[Mz]

Serious question: How do you feel about the way plants are treated?

I'm an environmental studies major. I've read stuff that indicates that plants "scream" when harmed (emit a pulse which humans can't detect but which other plants can) and they also communicate to other plants about dangers in the area (such as insects chewing on them and harming them).

Curious as to how far you think we should take this stand against "speciesism". (EDIT: I mean, for example, should we protest that the sheep are stepping on and eating the grass? I'm sure the grass doesn't much appreciate it -- and, no, I am not being facetious.)

[noidi]

Here's a blog post about this issue that you should find interesting. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/tinted-lenses/200912/scr...

My personal point of view is that I do not want to cause any suffering when I can avoid doing so (i.e. when my survival does not depend on it). Only a conscious being can suffer, and, as far as I know, plants are not conscious. There are organisms of all levels of complexity between single-cell organisms and homo sapiens, and no-one knows for sure where true consciousness begins, but the line between things and beings needs to be drawn somewhere. I have personally drawn the line between plants and animals, just to be on the safe side. It may be too far, and there's a risk that I'm not using some things for fear of causing suffering to a conscious being, but I'm OK with that.

[Mz]

Thank you for sharing that. However, I will comment on this bit:

Can they feel fear and pain in a way that we can comprehend? Almost certainly not.

I personally think this is a silly argument: Just because we are unable to perceive their suffering doesn't mean it isn't real. Lots of animals also have senses that are quite different from humans: Carrier pigeons sense something we cannot which helps them navigate, hammerhead sharks sense electrical fields that most humans cannot (though my understanding is some humans are more sensitive to this than others), and elephants communicate over long distances using very low sound waves that humans cannot hear. Does the fact that humans fail to perceive these things invalidate them? I don't think so.

I think your lifestyle choice is admirable. But I don't see any real reason to hold animals as somehow more sacred (for lack of a better word) than plants. Or to view this in moral terms per se. (FWIW, a lot of people often interpret things I say/advocate as "moral" whereas in many cases I would classify them as merely "pragmatic".)

Peace.