Meat bad for the environment?

T

Thiago

New member
I've been hearing all this talk about meat being bad for the environment recently. Today there was an article where Sir Paul Mc Cartney is starting a campaign to ask people to be vegetarian at least once a week. I don't know much about the issue but I have some questions:

(1) Would switching land from grazing ruminants to producing soy or other plant based protein crops involve clearing more forests. It's already a problem in Brazil as virgin forest is being cleared to grow soy.

(2) Beef is a small part of any meat diet. Chickens don't produce that much methane.

(3) Would the end effect be that humans then become the methane produces given a more vegetarian diet? In effect just passing the stink from cow to human?

(4) Only 10% of human-induced green house gases are produced by cows. The other 90% is produced because of over indulgent consumer lifestyles, which is not being addressed, in fact, the irony is that vegetrianism is being promoted by super rich, super materialistic celebrities.

(5) Reducing consumption of meat means a reduction in welfare. An environmental cost-benefit analysis should be done as good due diligence on the matter. (Sorry I'm an economist. This is not an actual question, just a concern of mine.)

As I said before. I don't know much on the matter. Just off the top of my head, these issues have come up. Any help clarifying them would be appreciated. Thanks.
Hey, thanks everyone for the information.
 
Methane has a very short half life in the environment which is less than 10 years. It is made from biological materials so it doesn't contribute to increased CO2. Cows make much more than humans do and only about 1/3 of humans even make methane. It has to do with they type of bacteria in their intestines. Cows have bacteria in their intestines that make it while converting cellulose to sugar. That doesn't happen to any significant extent in the human digestion.

As far as the cutting down of the rain forest to feed cows, that just sounds like a very poor utilization of natural resources. You probably get more effect on the climate from cutting down the trees. It reduces the humidity.
 
Some people are content to live their chosen lifestyle.

Others promote it.

Still others try to impose it.

The Beatles' bassist, singer and songwriter seeks to promote his, and he is using global warming as a convenient rationale.

Why global warming is viewed as "inconvenient" I have no idea - it's a very convenient theory for many who have long opposed the activities that will be limited and taxed in the name of combating global warming.
 
I can't answer all your questions, but I'll tell you what I can. The problem is the processes involved, start to finish, to get much of our red meat. A lot of the beef consumed, especially in the US, is from cattle raised on CAFOs. The cattle are typically fed a diet of corn. Growing corn for the purpose of feeding animals to feed us is a wasteful use of resources. It requires a great deal of land (deforestation in many cases), large quantities of nitrogen-based fertilizers, large amounts of water, etc.
 
I can't answer all your questions, but I'll tell you what I can. The problem is the processes involved, start to finish, to get much of our red meat. A lot of the beef consumed, especially in the US, is from cattle raised on CAFOs. The cattle are typically fed a diet of corn. Growing corn for the purpose of feeding animals to feed us is a wasteful use of resources. It requires a great deal of land (deforestation in many cases), large quantities of nitrogen-based fertilizers, large amounts of water, etc.
 
Bravozulu gave the informed answer yet someone chose to give him a down arrow. Where do these bozos come from. I wonder what part they disagree with but I digress. It is just leftists using that panacea of leftist causes (AGW) pushing another leftist cause (vegetarianism).
 
Red meat is better for peoples health and the environment than all white meats and there are several key scientific reasons for this. First you need to examine the basic food pyramid of life.

Carnivore
Omnivore
Herbivore
Vegetation

All creatures should eat down to the other elements below them in the pyramid for health reasons. If you eat across the same level you are on or the level above you, your system is more exposed to disease's of various kinds and you receive less nutrition as a result.

Humans are omnivores as are pigs, fish and fowl are carnivores in nature. Cattle and others are herbivores and only eat vegetation. what caused mad cow disease several years ago was feeding animal waste normally used for pet food and sausage to cows. because their systems are unsuited to such a diet it caused health problems in the animals.

Almost all sickness can be traced to eating the wrong things or not eating the right things your body needs to grow and survive on.
 
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