{"id":335778,"date":"2024-07-07T09:06:25","date_gmt":"2024-07-07T07:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=335778"},"modified":"2024-07-07T09:06:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T07:06:28","slug":"is-it-ethical-to-recommend-eating-bugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=335778","title":{"rendered":"Is it ethical to recommend eating bugs?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Duggan Flanakin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Six years ago, the World Economic Forum reported<\/a> that insects are \u201cgood grub,\u201d citing a Meticulous Research study<\/a> predicting that the global market for edible insects could grow to $1.18 billion by 2023 \u2013 triple the 2018 level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years later, another WEF report listed \u201cfive reasons why eating insects could reduce climate change.\u201d Topping the list was the argument that edible insects, particularly crickets, can produce equivalent amounts of quality protein when compared to animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WEF also claimed that insects require less care and upkeep than livestock \u2013 and less feed, less water, less transport fuel, and less human labor \u2013 all with a smaller carbon footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating insects is ever better for the environment than eating plants, said the WEF, because plants require land and machinery use, water use, manufacturing, processing, and transportation \u2013 among other activities during which carbon is emitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third absurdity the WEF cited was that \u201cwe\u2019re actually running out of protein.\u201d The Malthusians claimed that the demand for protein for 10 billion earthlings cannot be met. This at the same time that, using artificial intelligence, scientists are creating proteins<\/a> in laboratories and telling us that, before long, 3D-printed foods of all kinds will be readily available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you choke on cricket legs, the WEF also states that \u201cinsects are part of a virtuous<\/em> eco-cycle.\u201d Indeed, insects that feed on decaying organic materials (spent grains from breweries, they note, along with organic material in landfills) are contributors to \u201ccircular agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WEF does not mention here that humans who eat insects are depriving birds, bats, spiders, amphibians, reptiles, fish, other mammals, carnivorous plants, and even centipedes and ground beetles (which we deem as cannibalistic insects) of their essential diets. Not to worry, though, because the WEF suggests we merely ease into insect consumption by feeding them to livestock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the record, the insects-for-dinner concept is a newcomer to the ethical and environmentalist scene. Way back in 1944, a small group of vegetarians coined the term \u201cvegan\u201d to describe a lifestyle<\/a> (unlike regular vegetarians) to not consume dairy, eggs, or any other product of animal origin (including honey).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vegan Society calls veganism \u201ca philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude \u2026 all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.\u201d Ethical veganism is based on the belief that \u201call creatures have a right to life and freedom,\u201d they say. For these and other reasons, vegans do not eat<\/a> insects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WEF does not even consider whether it has offended vegans with its talk of eating bugs. But it was the United Nations\u2019 Food and Agriculture Organization that in 2009<\/a> published a time, \u201cHow to Feed the World in 2050,\u201d that many say inspired the insect eaters toward a commercialization and widespread adoption campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years later the FAO\u2019s follow-up report, \u201cEdible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security,\u201d advocated for the nutritional and environmental benefits of consuming insects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, in 2011, The Wall Street Journal<\/em> joined the fray, publishing<\/a> an article, \u201cThe Six-Legged Meat of the Future,\u201d which encouraged human consumption of these \u201csustainable protein alternatives\u201d that are high in protein but with a much lower environmental footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year later, All Things Bugs, LLC, received a $100,000 grant<\/a> from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to \u201cdevelop a method for the efficient production of nutritionally dense food using insect species.\u201d The Grand Challenges Explorations grant authorized a global health and development research project entitled, \u201cGood Bugs: Sustainable Food for Malnutrition in Children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals when all this was going on? Where was the Vegan Society? Perhaps they were all just celebrating the arrival of Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods \u2013 cultured meat burgers made without even insect protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, as Jessica Scott-Reid<\/a> reports, \u201cthere is at least one important difference between bugs and cultivated meat.\u201d Her fellow Sentient Media writer Claire Hamlett argues that \u201cmost people don\u2019t think of insects as sentient, despite a growing body of research \u2026 testing and demonstrating insect intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, says Hamlett, we know that bees (among other things) \u201cknow their own individual body dimensions, a capacity associated with consciousness in humans.\u201d They also appear to experience both pleasure and pain. Her conclusion? \u201cIt now looks like at least some species of insects \u2013 and maybe all of them \u2013 are sentient.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For that reason, she says, many researchers who study the intelligence of insects \u201cwarn against scaling up the bug farming industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lest anyone think the question of whether or not to \u201cencourage\u201d humans to eat bugs is a fringe conversation (given the WEF\u2019s gung-ho approach), you might be surprised to learn<\/a> that at least one major American university has been urging (in a diversity, equity, and inclusion curriculum) to \u201clive like a bug\u201d in order to understand \u201cmarginalized\u201d groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That information was shared by Daily Signal<\/em> investigative reporter Tony Kinnett just last month. Kinnett was reporting on a major study<\/a> by Timothy Minella at the Goldwater Institute which revealed that students who enroll in an entomology course at the University of Arizona are directed to \u201creflect in personal writing assignments on the assumptions that inform popular attitudes towards insects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are we ready as a society to conclude that eating insects is a grotesque form of cannibalism? Should we now condemn Bill Gates, the FAO, the WEF, and other insect-as-food promoters are monsters assaulting yet another group of \u201csentient beings\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or should we just walk out to the backyard grill and flip the burgers, salmon, and steaks while grabbing another beer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six years ago, the World Economic Forum reported that insects are \u201cgood grub,\u201d citing a Meticulous Research study predicting that the global market for edible insects could grow to $1.18 billion by 2023 \u2013 triple the 2018 level.<\/p>\n

Four years later, another WEF report listed \u201cfive reasons why eating insects could reduce climate change.\u201d Topping the list was the argument that edible insects, particularly crickets, can produce equivalent amounts of quality protein when compared to animals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":335782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691829576,691828205],"class_list":{"0":"post-335778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-creating-proteins","10":"tag-world-economic-forum-wef","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0eating-insects.jpg?fit=1472%2C1210&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1plM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":338412,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=338412","url_meta":{"origin":335778,"position":0},"title":"You Will Eat Bugs. 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