Posthuman Blues

Lab-Grown Meat for Ethical Carnivores

"We're trying to make meat without having to kill animals," Bernard Roelen, a veterinary science professor at Utrecht University, said in an interview.

Although it is in its early stages, the idea is to replace harvesting meat from livestock with a process that eliminates the need for animal feed, transport, land use and the methane expelled by animals, which all hurt the environment, he said.

I get the "Why don't you eat meat?" question surprisingly often, considering I rarely mention my vegetarianism. I don't like using the "ethical" rap (even though I do think meat consumption is fraught with some serious ethical problems), so my latest justification is purely environmental: eating cows (or pigs or whatever) simply doesn't make sense in an age threatened by greenhouse emissions and desertification.

Strangely, a lot of people think eating vat-grown meat is way-gross. Maybe so. But it sure as hell beats the alternative.