Thank you for sharing that. However, I will comment on this bit:
Can they feel fear and pain in a way that we can comprehend? Almost certainly not.
I personally think this is a silly argument: Just because we are unable to perceive their suffering doesn't mean it isn't real. Lots of animals also have senses that are quite different from humans: Carrier pigeons sense something we cannot which helps them navigate, hammerhead sharks sense electrical fields that most humans cannot (though my understanding is some humans are more sensitive to this than others), and elephants communicate over long distances using very low sound waves that humans cannot hear. Does the fact that humans fail to perceive these things invalidate them? I don't think so.
I think your lifestyle choice is admirable. But I don't see any real reason to hold animals as somehow more sacred (for lack of a better word) than plants. Or to view this in moral terms per se. (FWIW, a lot of people often interpret things I say/advocate as "moral" whereas in many cases I would classify them as merely "pragmatic".)
Can they feel fear and pain in a way that we can comprehend? Almost certainly not.
I personally think this is a silly argument: Just because we are unable to perceive their suffering doesn't mean it isn't real. Lots of animals also have senses that are quite different from humans: Carrier pigeons sense something we cannot which helps them navigate, hammerhead sharks sense electrical fields that most humans cannot (though my understanding is some humans are more sensitive to this than others), and elephants communicate over long distances using very low sound waves that humans cannot hear. Does the fact that humans fail to perceive these things invalidate them? I don't think so.
I think your lifestyle choice is admirable. But I don't see any real reason to hold animals as somehow more sacred (for lack of a better word) than plants. Or to view this in moral terms per se. (FWIW, a lot of people often interpret things I say/advocate as "moral" whereas in many cases I would classify them as merely "pragmatic".)
Peace.