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Why Eat Less Meat is a site dedicated to changing the conversation on eating meat from a divisive, emotionally-charged debate to a constructive discussion based
by ckastner 10y ago
Why Eat Less Meat is a site dedicated to changing the conversation on eating meat from a divisive, emotionally-charged debate to a constructive discussion based on scientific evidence. The following pages list the major reasons to eat less meat, with each reason explained and supported by extensive citations.
“For every 100 calories of grain we feed animals, we get only about 40 new calories of milk, 22 calories of eggs, 12 of chicken, 10 of pork, or 3 of beef.”[3] In other words, our food preferences have led us to effectively throw away food on a mass scale.
The first sentence may be a correct observation which may be backed up by the citation (I admittedly haven't checked), but the second sentence is incorrect. The food has not gone to waste, it was converted from one form to a (at least for some people) more desirable form.
- legulere 10y agoFurther, the traditional way to feed livestock is with resources we can't use ourselves. Pastures on land that has low yields, rest of food now thrown away being used for animal food, acorns from forests. At least partly those resources are still used.
- JoeAltmaier 10y agoMany cattle in Iowa are grazed on grass/field waste for most of their lives. They get corn only in the last week of their lives, to put on a little marbling.
- mping 10y agoThis may or may not be true; afaik >50% soy plantation in the world is for cattle, and humans can eat soy; probably don't need that much soy. Even if we cannot use the resources, the land would be better without pasture for sure. And we don't need to use ALL of the land of pasture for vegetables.
- legulere 10y agoMy point wasn't that meat production doesn't stand in competition with plant based food production, but that it doesn't need to (especially with a lower meat consumption, which the website actually advertises)
- AjithAntony 10y agoagreed. > 100 calories of grain we feed animals 100 calories grain we feed animals... ...that humans cannot consume ...that is produced more efficiently than any other crop ...grown on land in climates that is not suitable for "vegetables" ...that makes the most productive use of the land ...that requires few people and simple mechanization to tend The entire midwest is just a "solar farm" for our diet using vast amounts of land to sequester energy in arbitrary grains that are used as the fuel for the next level.