For vegetarians, this sense of belonging to the Earth awakens a sense of responsibility for the Earth. Just as we cannot be indifferent to what harms our human friends, so we cannot be unconcerned about what harms the natural world. To eat meat is to be a party to such harm. Topsoil is being washed and blown away. Once fertile pastures have become barren deserts because of over-grazing.
Water supplies grow perilously scarce.
Rivers and streams are open sewers of pollution. Lush, irreplaceable rain forests are being plowed under in the name of cheaper hamburgers. All this and more, incalcuably more, is the environmental legacy of commercial animal agriculture as we know it. But there is a better way. Vegetarians are guided by the principle of doing the least harm, a principle that applies to our dealings with the Earth, not just our interactions with one another.