PLANTS HAVE FEELINGS

PLANTS HAVE FEELINGS, TOO

 

In all my years as a vegan I have only heard this argument about two million times.  Usually it is stated by someone who feeds plants to animals, mows their lawn, or chops down hundred year old trees.  But in the interest of not being closed minded, I have decided to address this issue.

First, let me state, I have been an avid gardener for over 40 years, so I think I have the expertise to address this issue.  I currently have a quarter acre garden and numerous house plants. I have a sweet banana pepper plant that is about 10 years old.  Many of my house plants are 15 to 20 years old. My outdoor garden has trees that are nearing 100 years old.  The point here is that my plants live out their lives to the fullest. If they are meant to live 100 years they will live 100 years. Whereas, the meat and dairy industries cut the lifespan of their animals by over a decade.

All the videos I have seen on the internet of experiments to demonstrate plants have feelings have shown scientists testing a mimosa, otherwise known as sensitive plant. This plant is well named. All you have to do is blow on it and its leaves will curl. Plants do not have a central nervous system.  Their roots are their foundation of life. You can take the tubers from some plant roots, and split them, replant them and get multiple plants from the same plant.

Two wrongs don’t make a right. If people believe plants have feelings, then they are doing twice the harm by feeding their livestock plants and then killing those animals. Farmers are more likely to harm plants just with their farming practices.

Most of the food we get from plants does not cause any harm to the plant. For instance, I have several apple trees in my yard.  Each fall, they get hundreds of apples.  I gather some, some fall to the ground. The ones that fall to the ground are eaten by animals.  With fruit bearing plants, the fruit is the seed pod and it is meant to be eaten by animals.  The animals then expel the seeds in their waste matter.  The seeds then sprout and turn into more trees. That is the life cycle.  Most of the food that comes from plants is fruit and follows this cycle.  When you take a calf from a cow and eat it, another calf does not grow from your waste matter.

Several times a year, the place where I work participates in trade shows.  They take plants with them to decorate their booths.  The plants usually come back in poor shape.  I bring them home and nurse them back to health.  Sometimes they are so bad I have to prune them down.  Within a few days, they start to grow back and in a couple of weeks they are as good as new.  I prune bushes and the branches grow back. In the winter, deer eat my plants to the ground.  As soon as spring comes, they start to grow back and usually come back in better condition than before. You cut a branch off a plant, it grows back.  If you cut a leg off a cow, it will not grow back.

In the spring, I take cuttings from my Weeping Willow trees and plant them in pots.  Usually in about 3 weeks I have another Weeping Willow tree.  If I cut an ear from a pig, and plant in dirt, I will not get another pig.

There are very few plants that get killed for food. Offhand I can’t think of any. Some plants will flower, fruit, and then die.  That is their life cycle.  A vegan is not 100% perfect, but our goal is to the least harm. Eating animals and dairy cause a lot more harm to animals and our planet then a vegan diet.