(February 4, 2014 at 3:20 am)Aractus Wrote: Correct, and in addition it's essential in first world countries too, as a. not all land is suitable for growing crops and b. meat is a necessary by-product of dairy, wool and eggs and all three of those products are essential. But that certainly doesn't mean that everyone has to eat meat - I mean everyone is different and diversity isa good thing. So while it's a perfectly valid and healthy choice for an individual to be vegetarian, it's not such a great idea on a more national scale.
This is complete nonsense. The evidence of harms of meat eating are so well evidenced that even the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations agrees that "The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global."
When it comes to grass fed beef, yes it will be better for the animals and it will not entail wasteful use of crops. However the animals will grow considerably slower, reducing productivity, and increasing the amount of methane and carbon dioxide production from the animals as they digest food. Additionally as the land becomes increasingly marginal, this will dramatically increase the amount of energy used to herd the animals, which will have to be dispersed over a large area. All this means that this can in fact INCREASE the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by grass fed beef compared to feedlot fed.
Indeed as this study comparing grass-fed vs feedlot cattle says, grass-fed beef is so much worse for the environment that "increasing proportion of lot-fed beef in Australia is favourable, since this production system generates lower total GHG emissions than grass-fed production; the additional effort in producing and transporting feeds is effectively offset by the increased efficiency of meat production in feedlots."
The fact is no animal product is required for health and while even vegetarianism is significantly better for ones health than eating meat, veganism can decrease mortality further and is more protective against cancer. Dairy and milk are not required for health. Wool also is not required as there are plenty of plant based and synthetic materials that are just as good. All the evidence shows, as detailed in the FAO report, that meat is significantly harmful to our environment. Going vegan would reduce our use of resources and reduce global warming.
