@Catogrande said in Going Vegetarian / Vegan ..:
It seems we'll all be vegans before too long anyway.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51529207
Someone needs to do a Netflix doc that challenges the whole 'meat is really bad for the environment' bullshit (as it seems the Netflix docos are the only thing to be believed)
Water usage? Man there is some massive dis-information out there trying to prove a point. Look at most water footprint charts and instantly it looks like beef is 10-20 x worse in water footprint on weight. Therefore we must stop eating beef.
Hang on though, what have they measured? Ah, a burger pattie, because that accounts for so much production.
Take away the manufacturing water usage and get back to the actual beef itself and the chart would look very different. Then, what has been measured for say the soy or rice? Organic production , because that is what the promoters buy at Wholefoods. It has been upheld in many studies that good organic farming of these items reduces water usage by 50%.
Now the chart is looking quite a bit different and beef (while still in the lead) isn't quite the big scary 10x number it was.
Then, and this is the most important part, take into account the nutritional value. How much protein per 100g? hat about the vitamins and amino acids you need to add to a soy based product to make it a more balanced complete food? Add in the water use to produce/extract those additives etc etc.
Don't get me wrong, some animal production is terrible, both on an environmental and welfare basis. However don't go judging all animal product production by using the worst end of the scale and comparing it to the best end of the alternative scale.
Surely the better approach here is to demand better animal produc not no animal products.
Same goes with carbon emissions. Judging pasture raised animals with the numbers from factory farming.
