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When I was growing up, we had cows simply grazing wherever there was grass. We harvested wood for other reasons, because they weren't our livestock, and that pr
by brailsafe 3y ago
When I was growing up, we had cows simply grazing wherever there was grass. We harvested wood for other reasons, because they weren't our livestock, and that provided for a few small clearings. They kept the grass short, and while they made the ground quite bumpy, they also fertilized the land which grew like crazy after my grandfather told the owner to get the cows out.
Now, I don't eat meat excessively, and do enjoy it more than ever, but it's definitely more expensive and involved to even temporarily switch. $6 for two sizable frozen chicken breasts, or $6 for a few tomatoes and peppers, $6 for 2lb of carrots. Usually it's a combination of a few things that have varying levels of environmental cost, like nuts, fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, some grains, which seems sensible to me. If that cost dramatically increases, which it probably will, I'll adapt, but I doubt it will get to the point where I'll be considering no meat at all, because of the sheer amount of other stuff I'd need to eat and how expensive it can be. I'm not terribly interested in what global averages seem to be according to some website, it's not how I make decisions about how to allocate my small amount of food budget.
- myshpa 3y ago> When I was growing up How many people were on this rock then? Was it anywhere near 8 billion people as it is now, or was it a fraction of the number? > it's definitely more expensive and involved to even temporarily switch The price of meat and healthy whole foods in the US is heavily distorted by lobying [0] and by subsidies ($38 billion each year to subsidize the meat and dairy industries, but only 0.04 percent of that (i.e., $17 million) each year to subsidize fruits and vegetables) [1]. [0] https://fortune.com/2023/07/21/why-healthy-food-so-expensive-in-america-blame-farm-bill-congress-always-renews-make-burgers-cheaper-salad-gene-baur/ https://fortune.com/2023/07/21/why-healthy-food-so-expensive... [1] https://scet.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/CopyofFINALSavingThePlanetSustainableMeatAlternatives.pdf https://scet.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/CopyofFINALSavi...
- dgroshev 3y agoFor comparison, US meat market revenue is about $125bn [0] and dairy is about $41bn [1]. Which means a rise in meat prices if subsidies are rebalanced towards veg, but not an orders of magnitude rise. [0] https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/food/meat/united-states https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/food/meat/united-states [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/196420/us-farm-income-from-dairy-products-since-2001/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/196420/us-farm-income-fr...
- myshpa 3y ago> a rise in meat prices if subsidies are rebalanced towards veg Good to know ... let's do it then. But those are just the subsidies ... we're still ignoring the negative environmental and health externalities of meat production. What price should we put on that?