4 ms·

Red meat is possibly the most nutrient dense food in the world. With everything from essential proteins and fats, to minerals like zinc, iron and magnesium, to

Red meat is possibly the most nutrient dense food in the world. With everything from essential proteins and fats, to minerals like zinc, iron and magnesium, to water soluble vitamins like biotin. It's also tasty and satisfying to eat. My parents had only two children, same as my grandparents. My family isn't growing and taking up an exponential amount of resources, so I do not personally feel responsible for unsustainable population growth. Therefore I will not sacrifice my health and well-being in order to satisfy some resource quota being morally applied. Meat production isn't even a proportionally large source of energy use compared to transportation and electricity, so being asked to give up eating it to increase sustainability before larger slices of the pie are confronted really smacks of dogmatic imperialism. I think the discussion would fare far better with people who think along lines that I do, if you focused on 'how can we make meat production more energy and land efficient' instead of 'you are sinful for eating meat, give it up.' More efficient grazing patterns and breeding animals to better digest alternative food sources like kelp, for example, are promising. I'm sure there are many other avenues yet thought up.

uxcolumbo 6y ago
This Oxford University study [0] concluded that the best thing a individual can do is to reduce or remove dairy and meat from their diet - because of the high costs to our environment. You can get all the nutrients the body needs from plants - read articles by the Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine. Finally, how do you justify the high cost of your pleasure of eating meat. The cost is not just the environment, it's also that our demand for meat keeps people employed in this horrific industry (slaughterhouse workers experience PTSD) and the fact that an animal has to suffer immensely, so that you can get a piece of its flesh. [0] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987
- normallove 6y ago
  I glanced through and the study seemed targeted at dietary choices, which ignores my point that transportation and other energy intensive aspects of life far outstrip meat production. It also did not go into my suggestion, which is investigate ways to mitigate environmental impact. >keeps people employed in this horrific industry I am for reform of the industry and personally buy in bulk from local farmers. Factory farming is horrible, I will not argue with that. >and the fact that an animal has to suffer immensely, so that you can get a piece of its flesh. Moral grandstanding. You don't care about the environment or health, you wish to impose your view of the world and personal choices on others. Your pretention of care for sustainability is a tool not a real concern. I'm willing to bet you have never met or talked to a beef farmer or slaughterhouse worker.
  - uxcolumbo 6y ago
    RE: I glanced through and the study seemed targeted at dietary choices I appreciate it's a long article. The study went into more though, here is an articles that summarises the main points https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding... Also, it said what the best thing is an individual can do to reduce their footprint. Giving up meat & dairy is a practical thing we can do today - no need for policy changes etc. RE: Moral grandstanding. You don't care about the environment or health Can you explain this further? How do you know what I care about? And I can't impose anything, I can only share information. As far as I know what differentiates us from other animals is that we have moral faculty. Isn't it our responsibility to point out things that are wrong? And after looking at various studies - supporting the large scale meat industry is wrong, because of the damage to our biosphere. We are not hunter gatherers anymore, so we in modern society don't need animal flesh anymore to survive. The only reason we keep doing it is mainly because of taste - which you've hinted at already. Hence the question - does your demand for mouth pleasure justify the death and suffering an animal has to go through? And you don't need to speak directly to slaughterhouse workers. Again look at studies and what that kind of work does to ones psyche. Look at farmers who cry when they have to explain what happens to a dairy cow (this was in BBC documentary called 'Dark side of dairy). Our demand for these products creates those situations. Humanity is about moving forward - doing things in a better way.

uxcolumbo 6y ago

This Oxford University study [0] concluded that the best thing a individual can do is to reduce or remove dairy and meat from their diet - because of the high costs to our environment. You can get all the nutrients the body needs from plants - read articles by the Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine. Finally, how do you justify the high cost of your pleasure of eating meat. The cost is not just the environment, it's also that our demand for meat keeps people employed in this horrific industry (slaughterhouse workers experience PTSD) and the fact that an animal has to suffer immensely, so that you can get a piece of its flesh. [0] https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6392/987

normallove 6y ago
I glanced through and the study seemed targeted at dietary choices, which ignores my point that transportation and other energy intensive aspects of life far outstrip meat production. It also did not go into my suggestion, which is investigate ways to mitigate environmental impact. >keeps people employed in this horrific industry I am for reform of the industry and personally buy in bulk from local farmers. Factory farming is horrible, I will not argue with that. >and the fact that an animal has to suffer immensely, so that you can get a piece of its flesh. Moral grandstanding. You don't care about the environment or health, you wish to impose your view of the world and personal choices on others. Your pretention of care for sustainability is a tool not a real concern. I'm willing to bet you have never met or talked to a beef farmer or slaughterhouse worker.
- uxcolumbo 6y ago
  RE: I glanced through and the study seemed targeted at dietary choices I appreciate it's a long article. The study went into more though, here is an articles that summarises the main points https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding-meat-and-dairy-is-single-biggest-way-to-reduce-your-impact-on-earth https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/31/avoiding... Also, it said what the best thing is an individual can do to reduce their footprint. Giving up meat & dairy is a practical thing we can do today - no need for policy changes etc. RE: Moral grandstanding. You don't care about the environment or health Can you explain this further? How do you know what I care about? And I can't impose anything, I can only share information. As far as I know what differentiates us from other animals is that we have moral faculty. Isn't it our responsibility to point out things that are wrong? And after looking at various studies - supporting the large scale meat industry is wrong, because of the damage to our biosphere. We are not hunter gatherers anymore, so we in modern society don't need animal flesh anymore to survive. The only reason we keep doing it is mainly because of taste - which you've hinted at already. Hence the question - does your demand for mouth pleasure justify the death and suffering an animal has to go through? And you don't need to speak directly to slaughterhouse workers. Again look at studies and what that kind of work does to ones psyche. Look at farmers who cry when they have to explain what happens to a dairy cow (this was in BBC documentary called 'Dark side of dairy). Our demand for these products creates those situations. Humanity is about moving forward - doing things in a better way.