals do not have this option. The owl that eats a mouse isn’t doing it because he would rather eat a mouse than a soybean. He’s doing it because eating a mouse is the only way he’ll survive. Owls do not have farms, genetically modified crops, fertilizers, statistical analysis of crop yield, or any else of our agricultural advancements.

The fact of the matter is that human have no need to eat meat. We eat meat because we want to, not because it’s necessary for our survival. If you choose to have a steak for dinner, you’re making a decision that your desire for a specific flavor of food is more important than the suffering of a cow that provided the meat.

We are still evolving culturally, but we have moved past a lot of horrible things that we did throughout history. We can afford animals with the same right to life and happiness that we afford each other. The fact that so many people refuse to make even the smallest effort toward that goal is disgusting. “Eat something else” is such as simple request, yet the smallest inconvenience is just too much to handle. What does that say about our species?