My nephew has become a vegetarian!1515 unread replies.1515 replies.My nephew (16 years old) has

My nephew has become a vegetarian!1515 unread replies.1515 replies.My nephew (16 years old) has recently decided to become a vegetarian.  I now have to deal with the guilt. 😊
He’s made this decision not because he doesn’t want to eat meat, but because of what the production of meat is doing to the climate.  If you don’t know, the meat industry and the deforestation that is required to support it, is one of the leading reasons for the warming of the Earth.  He’ll eat fresh caught fish and he tells me that if I went deer-hunting he’d have some venison.  But he doesn’t want to buy into the meat industry that is undermining the health of the planet.
Other vegetarians I know have a different ethical reason.  Both the eText and the resources (especially the material on Peter Singer) give you the argument that the meat industry is fundamentally cruel to animals.  And it doesn’t take much research to confirm that that’s true.  If you feel like your pet dog or cat has a right to life, it is odd that you would be willing to engage in the mass murder process that is the meat industry.
I eat meat, but I feel like there are so many reasons I should move away from it–and now my nephew is upping the pressure. 😊  However, fifty years of meat eating makes it hard for me to commit to that.  What should I do?  It’s like an addiction.
I know it sounds odd, but you really should have an ethical justification for why you are willing to buy into the industrialization of meat consumption.  Why do you eat meat?  Or, for that matter, own leather or suede?  Frankly–I can’t come with a good ethical reason for why any of us should eat mass produced meat products.  The only reason I seem to ever get is, “Because I like it.”  But that’s an aesthetic, not an ethical reason.  I’m stuck in an ethical dilemma.
What do you do?  Do you care?  Do you eat meat?  Why or why not?  Do animals have intrinsic value?