Has your work on invertebrate sentience changed the dietary habits of any of your staff? Would any of you recommend for/against bivalveganism or similar “vegan except some invertebrates” diets?
I agree that bivalves are probably the least likely to be sentient of the animals that are easily available to eat. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend eating them because there may be issues with the way they are collected. (I haven’t looked into this at all.) I don’t eat them because I don’t find it particularly hard not to eat meat, and it’s easier to explain my dietary restrictions to people if there aren’t too many exceptions.
The research I did for my honey bee report has affected the way I feel about almonds. It hasn’t really reduced my almond consumption, but I now feel slightly guilty about eating almonds. Modern almond farming is pretty bad for bees, and bees are super cool and smart. From a bee welfare perspective, I’m pretty confident eating commercially farmed almonds is worse than eating wildflower honey. (Note that most honey is not wildflower honey.)
I do think that the chances of bivalves being sentient are quite low. However, I do not eat them because I’m already used to a plant-based diet, and given our uncertainty, I adhere to the precautionary principle in this case.
In general, I would not recommend consuming marine invertebrates produced in countries where trawling is not banned, given its impact on other aquatic animals for whom there is a high probability that they are sentient (i.e., fish and other vertebrates).
Still, I’m unsure about the consequences of promoting bivalve consumption, even if they are farmed. I’m concerned about how some people might interpret such a message –e.g., they may assume, without much thought, that consuming other more complex invertebrates (e.g., shrimps) is equivalent.
I used to somewhat regularly eat shrimp because I did not think they were sentient. As a result of this report, I now do not eat shrimp and have returned to being vegetarian.
I already did not consume bivalves mainly because I don’t like their taste, so that hasn’t been a concern for me.
I wonder if a diet consisting primarily of farmed bivalves would be the most ethical, ignoring cost. I still think they’re very unlikely to be sentient, and much less likely to be sentient than the insects routinely killed with pesticides.
This could depend substantially on the effects on wild animals and your beliefs about the welfare of wild animals. What are the effects of agriculture on the populations of insects, for example, and how would insects live and die otherwise?
I’ve generally become much more chill about coexisting with invertebrates in and around my house. Mostly I just find them fascinating now rather than scary or repugnant, especially arthropods (the phylum that insects and spiders belong to). That said, I did recently kill a scorpion that had stung my daughter, so I guess there are limits to my tolerance.
Yes, now I’m more careful while walking outside. After our research on invertebrates, I also placed a net in some windows at home, and I purposefully keep them closed as long as possible to prevent any flying insects from visiting us and being “welcomed” by my cats.
Has your work on invertebrate sentience changed the dietary habits of any of your staff? Would any of you recommend for/against bivalveganism or similar “vegan except some invertebrates” diets?
I agree that bivalves are probably the least likely to be sentient of the animals that are easily available to eat. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend eating them because there may be issues with the way they are collected. (I haven’t looked into this at all.) I don’t eat them because I don’t find it particularly hard not to eat meat, and it’s easier to explain my dietary restrictions to people if there aren’t too many exceptions.
The research I did for my honey bee report has affected the way I feel about almonds. It hasn’t really reduced my almond consumption, but I now feel slightly guilty about eating almonds. Modern almond farming is pretty bad for bees, and bees are super cool and smart. From a bee welfare perspective, I’m pretty confident eating commercially farmed almonds is worse than eating wildflower honey. (Note that most honey is not wildflower honey.)
I do think that the chances of bivalves being sentient are quite low. However, I do not eat them because I’m already used to a plant-based diet, and given our uncertainty, I adhere to the precautionary principle in this case.
In general, I would not recommend consuming marine invertebrates produced in countries where trawling is not banned, given its impact on other aquatic animals for whom there is a high probability that they are sentient (i.e., fish and other vertebrates).
Still, I’m unsure about the consequences of promoting bivalve consumption, even if they are farmed. I’m concerned about how some people might interpret such a message –e.g., they may assume, without much thought, that consuming other more complex invertebrates (e.g., shrimps) is equivalent.
I used to somewhat regularly eat shrimp because I did not think they were sentient. As a result of this report, I now do not eat shrimp and have returned to being vegetarian.
I already did not consume bivalves mainly because I don’t like their taste, so that hasn’t been a concern for me.
I wonder if a diet consisting primarily of farmed bivalves would be the most ethical, ignoring cost. I still think they’re very unlikely to be sentient, and much less likely to be sentient than the insects routinely killed with pesticides.
This could depend substantially on the effects on wild animals and your beliefs about the welfare of wild animals. What are the effects of agriculture on the populations of insects, for example, and how would insects live and die otherwise?
Also, behaviour generally, like being more careful while walking outside, or in dealing with insects and spiders in your homes?
I’ve generally become much more chill about coexisting with invertebrates in and around my house. Mostly I just find them fascinating now rather than scary or repugnant, especially arthropods (the phylum that insects and spiders belong to). That said, I did recently kill a scorpion that had stung my daughter, so I guess there are limits to my tolerance.
Yes, now I’m more careful while walking outside.
After our research on invertebrates, I also placed a net in some windows at home, and I purposefully keep them closed as long as possible to prevent any flying insects from visiting us and being “welcomed” by my cats.