Uh, wow. I think I might become vegan.

by marmot 29 Replies latest social current

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  marmot

  I am a dyed in the wool carnivore. I suffer from cheese addiction. Lobsters are mercilessly boiled alive.

  But after watching this new documentary called Cowspiracy on Netflix, all that may change. I had no idea that animal agriculture has even MORE of an impact on climate change than the entire energy and transportation sector. I already take short showers and try to conserve water and electricity and I drive a fuel efficient car, but did you know a 1/4 lb hamburger takes 660 gallons of water to produce and contributes more greenhouse gas to the atmosphere than your morning commute? I didn't.

  Halfway through the movie, I thought "Ok, maybe I'll become a vegetarian but still eat fish, that can be sustainable, right?" Wrong. Farm-raised fish have to either eat ground-up protein from the sea (which still kills tons upon tons of wild fish) or soy-based protein from farms, which is tremendously inefficient at converting one type of edible biomass (plants) into another (fish).

  I hate to sound preachy, but watch this movie.
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  truthseeker100

  Halfway through the movie, I thought "Ok, maybe I'll become a vegetarian but still eat fish, that can be sustainable, right?" Wrong

  Actually I disagree with that assertion. By eating fish you are saving all the water that they would normally consume in their lifetime. Not to mention all the faecal debris they spew into our water.
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  marmot

  Aside from facile attempts at humor, anything to add to the conversation? I welcome discussion.
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  FayeDunaway

  Our oceans are way, way overfished. As you said, farm raised isn't the way to go either.

  i think just cutting back is the best option. Meat only on weekends?
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  LisaRose

  I share your concerns about meat and the environment, but I am not quite ready to become a vegetarian. Just about anything you do has some impact to the environment, so the question is what is your overall impact, and what realistic changes can you make to reduce that impact. Documentaries like tend to be a bit slanted, you really have to take some of it with a grain of salt, if you forgive my food analogy.

  Not that there is anything wrong with being a vegetarian or vegan. but I haven't quite convinced my husband of that. So, I've cut back, introduced less meat heavy options, not eating meat on some days, and stretching what I do buy to the very maximum. I can make a $5.00 Costco chicken stretch to four meals plus a few lunches. I do buy wild salmon, farm raised is not only bad for the environment, it's bad for your health.

  My husband appreciates a steak now and then, I figure he balances that by taking mass transit to work and driving a diesel Jetta that gets 47mpg for the weekends.
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  ListlessWitness

  I really feel you Marmot; I watched Unity then sealed my veggy fate by watching Earthlings. I now feel more in touch with the compassionate, slightly idealistic wannabee Goth of my teenage pre-bOrg years.
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  Village Idiot

  marmot, I don't have the figures to back it up but as a person who believes in man made climate change I disagree with the idea that a quarter pound of beef contributes more greenhouse gases than a morning commute (say half an hour).

  The most they contribute are trace amounts of methane through their farting which is probably as much as human flatulence.
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  _Morpheus

  When i read things like the tittle of this thread i can only think:

  Good. More for me.
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  marmot

  Village Idiot, the documentary thankfully backs up the statements with facts. Have a read:

  http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
  
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  OrphanCrow