5 ms·
Doesn't shipping plant-based food around the planet cause massive climate change? PLant-based diets only make sense if you live somewhere where it's ecological
by Gordonjcp 4y ago
Doesn't shipping plant-based food around the planet cause massive climate change?
PLant-based diets only make sense if you live somewhere where it's ecologically cheaper to eat plants than animals. This doesn't work, for most of the world.
- paulcole 4y agoShipping anything around the world causes massive climate change. > This doesn't work, for most of the world. Yes, other than significant parts of Asia, North America, South America, Africa, and Europe this is a non-starter.
- Gordonjcp 4y agoTell me you don't know where food comes from without saying you don't know where food comes from.
- WorkLobster 4y agoThere's a great and very comprehensive chart by "Our World in Data" about the breakdown of emissions / environmental impact for different foods: https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2020/02/Environmental-impact-of-food-by-life-cycle-stage.png https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2020/02/Environmental-imp... As you can see, it specifically points out that the transport aspect pales across the board in comparison with other more important factors.
- ornornor 4y agoThere is a Kurzgesagt video on that exact point. Their analysis is that the emissions from shipping plants from further away to make your tofu is a drop in the bucket compared to the emissions you won’t be generating anymore by not consuming meat anymore. Meat which has to also have their food plants shipped around to them, on top of everything else. See https://youtu.be/F1Hq8eVOMHs https://youtu.be/F1Hq8eVOMHs
- Gordonjcp 4y agoOkay but animals raised for meat don't eat food shipped from round the world.
- paulcole 4y agoOh awesome, I've always wanted to talk to someone with experience in the global meat industry. Can you answer a few questions?
- Gordonjcp 4y agoI'm guessing you're a vegan?
- paulcole 4y agoI eat a plant-based diet but I don’t have an ethical problem with buying used wool sweaters or used leather belts/shoes. Also if a cookie or something is free or going to waste, I won’t ask if it has egg or milk in it as an ingredient. So no, not vegan.
- ornornor 4y agoThey do, soy for animal feed is grown far far away.
- Gordonjcp 4y agoYou don't feed livestock soy, it's too expensive. The animal feed that contains soy is made from the stuff that humans can't eat - roughly 80% of the plant mass of soy is simply inedible by humans. If you've got a clever trick for using this without running it through a cow, you'll be rich. Otherwise, what are you going to do with it? Pile it up and let it rot, releasing even more carbon dioxide and methane?
- ornornor 4y ago
- steve_adams_86 4y agoAs others have pointed out, the data shows that it clearly works well for most of the world. For cases where it doesn’t make sense (these are exceedingly rare), they should do what works best for them. If we were to ship the equivalent calories and nutrition in vegetable form we would be able to ship it earlier and more often than the meat, too. Plant based nutrition is more abundant, more efficient, and more secure in almost every region of the earth. The only case where meat makes rational sense is generally when you prefer the taste and/or calorie density. This doesn’t often make sense on a population scale. I don’t think it makes sense for individuals either, but that is still considered opinion these days.