become greener - eat less meat...

[Maz]

...how does that work then?

I was at an environmental-type meeting the other day and one of the bullet-points on 'ways to combat climate change' alongside 'dont leave tv on standby' 'use energy efficient lighting' etc was to 'eat less meat.'

i was clearly tired and not paying attention to the explanation...can anyone figure out the reasoning behind the 'eat less meat' thing?

 

[Fnaar]

Because all vegetarian food can be eaten raw, thus requiring less gas etc to cook it. However, vegetarians tend to fart more, producing more methane, so it's a debatable one...

 

[Will1985]

I think it may be to do with supply and demand.... if we as consumers stopped eating meat (especially beef), the demand would go down. This has a knock-on effect as farmers don't rear as many cows, which produce around 150 litres of methane per day each. It all adds up!

 

[domtyler]

Meat requires more chewing, therefore is less energy efficient and therefore is a significant contributor to global warming.

Or something like that!

 

[Maz]

Because all vegetarian food can be eaten raw...

the cow my beef came from was a vegetarian - can i eat it raw?

 

[Fnaar]

the cow my beef came from was a vegetarian - can i eat it raw?

Try it and report back....

 

[col]

Sounds like a load of bullocks to me?

 

[GaryA]

Meat rearing uses a lot more cereal crops in feed per acre than arable farming
There are escalating grain use and future shortages bacause the masses being lifted out of poverty in china, India etc and into western style consumption styles are demanding more meat together with biofuels bollocks and the future is less than rosy....all this with 6.3 billion people
Factor in the 9 billion forecast by 2050 and its a planetry wide Easter island

BTW to some in soapbox will will be saved by green-consumer capitalism, GM magic science and blind faith..... others ignore the physical laws of supply and demand hoping they will vanish because its a eco-fascist conspiricy magically involving just about every section and level of modern society

 

[domtyler]

Meat rearing uses a lot more cereal crops in feed per acre than arable farming
There are escalating grain use and future shortages bacause the masses being lifted out of poverty in china, India etc and into western style consumption styles are demanding more meat together with biofuels bollocks and the future is less than rosy....all this with 6.3 billion people
Factor in the 9 billion forecast by 2050 and its a planetry wide Easter island

BTW to some in soapbox will will be saved by green-consumer capitalism, GM magic science and blind faith..... others ignore the physical laws of supply and demand hoping they will vanish because its a eco-fascist conspiricy magically involving just about every section and level of modern society

Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, doom doom doom doom doom doom, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, doom doom doom doom doom doom, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, doom doom doom doom doom doom, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, doom doom doom doom doom doom, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, etc.

 

[Maz]

 

[Pete]

the cow my beef came from was a vegetarian - can i eat it raw?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steak_tartare
Try it if you dare!

It's long been stated that feeding vegetable food to animals, then eating the animals, gives us a much poorer yield in KJ/hectare, than growing vegetable food and eating it direct. I haven't got the figures to hand but no doubt someone can dig them up! I remember reading on this topic in a book written in the 1950s. Whether this lends weight to the 'stop eating meat' argument I don't know. Certainly many of our domestic food animals are far more restricted in which vegetables they will eat, than humans, hence inducing monoculture which is known to be environmentally damaging.

But, I'd certainly be sorry to see our hay and wild flower meadows disappear, because there were no animals left to feed the hay to...

 

[Twenty Inch]

What Gary Askwith said.

 

[Fnaar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steak_tartare
Try it if you dare!

I went to Luxembourg once (as you do), and arrived at hotel late. Only thing left on menu was steak tartare. I didn't know what it was. I ordered it, expecting a nice big juicy steak... disappointed when I finally twigged what it was, didn't send it back, ate the lot! Wouldn't order it again, but I was hungry! Also ate raw lamb in Syria once... minced up with onion and garlic... quite nice, but I only ate a little (about 6 forkfuls). Didn't get the squits, so...

 

[buddha]

Because all vegetarian food can be eaten raw, thus requiring less gas etc to cook it. However, vegetarians tend to fart more, producing more methane, so it's a debatable one...

Yes, but this isn't so bad as the extra propulsion helps climbing the hills

 

[Jaded]

There's another aspect, which is the methane produced by farmed animals.

Pfffffftttt.