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I have some doubts about becoming vegetarian: soya cultivation has a huge negative impact on rain forests and on farmers. I prefer to obtain meat from local far

I have some doubts about becoming vegetarian: soya cultivation has a huge negative impact on rain forests and on farmers. I prefer to obtain meat from local farmers that use traditional methods - don't abuse antibiotics and use locally grown pasture.

adrianN 10y ago
A large part of the soy is being fed to livestock.
martalist 10y ago
Soya beans aren't the only bean a vegetarian can eat. There are plenty of protein rich plants that will grow in almost every climate. While I applaud your meat buying preferences, it would be an environmental disaster for every meat eater on earth to attempt to do the same.
- sasvari 10y ago
  While I applaud your meat buying preferences, it would be an environmental disaster for every meat eater on earth to attempt to do the same. I might not get the point, but why would it be a bigger environmental disaster?
  - martalist 10y ago
    Because we'd need significantly more land/pasture to feed livestock that way.
    - sasvari 10y ago
      in a 1:1 substitution case. but locally, sustainably (yeah, maybe not the right word ... organically?) produced meat is more expensive, which should lead people to eat less meat, but if they eat meat to consume meat produced locally with a smaller environmental footprint (if that's the case, I'm not an expert in that field). maybe that's just wishful thinking though.
      - martalist 10y ago
        Alcohol is ridiculously expensive in Australia. We don't drink less of it. If the cost of meat were a driving factor in reducing consumption, consider that it's maybe 4x less expensive (a guesstimate based on my own experience) to eat whole plant based proteins than meat. It is inherently more efficient and sustainable to eat the plant proteins we grow than to feed them to animals. 1kg of meat also requires 100x the amount of water per kg of protein [1]. [1] http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/78/3/660S.full http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/78/3/660S.full

adrianN 10y ago

A large part of the soy is being fed to livestock.

martalist 10y ago

Soya beans aren't the only bean a vegetarian can eat. There are plenty of protein rich plants that will grow in almost every climate. While I applaud your meat buying preferences, it would be an environmental disaster for every meat eater on earth to attempt to do the same.

sasvari 10y ago
While I applaud your meat buying preferences, it would be an environmental disaster for every meat eater on earth to attempt to do the same. I might not get the point, but why would it be a bigger environmental disaster?
- martalist 10y ago
  Because we'd need significantly more land/pasture to feed livestock that way.
  - sasvari 10y ago
    in a 1:1 substitution case. but locally, sustainably (yeah, maybe not the right word ... organically?) produced meat is more expensive, which should lead people to eat less meat, but if they eat meat to consume meat produced locally with a smaller environmental footprint (if that's the case, I'm not an expert in that field). maybe that's just wishful thinking though.
    - martalist 10y ago
      Alcohol is ridiculously expensive in Australia. We don't drink less of it. If the cost of meat were a driving factor in reducing consumption, consider that it's maybe 4x less expensive (a guesstimate based on my own experience) to eat whole plant based proteins than meat. It is inherently more efficient and sustainable to eat the plant proteins we grow than to feed them to animals. 1kg of meat also requires 100x the amount of water per kg of protein [1]. [1] http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/78/3/660S.full http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/78/3/660S.full