• jeffw@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Obligatory “not vegan” but it’s hilarious to me when people ignore this.

      Why do you think we cut down trees? Yes, more farmland. Farmland for what? To feed the cattle lol

      • jet@hackertalks.com
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        2 days ago

        Cattle are ruminants - their one super power is they can eat grass from marginal land that can’t grow crops, they don’t need grain at all.

        • jeffw@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          And about 30 seconds on google shows that’s less than 3% of beef production. That’s why deforestation is so rapid.

          If we shifted all of our cattle to grazers, we’d have less than 1/3rd of our current beef production due to land constraints.

          • jet@hackertalks.com
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            2 days ago

            We have about 5x as much range land as we do arable land on the planet.

            Soil stewardship and replenishment are critical to a sustainable ecology - and ruminants are key to generating new top soil.

            • jeffw@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              Also, for the record, not every inch of land categorized as grazable is not able to support cattle (arid, bad soil fertility, mountains and other terrain issues, etc.). When I said we couldn’t meet current demand, that assumes those were non-issues.

            • jeffw@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              Sure bud. Sure. Just make all the cattle free range and we solve every problem in the world.

              Now we just have to subsidize beef even more than we already do so that people can afford their free range beef. God forbid they eat another form of protein that’s sustainable and environmentally friendly.

              There’s reality and then there’s your hypotheticals. I’ll continue to discuss reality but not absurd hypotheticals like “let’s just change 95% of our beef production”.

              And for the record, 5x is a vast overstatement. It’s closer to 2-3x. Still not plausible. Even if every single inch of grazable land on the planet were filled with cattle (and no other animal), we could not fill current beef demands. And that’s a demand that will grow very rapidly in the coming decades.

              • jet@hackertalks.com
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                2 days ago

                God forbid they eat another form of protein that’s sustainable and environmentally friendly.

                The non-animal protein that is sustainable and environmentally friendly - where does it get its fertilizer from?

                • jeffw@lemmy.world
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                  2 days ago

                  They get it from synthetic fertilizer? You think it comes from cattle lol?

                  Dude, you cut a cow and you need WAAAAAY less land and fertilizer than if you feed that cow.

                  And yes, not all land for cattle feed can be used for human crops, but even if we had zero beef, we’d have enough land to support human crops.

                  I honestly think you’re trolling now because you’re not only denying reality and making up absurd claims, but you’re ignoring my points and not responding to them lol.

                  Is synthetic fertilizer bad for the environment? Sure, but we need a hell of a lot less when we decrease beef production. If you add more cattle for natural manure fertilizers, you need more land to grow their feed. This is a self-perpetuating cycle.

    • Arkouda@lemmy.caOP
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      2 days ago

      While I agree with the idea of going vegan for the environment, it is unfortunately an unattainable diet for many people on the planet. It is not cheap to be vegan, even though with the wealth of technology and advancement we have it should be.

        • Arkouda@lemmy.caOP
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          2 days ago

          It is hard to believe that you are paying 20% less on a vegan diet and getting all of your required nutrients to remain healthy considering the cost of nutritional supplements and foods required for a healthy vegan diet.

            • Arkouda@lemmy.caOP
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              23 hours ago

              Generally when people can save 1/5th of their grocery bill with something that is also great for the environment, and can do it in a way that keeps one healthy, people share that information for the benefit of others.