What's the point of preserving the environment if not for the creatures who rely on it? The 6.5 billion people who have destroyed most of the planet already are not the only ones who count or should count.

The correct answer is cotton because raising it doesn't require confining and killing social, sentient, intelligent, emotional animals.

Surprise me; argue rationally with some understanding of ethics. You can't reasonably argue that sheep are not social, sentient, intelligent, or emotional. You'll have to argue that there is some as yet undiscovered and profound difference between people and sheep that allows us to do to sheep what we would not do to people.

If you want to reduce global warming, the best thing that you could do is not have kids. Another great thing is to adopt a vegan lifestyle. How many of you claiming that you want to stop global warming have kids, eat meat, and wear leather?

Since when does making a sweater require killing sheep? I am sure that you are right about sheep being social, sentient, intelligent, and emotional beings. However, last I knew, sheep were sheared for their wool, not murdered.

Also, animals that have been domesticized cannot simply be set free and expected to fend for themselves. In fact, it would be cruel to do so. So do we just kill off all the sheep instead of confining them and shearing them for their wool? Refer to Michael Pollan's excellent book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, for more thoughts about this.

As a childless 40-something woman, I think you're way out on a limb to suggest that people should not have children if they want to stop global warming.

Emotional? Just what are you doing with these sheep? I think it is best that you don't reproduce.

They're social only because in groups, the odds are that someone else will be eaten first.

Sentient? Right. These are animals that will stand in the rain and mud until their hooves rot and they die of pneumonia when there's a shelter ten steps away. Unless someone leads them there, they won't go.

Intelligent? Sorry, sheep are dumb as a bucket of rocks. See above.

Emotional....hmm. Not so much. Unless you're the one with a bucket of food. If you can call that emotion.

Sheep are useful and tasty creatures. This is why humanity domesticated prey animals.

Sentiment means conscious i.e self-aware. Some animals have been proven to be self-aware but sheep certainly aren't one of them. They are indeed very stupid.... granted, it was probably domestication that made them that way.

"Sentient" (not "sentiment") does not mean self-aware. Look it up.

Sentient? What would you call it when sheep feel the pain of a shearing blade? Intelligent? What would you call it when sheep learn to avoid the guy with the shearing blade? Social? What would you call it when sheep show a preference to be with other sheep?

Killing: you are correct. I didn't say anything about setting all the sheep free or killing them all. If we wanted to reduce the use of sheep, I'm sure we could find a reasonable way to do it. Unfortunately, we're not going to have to face that problem, so there's no sense arguing about it. You're really going to argue that the size of the human population doesn't affect global warming?! Amazing!

Yup, not one rational or ethical thought. I didn't think there was any point posting here. Now I know.

Tripteron:

"Sentient" (not "sentiment") does not mean self-aware. Look it up.

The definition I got was "conscious." Same difference. You're not really conscious if you don't *know* you're conscious.

When was the last time you saw sheep being sheared? I'm guessing never. If you had you'd understand that professional shearers would never harm an animal, not if they want to be called back for another job. It is not in the farmer's best interest to harm an animal. Therefore they go out of their way NOT to do that.

Shearing is done with electric clippers very much like those you see in barber shops. It's actually fun to watch. The animals are so relieved to get rid of the mass of wool they've been hauling around all winter that even the surliest rams bounce around playing like lambs afterwards. They roll on the grass, stretch and chase each other for hours.

What would be cruel is not to shear them. Sheep do not shed their winter coats. Left alone, the wool would keep growing and matting, eventually crippling and causing the slow, agonising death of the animal by starvation or injury.

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Every post you make on this subject further highlights your ignorance of modern farming. I suspect you get your "information" from clips of decades-old films that are put together to "shear" the maximum amount of money from clods like you, who would rather believe the fiction than do your own research.

Therefore, I challenge you. Go to a farm during shearing season. Go at lambing time. You will see dedicated people who have only the best interests of their animals at heart.

Then again, I know you don't want to see that. You'd rather sit safe in your urban hole in the ground, thinking the worst of people who you will never bother to meet. You demonstrate bigotry of the worst sort every time you post.