What do you say in response to "but plants are living too"?

I constantly have to partake in debate questioning vegetarianism. I say that it's wrong to kill animals because they're living beings, then my meat-eating friends say that plants are living too. What do I say in response to that?
Thanks!

Plants don't have brains or nervous systems and cannot experience pain in any way, shape or form; at most they have chemical reactions to their surroundings.

Besides, if someone was concerned about plants dying, it's all the MORE reason to eat vegetarian because to raise an animal for slaughter consumes thousands of pounds of plants and gallons of water. In fact, when you average it out, it takes 16 pounds of plants and 2,500 gallons of water to make a single pound of meat. Mention that 80% of the WORLD'S major resources go to sustain the meat industry and, in an eco-conscious time, the greatest contributor to global warming is animal agriculture (18% total contribution to global warming; the only close second is all the cars on the planet with 13% or so).

If there is not nervous system, there is no pain.

Whomever you are talking to as them, if they missed 5th grade? Ask them if they have ever heard of a nervous system?

i'd like to know what other people say to this question as well. When i am personally asked, i usually say that i won't eat anything that had a heart-beat stopped for my enjoyment. It rules out the hard to answer questions and expresses the reason i am vegetarian. I have been asked this question though and i explain how its not the same thing. how plants don't feel the same way animals do.

say thier not rotting corpses like you and i will be one day, and they dont have nervous systems.

That plants do not have a nervous system and cannot experience pain or fear or suffering as animals can.

That, as a vegan, I am actually responsible for the death of fewer plants because I'm not supporting the feeding of vast amounts of grain to livestock in exchange for a few meager pounds of beef.

Or, I don't say anything at all. Honestly, it's a particularly weak argument on the part of whoever is attempting to debate you. Try saying to begin with that you feel it's wrong to kill animals not because they're *living* beings, but because they are *sentient* beings. Maybe you won't get the "plants are living, too" argument at all.

most spiritual gurus hav clarified that karma inherited from consuming plants are passable, so why bring upon such a question?

I respond with a blank stare.

HINT: Rather than say "it's wrong to kill animals because they're living beings," say "I am vegetarian because I believe it is it's wrong to kill SENTIENT beings." Plants are alive, but they are not sentient.

I say that plants don't have faces.

You tell them to go eat a big fat steak, and let you have your nasty vegetables.

I say (sarcastically): "Yeah, you're right. There's absolutely no difference between skinning a cat alive and mowing your lawn." That usually helps people to come to their senses.

Instead of mentioning "living beings", you could say that you believe it's wrong to cause sentient beings to suffer. If your friends say "what about plants?" then you could follow-up by explaining that plants have no brains or nerve endings and are not sentient.

More:
http://ar.vegnews.org/killing_plants.htm...
http://ar.vegnews.org/what_if_plants_fee...

The following is directly copied from -

http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/healt...

I copied it because I really could not express it any better myself:


Anyone who has came up with the 'plants suffer' nonsense are obviously so uniformed about any real issues that they resort to childlike hypothesis.

Plants have no central nervous system. They have evolved more or less, to be digested by herbivores like us humans and in fact if you look at the seeds of many plants they do not become dispersed until they are digested and excreted by animals.

Secondly many plants do not grow from seed until they are scorched by bush fires for example. Doesn鈥檛 sound like these plants have feelings eh?

What you normally find is that pathetic uniformed attacks like the one you described are from those who are inwardly scared by their own health. Fact - eating animals raises cholesterol encourages organ disease and cancers.

I have gone past the stage where I care what other people do to their bodies. Unfortunately though the billions of animals that have to die often with immense suffering prior to their deaths, are the reason why I do care.

Those morons who use the plant argument are in fact arguing that animals DO suffer! So next time one of these pinnacles of rudeness attempts to belittle your lifestyle choices, remind them that they are supporting your premises that animals feel pain and suffer. So do they feel happy about that?


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These are my thoughts from my own research & study, so you can use these 鈥渁rguments鈥?too:

Being Vegan helps the environment 鈥?according to a study published in 2007, a kilogram of beef generates the equivalent of 36.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide.

Being Vegan helps protect the world鈥檚 ancient natural wonders 鈥?rainforests are cleared to raise (feed) cattle for beef. At least 50% of the world鈥檚 rainforests have been cleared to date.

Being Vegan helps the save dwindling water supplies 鈥?masses amount of water is used to grow grain to fatten animals just for meat consumption According to a recent Newsweek article; it takes 13,250 litres of water to produce one steak. To produce just 4.5 kilos of steak requires the same amount of water as is used by an average household for an entire year.

Being Vegan will help to end famine in Third World countries 鈥?there is a world shortage of grain for humans, as this grain is being grown to fatten animals just for meat consumption.

According to a Cornell University study in the USA, the amount of grain consumed by animals being raised for slaughter in the meat industry, could feed approximately 800 million hungry people.

According to the World Watch Institute, it takes 7kg of grain to produce 1kg of beef, 2kg of grain to produce 1kg of poultry and 2kg of grain to produce 1kg of farmed fish. Producing animal protein takes up to 15 times more water compared with producing plant protein.



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Plants dont have nervous systems so they cant feel pain.
Although the plants are living, they dont have consiousness, its not like its taking a life away or inflicting unneccessery pain
Good for you being veggie aswel! x

Why would you say something as a response?

Just walk away and try your hardest not to laugh at their stupidity.

No one that knows what they're talking about ever says that vegetarians do not eat living things.

Vegetarians do not eat animals. It's that simple.

Maybe you explained it incorrectly or maybe you should stop telling people that you are vegetarian if they aren't close enough to you to notice without an announcement.

ask the person if they're 7 years old
and then remind them that plants don't have nerves, plants cant feel pain, and that plants cant see or hear and never experience "life" though they are living.
or you could choose not to answer at all--thats what ive done when people say this to me

Yes they are alive, but they are also not sentient and have no central nervous system and are therefore immune to suffering.

Well, to start off, you should try instead to say "it's wrong to kill animals because they feel pain." Explain that animals and humans are "sentient" beings, which means that we are self-aware. Plants are living, yes, but not sentient and they don't feel pain.

A plant does not have a brain, so it may be living but not in the sense of something living.. lol if u get me.
Its your choice to not eat meat, they should respect your decision!

if your religious. plants were given to us to eat when the earth was first created. animals were not. it was not until Adam and eve sinned that man started to eat meat. In short, Animals were never created to be eaten.