Which Ivory Tower do you inhabit where it's OK for you to eat meat while others starve?
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We must face facts - meat is the problem
- Thread starter mspohr
- Start date
I'm not in an ivory tower. The author is.
There's a massive global energy crisis right now that needs to be solved faster than is possible through efficiency and shifting to renewables.
The administration was addressing that.
Governments ignore the health consequences of factory farming at our peril. Swine flu and bird flu are just two examples of diseases that started on factory farms and have caused devastating human health impacts. We’re living through the worst pandemic in 100 years but there’s worse to come as wildlife habitats are cut down to make room for factory farming, risking disease spread between wild and farmed animals, and to humans. The World Health Organisation warns we are facing a superbug health crisis. Factory farming is the major culprit as farmed animals are indiscriminately dosed with antibiotics to prop up a cruel system, leading to superbugs that jump to humans and kill. People are suffering from obesity and chronic illness at record rates, made worse by the ‘cheap meat at all costs’ mentality of factory farming. At the same time, hundreds of millions of people face hunger.
worldanimalprotection.org
worldanimalprotection.org
Vegan diets are healthier and safer for dogs, study suggests
Vegan diets are healthier and safer for dogs than conventional meat-based diets, according to the largest study to date, as long as they are nutritionally complete. The diet and health of more than 2,500 dogs were followed over a year using surveys completed by their owners. These assessed seven general indicators of health, such as multiple visits to the vets, and 22 common illnesses.
Vegan diets are healthier and safer for dogs than conventional meat-based diets, according to the largest study to date, as long as they are nutritionally complete. The diet and health of more than 2,500 dogs were followed over a year using surveys completed by their owners. These assessed seven general indicators of health, such as multiple visits to the vets, and 22 common illnesses.
Your Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered Your Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered
US egg factory roasts alive 5.3 million chickens in avian flu cull – then fires almost every worker
As they gathered at the huge barns housing stacks of caged hens, the workers were told to forget about their usual routine of collecting eggs and feeding the birds. Overnight, the factory had begun slaughtering more than 5 million chickens using a gruesome killing method after detecting a single case of avian influenza. Even supervisors were assigned to the arduous task of dragging dead hens out of packed cages as Rembrandt Enterprises raced to contain the spread of the virus amid the largest bird flu outbreak in the US in seven years.
As they gathered at the huge barns housing stacks of caged hens, the workers were told to forget about their usual routine of collecting eggs and feeding the birds. Overnight, the factory had begun slaughtering more than 5 million chickens using a gruesome killing method after detecting a single case of avian influenza. Even supervisors were assigned to the arduous task of dragging dead hens out of packed cages as Rembrandt Enterprises raced to contain the spread of the virus amid the largest bird flu outbreak in the US in seven years.
But the ongoing failure to protect the world’s largest rainforest from rapacious cattle ranching is no longer Brazil’s alone, a Washington Post investigation shows. It is now shared by the United States — and the American consumer.
Satellites detect California cow burps, a major methane source, from space
This is significant, according to GHGSat, because agricultural methane emissions are hard to measure and accurate measurement is needed to set enforceable reduction targets for the beef-production industry. GHGSat said the amount of methane it detected from that single feedlot would result in 5,116 tonnes of methane emissions if sustained for a year. If that methane were captured, it could power over 15,000 homes, it said. Agriculture contributes 9.6% to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and about 36% of methane emissions, mostly from livestock.
This is significant, according to GHGSat, because agricultural methane emissions are hard to measure and accurate measurement is needed to set enforceable reduction targets for the beef-production industry. GHGSat said the amount of methane it detected from that single feedlot would result in 5,116 tonnes of methane emissions if sustained for a year. If that methane were captured, it could power over 15,000 homes, it said. Agriculture contributes 9.6% to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and about 36% of methane emissions, mostly from livestock.
Eating one-fifth less beef could halve deforestation
Model suggests that switching to microbial ‘meat’ can cut carbon emissions.
www.nature.com
Replacing just 20% of global beef consumption with a meat substitute within the next 30 years could halve deforestation and the carbon emissions associated with it, finds a modelling study.
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New Cancer Diet Studies Confirm Effects of Veggies and Red Meat
A high consumption of vegetables appears to lower the risk of liver cancer/liver disease, while a high consumption of red meat, organ meats, and processed meats boosts the risk of gastric cancer.
www.medscape.com
A pair of new studies offers more evidence for the value of vegetables and the risk of red meat on the cancer prevention front. Researchers report that high consumption of vegetables – especially lettuce, legumes, and cruciferous varieties – appears to lower the risk of liver cancer/liver disease. A separate team suggests that high consumption of red meat, organ meats, and processed meats boosts the risk of gastric cancer. The findings of the latter study “reinforce the idea that avoidance of red meat and processed meat is probably good beyond [the prevention of] colorectal cancer,” said corresponding author and epidemiologist Paolo Boffetta, MD, MPH, of Stony Brook University Cancer Center, New York, in an interview. “The possible carcinogenic effect may extend beyond the colon.”
George Monbiot: ‘On a vegan planet, Britain could feed 200 million people’
We currently use 17.5m hectares of farmland in the UK. Fairlie finds that while a diet containing a moderate amount (less than we currently consume) of meat, dairy and eggs would require the use of 11m hectares of land (4m of which would be arable), a vegan diet would demand a total of just 3m. Not only do humans need no pasture, but we use grains and pulses more efficiently when we eat them ourselves. This would enable more than 14m hectares of the land now used for farming to be set aside for nature. Alternatively, on a vegan planet, Britain could feed 200 million peopl
Global food production has been comfortably beating population growth for 60 years. In 1961, there were 2,200 kcals a day available for every person on Earth. By 2011, this had risen to almost 2,900. Crop production as a whole has risen much higher: to an astonishing total of 5,400 kcal per person per day. But almost half these calories are lost, mainly through feeding the food to farm animals, but also through using it for other purposes (such as biofuels) and through waste. Even so, in principle, there is more than enough for everyone, if it were affordable and well distributed. So how come chronic hunger has been rising globally since 2015? It’s the result of a lethal combination of inequality and systemic instability in global food distribution – an issue I hope to cover in my column next week.
We currently use 17.5m hectares of farmland in the UK. Fairlie finds that while a diet containing a moderate amount (less than we currently consume) of meat, dairy and eggs would require the use of 11m hectares of land (4m of which would be arable), a vegan diet would demand a total of just 3m. Not only do humans need no pasture, but we use grains and pulses more efficiently when we eat them ourselves. This would enable more than 14m hectares of the land now used for farming to be set aside for nature. Alternatively, on a vegan planet, Britain could feed 200 million peopl
Global food production has been comfortably beating population growth for 60 years. In 1961, there were 2,200 kcals a day available for every person on Earth. By 2011, this had risen to almost 2,900. Crop production as a whole has risen much higher: to an astonishing total of 5,400 kcal per person per day. But almost half these calories are lost, mainly through feeding the food to farm animals, but also through using it for other purposes (such as biofuels) and through waste. Even so, in principle, there is more than enough for everyone, if it were affordable and well distributed. So how come chronic hunger has been rising globally since 2015? It’s the result of a lethal combination of inequality and systemic instability in global food distribution – an issue I hope to cover in my column next week.
10 Ways to Lower the Cancer Risk of Grilling 10 Ways to Lower the Cancer Risk of Grilling (Published 2019)
‘Sea forest’ would be better name than seaweed, says UN food adviser
All of the approximately 12,000 known varieties of seaweed are edible, says Doumeizel, whose book The Seaweed Revolution is currently out in French. If we used all of these varieties of seaweed more effectively, Doumeizel believes, we could “feed the entire world” sustainably, while “repairing the climate”, “mitigating biodiversity loss” and “alleviating poverty”. Many are so nutritious that studies have estimated that 2% of the ocean would be sufficient to feed 12 billion people, without using any animal or vegetable resources. And unlike some other plants, it retains all of its nutrients when dried.
Seaweed’s high protein content and immune-boosting properties makes it a great animal feed, and as a side benefit, feeding livestock seaweed also “cuts methane emissions”, said Doumeizel. If every cow was fed just 100 grams of seaweed a day, he said, it would suppress their wind enough that “the impact on climate change would be equivalent to stopping each and every car and truck on the planet”.
All of the approximately 12,000 known varieties of seaweed are edible, says Doumeizel, whose book The Seaweed Revolution is currently out in French. If we used all of these varieties of seaweed more effectively, Doumeizel believes, we could “feed the entire world” sustainably, while “repairing the climate”, “mitigating biodiversity loss” and “alleviating poverty”. Many are so nutritious that studies have estimated that 2% of the ocean would be sufficient to feed 12 billion people, without using any animal or vegetable resources. And unlike some other plants, it retains all of its nutrients when dried.
Seaweed’s high protein content and immune-boosting properties makes it a great animal feed, and as a side benefit, feeding livestock seaweed also “cuts methane emissions”, said Doumeizel. If every cow was fed just 100 grams of seaweed a day, he said, it would suppress their wind enough that “the impact on climate change would be equivalent to stopping each and every car and truck on the planet”.
Inflation Should Make Us All Vegetarians Opinion | Inflation Should Make Us All Vegetarians
Meat, poultry, fish and eggs now cost 14.3 percent more than they did a year ago. For a country that consumes about 274 pounds of meat per person per year, that has been a particularly bruising economic reality. If the current rate of food inflation holds, and Americans don’t change their meat consumption habits, they will spend roughly $20 billion more on meat, poultry, fish and eggs over the next year than they did in 2020.
The price of fruits and vegetables has increased by 7.8 percent over the last year, roughly half that of meat and poultry and a bit behind dairy, which has increased by 9.1 percent. A 2021 study in Nature found that animal products produce greenhouse gases at twice the rate of foods from plants. We should be paying attention to every ton of carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere — the same way shoppers are watching the cost of every addition to their grocery carts.
There is an inherent conflict in asking people to change their most personal habits because of climate change when government policy puts few restraints on polluting industries like oil, gas, coal and automobiles. Still, the answer isn’t either-or, it’s both-and. Rising prices for all kinds of consumer goods are exerting pressure on Americans, but our food spending can be modified more easily than what we pay at the gas pump. We do not have to become, overnight, a nation of vegetarians and vegans, but we could adjust what we eat to save both our pocketbooks and our planet.
Meat, poultry, fish and eggs now cost 14.3 percent more than they did a year ago. For a country that consumes about 274 pounds of meat per person per year, that has been a particularly bruising economic reality. If the current rate of food inflation holds, and Americans don’t change their meat consumption habits, they will spend roughly $20 billion more on meat, poultry, fish and eggs over the next year than they did in 2020.
The price of fruits and vegetables has increased by 7.8 percent over the last year, roughly half that of meat and poultry and a bit behind dairy, which has increased by 9.1 percent. A 2021 study in Nature found that animal products produce greenhouse gases at twice the rate of foods from plants. We should be paying attention to every ton of carbon dioxide that goes into the atmosphere — the same way shoppers are watching the cost of every addition to their grocery carts.
There is an inherent conflict in asking people to change their most personal habits because of climate change when government policy puts few restraints on polluting industries like oil, gas, coal and automobiles. Still, the answer isn’t either-or, it’s both-and. Rising prices for all kinds of consumer goods are exerting pressure on Americans, but our food spending can be modified more easily than what we pay at the gas pump. We do not have to become, overnight, a nation of vegetarians and vegans, but we could adjust what we eat to save both our pocketbooks and our planet.
Researchers Find That Eating a Certain Protein Is Related to Developing Depression
A new study shows, in humans, mice, and flies, that elevated plasma levels and a diet rich in the amino acid proline cause a more severe state of depression. Amino acids are monomers that are the building blocks of protein. When a person consumes food containing protein, the protein is broken dow
scitechdaily.com
Newly released research confirms the link between a certain amino acid called proline and depression. Proline is a nonessential amino acid and is found in grass-fed beef, pasture-raised chicken, gelatin, bone broth, organ meats like liver, and cage-free egg yolks. According to the study, a diet rich in proline is linked to an increased risk of depression.
Climate-friendly diets can make a huge difference – even if you don’t go all-out vegan
Who chooses what you eat? If your answer is “I do,” you’re partly right. You may buy your own groceries and order your own restaurant meals, but it’s the food industry that determines what is stocked on store shelves and listed on menus.
What we eat has an enormous environmental impact. Scientists estimate that food production causes 35% of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, with meat responsible for more than twice the pollution of fruits, grains and greens.
The shifts needn’t be extreme. Adopting a healthy Mediterranean-style diet – rich in grains, vegetables, nuts and moderate amounts of fish and poultry – could be nearly as effective as going vegetarian or vegan, the report found. If everyone met basic nutritional recommendations, which for most people in developed countries means more fruit and veg and less red meat, emissions could fall 29% by 2050, according to one study.
Who chooses what you eat? If your answer is “I do,” you’re partly right. You may buy your own groceries and order your own restaurant meals, but it’s the food industry that determines what is stocked on store shelves and listed on menus.
What we eat has an enormous environmental impact. Scientists estimate that food production causes 35% of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, with meat responsible for more than twice the pollution of fruits, grains and greens.
The shifts needn’t be extreme. Adopting a healthy Mediterranean-style diet – rich in grains, vegetables, nuts and moderate amounts of fish and poultry – could be nearly as effective as going vegetarian or vegan, the report found. If everyone met basic nutritional recommendations, which for most people in developed countries means more fruit and veg and less red meat, emissions could fall 29% by 2050, according to one study.