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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Personally, I think there is an awfully lot of idealistic clap-trap about food. Nature is an extremely violent system, 'red in tooth and claw'. |
I'm largely indifferent to the feelings and suffering of that which I eat. However, diet is important. You are what you eat. If you think that eating red meat 2-3/week and eating meat 2-3/day isn't going to make a difference versus eating red meat 1/month and eating other meat 1/week, then that's an idealism of its own. Of course, it will make a difference to your health and our health! And, of course, there are clear environmental implications as well.
Global meat consumption has far-ranging environmental impacts
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Deforestation and Grassland Destruction: The world�s appetite for meat is razing forests at an accelerating rate. In Central America, 40 percent of all the rainforests have been cleared or burned down in the last 40 years, mostly for cattle pasture. In the process, natural ecosystems where a variety of plant and animal species thrive are destroyed and replaced with monoculture grass.
Fresh Water: Water experts calculate that humans are now taking half the available fresh water on the planet�leaving the other half to be divided among a million or more species. Producing 8 ounces of beef requires 25,000 liters of water.
Waste Disposal: Waste from livestock production exceeds the capacity of the planet to absorb it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that livestock waste has polluted more than 27,000 miles of rivers.
Energy Consumption & Global Warming: It takes far more fossil-fuel energy to produce and transport meat than to deliver equivalent amounts of protein from plant sources. This heavy use of carbon-rich fuels also contributes significantly to the emissions of global-warming gases.
Food Productivity of Farmland: In the U.S., 56 million acres of land produce hay for livestock. Only 4 million acres produce vegetables for human consumption, reports the US Department of Commerce. Such inefficient use of land means that food production will not keep up with population growth.
Diseases: Mass production of livestock has generated large-scale increases in both infectious diseases and degenerative or �lifestyle� diseases.
Biodiversity Loss and Threat of Extinction: As Earth becomes more crowded, poor populations are increasingly venturing into wildlife reserves for meat. Poaching and black marketeering of bush meat is decimating remaining populations of gorillas, chimpanzees, and other primates. |
There are a great variety of reasons why people abstain from meat. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm largely indifferent to the feelings and suffering of that which I eat. |
I agree, except for deliberately causing unnecessary pain. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:53 pm Post subject: |
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| I love lobster, but always hated throwing them in the pot. |
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