As I have been blogging on this site for a little while, I see some of the exchanges in the comment streams on other folk’s posts. I was surprised to see that Vegans don’t use honey because it involves domsticated bees. That has raised a few random questions for me. (Full disclosure, I am a slightly reformed omnivore but at least I had a tufu-based dinner tonight).
I really don’t mean these questions to be combative. I’d just like to understand a different point of view. Here are my questions:
1. Are Vegans OK with eating “Organic” produce or grains that have been fertilized with animal manures? If you say it is not ok to eat honey because it involves an animal, I would expect that the dependency of Organic agriculture on animal wastes would be problematic from a Vegan point of view. Is that true?
2. Are Vegans OK with eating crops which need to be pollinated by bees (not wild bees but bees trucked in in hives for crops like almonds, blue berries…).
Seriously, I’m just wondering.
Bee image by wohack
It’s amazing how many people (vegans and non-vegans) have replied here and none of them have a response that seems convincing to me. So here’s my perspective.
I am vegan, and i gave up honey and i encourage people to give it up, too. Here’s why ..
1. Honey is basically the bee’s survival food, accumulated slowly by collecting nectar from thousands of flowers. And it is meant to help them tide over tough times. It doesn’t seem decent or compassionate of humans NOT ethical to treat bees like slaves and cultivate their winter food for our consumption.
2. Honey is really ‘bee vomit’. Yes, that’s right, vomit. The stuff is regurgitated right from their stomachs after they collect it. People who quickly jump and say, “It’s pasteurized” should know that the process is not very useful because then, you’re destroying all the beneficial ‘Amylase’ (an ingredient which has predigestive properties).
And now to answer your first question: Veganism doesn’t have to be perceived as an absolute pure or strict avoidance of ALL THINGS even remotely touched by animals. It is simply a conscious and compassionate lifestyle that involves continuous refinement in the decisions that govern our choices, as you go. I don’t think using animal manure harms the animal in any way, or, say, robs it of a produce that threatens its life in any way.
There! My two cents.
Toran,
There is a far better use for the manure – energy via a digester or by pyrolysis.
As for wild bees, there is a large and successful program in Europe called “Operation Bumble Bee.” Syngenta is offering farmers seeds for flowers to plant at field margins etc that are good for supporting wild bees
I am glad you asked these Questions. Here is my answers.
To answer your first Q?
1. Not “all” organic farms use animal waste, a lot use human waste. By farming terms it is called [b]cake[/b]. what did you think happened to your turd after flushed it? Aside from that not all organic farms use animal manure, actually many don’t. They use what is called green manure, a green manure is a type of cover crop grown primarily to add nutrients and organic matter to the soil. As for the farms that use animals waste I don’t see a big problem in recycling a waste product, yes I wish that was a product that did not exist. But it does and it needs to be dealt with, as for using this as an argument to say that vegans are hypocrites, I say meat eaters are grasping at straws now.
2.Read this site thoroughly http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm [b]This part mainly [/b] http://www.vegetus.org/honey/ecology.htm [b]Honey bees are very bad for the enviroment…[/b]
Hope this answers your Questions
just retweeted your post
it’s seriously a good question
I’m not Vegan myself but I’m thinking about it.