Meat in a Celebration Society

Meat consumption is a problem is many ways. A substitute for industrial “farming” of animals is needed. This could take the form of vegetable “meats” (more on this below) or a 21st century alternative to industrialized animal “husbandry”.

We will, in future, grow meat in vats in a factory-type environment without the involvement of any conscious animals. Such an alternative would reduce suffering, yield greater efficiency in conversion of resources into food (half the energy), eliminate need for antibiotics and hormones, and eliminate meat production as a source of greenhouse gases (25 times less), and reduced need for land (just 1%), are all significant.

While some recoil in principle at this, some of those same people may soon be enjoying replacement organs in their own bodies that were similarly grown. (Already, scientists have replaced a person’s trachea, grown ears, and created miniature versions of other human organs.)

I doubt that a person who’s experiencing liver failure or whose ear was lost in an accident will object to replacement organs being grown from their own stem cells. Vat grown meats will be 100% organic, optimally nutritious and cruelty free. They will be biologically indistinguishable from the same meats cut from the carcass of a once-living animal that lived (in most cases) a miserable life so that we might eat it.

I eat meat. I’m not sitting in judgment of anyone who does or does not do so. (My wife is a vegetarian, and I have been one on several occasions for years at a time. I simply find it too hard to sustain; she is stronger-willed in this regard.)

But if a Celebration Society is to adopt a philosophy of sustainability and minimizing the harm to innocent creatures, it will have to adopt new approaches to generating its meat—unless it is founded on vegetarianism, which would be at the founders’ option. Cruelty-free is a concept with some variations in interpretation, and raising animals on natural pasture with room to roam; later killing them in the quickest manner possible, satisfies this criterion for some. Not so for others.

I simply point out that, as we move further into the 21st century, such meat will increasingly be available directly, without a living being involved. In addition, some companies have figured out how to make startlingly realistic meat substitutes from vegetables. Some examples:

• Meatballs from Quorn. Serve them in a dish to friends, without explanation. I can almost guarantee you that your friends will ask what kind of meat this is, while enjoying the flavor, texture and aroma.
• Likewise, Quorn (which uses mushroom protein as a primary ingredient) makes a fine chicken substitute.
• Another company, Impossible Foods, makes the Impossible Burger. Reportedly, it looks, cooks and tastes like a good hamburger. It even oozes juice.

If a Celebration Society doesn’t want to be heavy-handed in compelling movement away from “farmed” meat, there is another option. As discussed in the book, “nudges” (as proposed by Cass Sunstein) can substitute in many cases for regulation and law. In this case, my wife Jennifer has conceived a complementary currency (CC) called “Meat Money”.

Essentially, each resident would be issued a fixed amount of this CC every week, electronically. The system would not allow sale of meat or meat-containing meals for national currency alone; one would have to match that money with Meat Money. In this way, the total consumption of meat would be limited to a level that the society deemed acceptable.

However, it gets more interesting. There would be an electronic market in which Meat Money could be traded for other money. So, vegetarians or others who eat less meat would be rewarded by earning an extra regular income from their abstention. Everyone who wanted to do so could enjoy some meat, but those wanting larger amounts would have to pay what the market will bear for enough Meat Money.

Vat meat could be exempt, and of course vegetable “meats” would not be included. This is but one possible solution, if a Celebration Society wants to limit meat consumption.