The average human is between 145-190 pounds. The average human consumes more than a thousand pounds a food a year, equally over 50,000 pounds of food in their lifetime. Which means that, per human, they consume over 30,000% of their body weight in their lifetime. That’s a lot of food.
Yes, one acre of land can feed 20 vegans or 1 meat eater, but if there are more people, then more non-meat products will have to be produced on ever-shrinking arable land (due to population growth).
The real problem here is overpopulation, overuse of natural resources, and unbridled capitalism, not the fact that I like to eat steak on Sundays.
We are natural. As long as we came from some cataclysmic event along with all other species we are. Nothing we can do goes against nature, for we are part of nature.
Come on, man, read! None of the quotes you posted have anything to do with “cruelty!” Swine flu isn’t bad because it’s cruel to the pigs, it’s bad because it’s resistant to medical treatment when it spreads to humans!
I did read. Did you read mine? I’m agreeing with you on that front. But it’s not meat eating in and of itself that causes that (cruelty to animals in the form of inhumane living conditions leads to Bad Things for humans).
If you only eat meat once a week, and then only from eco-friendly producers, then congratulations! You are not part of the problem.
The population of our overpopulated world can be fed more easily on a vegetarian diet than on meat-eating. That was the whole point stated in that fact-table I posted above.
Yes, sadly so. Those militant crazies have nothing in common with vegetarians, though. And yes, I know that PETA also acts like a militant terrorist organization sometimes. I am not PETA, I am a simple vegetarian.
I know why you try so desperately to insult me. It is the same thing everytime somebody questions the majority’s way of life, belief or philosophy. The majority gets pissed and tries everything to bash the minority into oblivion, afraid of what influence the new ways of thinking might have on their own life one day.
I can’t blame you for trying. I acted quite the same before I was finally convinced of vegetarianism. Maybe one day you will come to understand it better.
oops i confused your post about animal conditions with someone elses’ who was focusing on the “animal cruelty” PETA-bashing punch-a-hippie straw man that people like to throw around in these debates. Cruelty is irrelevant, what is relevant is the consequences of those conditions.
Okay, I guess we do agree. But I’d categorize meat mass-production and mass consumption as "overuse of natural resources" due to the facts pointed out by DansonDelta.
This is a bad example because the e.coli was probably produced because of the spinach thawing and then being frozen again, due to a defective freezer or something. Same thing happened in France a few years ago.
It’s not a case of unhealthy food as a result of bad production, but a case of poisonous food as a result of bad handling of the already finished product.
Obviously if you’re so fond of meat that you don’t want to give it up, go ahead. It’s not my place to judge.
Just know that there are plenty of vegetarian food products and dishes that taste just as awesome as ones that contain meat. In my opinion, at least.
There’s a huge difference between eating animals that had a decent enough life and factory-producing meat with absolutely horrid conditions for the animals.
To make a totally different example, the fishing industry is destroying ecosystems because of overfishing and nets destroying coral reefs, to give just two examples.
I agree, in essence there’s nothing wrong with eating meat. Breeding and keeping animals in the worst conditions imaginable and giving them painful deaths is another matter.
Of course it’s perfectly possible to eat healthily and still eat meat. But even then your meat consumption should be pretty low compared to that of a lot of people.
About 150-200g of meat per day should be the most you eat.
There’s another argument for vegetarianism that I just remembered.
Meat contains only about 5% of the energy contained in everything an animal eats over its lifetime. This means that producing meat is basically a 95% loss of energy.
In order for the world to have a viable, sustainable global food supply, meat production has to be limited to a minimum.
Meat should have more of a luxury quality than it does now. Maybe a hundred years ago, most people in the Western world ate meat about once a weak if they weren’t too poor. That’s a much better way of doing things, in my opinion.
Edit: two pages added while writing this post :fffuuu:
Most of what I said has been addressed.
I disagree though, mattemuse. Animal cruelty is not irrelevant. I’m not saying killing animals for food is cruel, I’m just saying that it’s perfectly possible to produce meat while still keeping the animals in humane conditions.
I’m underweight and I prefer vegetables but I’m still told I’m supposed to be eating meat so I return to what is a “normal” weight. I’m still pretty sure you can gain wait from vegetables though.
As long as you can afford this much eco-meat, go ahead and enjoy! It’ not morally wrong in any way, as long as it is really eco-friendly meat you are eating.
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