The case for sustainable meat

[Peter1469]

The case for sustainable meat

Many people claim that raising animals for meat harms the environment. I agree with them when it comes to commercial factory farming methods. The dreaded green house gas- the cow fart is really only a problem when you are feeding them grain - which their guts are not evolved to properly process. (Methane is a much more powerful green house gas than CO-2.) That is just one example, of course there are more examples of how CFF methods harm the environment.

This is a long article about sustainable meat. When cows are free range they actually help the environment. One example- the grasslands they feed on prevent desertification and actually act as better CO-2 sinks than forests.

But as I said it is a long article and I only scratched the surface.

I. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Meat, we are told, is bad for the planet. It causes global warming, destroys forests, diverts substantial proportions of the world’s grain for feed, all to produce meat which only wealthy Westerners can afford. The iniquity of the situation led George Monbiot to declare in 2002 that “Veganism is the only ethical response to what is arguably the world’s most urgent social justice issue.” Monbiot later recanted but, since then, we are told with increasing regularity that to save the planet we must radically reduce our consumption of meat. In the face of what seems to be universal agreement on the sins of meat eating, is there really a green argument for meat? I think there is, and I think we should be talking about it. Not only is the public discourse heavily one-sided, but the anti-meat message risks destroying the very environment is claims to be protecting.

The possibility of livestock farming being part of the solution rather than the problem is looking increasingly probable, logical, and exciting. But for it to succeed, consumers of all tendencies need to be aware of the issues and make choices about the kind of meat they buy and eat. It does not mean we all have to eat meat, but conversely, we should think twice before promoting vegetarianism as the default green option. By many counts, permanent pasture is greener than arable land and silvopastoralism is better still. Your choices as a consumer determine which we see in the future.

Read the entire article at the link.

[Trumpster]

It seems to me that the author is highly biased and it makes me wonder if he might have some financial association with the meat and dairy industry.

This topic is so sprawling, it's hard to know where to start. He picks the most extreme environmental arguments to go up against. Arguments like "bad for the planet", "global warming" and "destroys forests" etc.

I have always looked at meat and dairy consumption from a health perspective and I see it as unproductive in that respect. Eating lots of meat and dairy does not promote good health. That's a big subject in itself that I won't get into here.

Spoiled grain, which he says gets fed to livestock, may contain various toxins. Aflatoxin is a potent carcinogen and is common among spoiled crops of all kinds. When cattle consume aflatoxin from musty and moldy grain, the aflatoxin doesn't go away. It stays in the meat and milk and poses a high cancer risk for consumers of meat and dairy.

[Peter1469]

Take a look at the difference between factory farmed meat and sustainable meat.

[Trumpster]

This website https://www.quora.com/How-many-cows-are-there-in-the-US states that there are a total of 94.4 million head of cattle in the U.S. That includes beef cattle, milk cows, bison, oxen etc. If they were all grass fed, they would require 94.4 million acres of pasture land. How does one decide if that's the best possible use of agricultural land? In many states, crops like corn and wheat would have to be grown in order to keep the cattle fed in winter. So figure many millions of additional acres for that. (Maybe more than double the acreage?) This is what's known as "monoculture farming" which is the opposite of "biodiversity farming." And biodiversity farming is said to be the healthiest (more sustainable) for the environment, especially organic biodiversity.