Paul Gregory's LJ - Quality Of Life

Obviously I don't mean to offend anyone. If I hold a different belief to you, I'm unlikely to judge you personally on it.

Hugh F-W has done an excellent job of getting chicken rearing methods onto the agenda. Even if the Chicken Out website is obnoxiously noisy. It has made me consider my position.

I like eating chicken. I don't buy whole chickens often, because I'm lazy, I believe in the division of labour and I'm generally cooking for one. But I do buy chicken breasts and other bits of chicken. I also buy various pre-made chicken meals (eg sandwiches) and eat chicken in take-outs and restaurant meals.

I don't generally buy free-range chicken, and the life of raw materials is not a factor for me when choosing where to eat. I am in no way sentimental about animals.

I can actually afford the extra couple of quid for ingredients that would have had a more varied Facebook profile, I just don't see the point in increasing the cost of a meal for the sake of an animal's past well-being. In many cases it's not even justifiable on the grounds of better taste, particularly when I'm just feeding myself, and especially when I'm throwing lots of spices in.

I *can* buy the argument that intensively reared birds are inferior to birds that have gained weight over a longer lifespan. I reject the argument that a bird with access to a football is better than one without.

I'm not counting on an after-life, but I am still mildly concerned that I may not go to the Upper Middle Class strata of Heaven if I don't fork out some of my income on improving the quality of life of others. (By this I mean some *more* of my earnings, as obviously I pay through taxation for things that benefit others.)

Yes. I'm intending to offset the value of Unhappy Chicken Guilt onto humans. At a pinch, monkeys. Therefore I ask you, dear reader, to suggest a suitable non-proselytising quality-of-life-improving project to throw small amounts of money at on a regular basis.