To ask everyone to eat less meat and meat products?

[Breadandwine]

There are 3 reasons I eat a plant-exclusive diet:

1. I feel I'm healthier (I became veggie to avoid BSE - and my osteoarthritis has been stopped in its tracks since I went vegan)
2. Animal welfare issues (I went vegan after looking at the inevitable cruelty involved in the meat and dairy industries)
3. Global warming/climate change (the single most important thing anyone can do to fight GW is to go vegan - the world's livestock industry contributes more to GW than does transport!)

Before global warming reared its ugly head, I was quite reticent about my veganism, only talking about it when I was asked. But now that our children's and our grandchildren's future is threatened, I'm a lot more vocal.

And now there's me and the Pope on the same side - who'dda thunk it?

Crustaway it's not just that we are still farming per se but the methods and volume used now are very different from in the past.

I always smile when veggie diets are mentioned as being a healthier option - I was veggie for many years (not for ethical reasons particularly - I just didn't like the taste of meat) but I was quite possibly the most unhealthy vegetarian ever.

I'm a better cook now but still prefer to cook and eat meals without meat so as the main cook we don't as a family eat masses of meat.

Or am i being told i shouldn't eat biscuits either as its cruel to the jam?

I think it would be more reasonable to ask people not to waste the meat they do eat. For instance a chicken will do us for 2 meals, the carcass then gets thoroughly picked of all meat and any remaining fat and given to the dog, then the bones and any little scraps are used to make stock for soup. I think if an animal has been killed to feed you then you should show respect for that and use as much of the meat as you possibly can. I find that using every single bit of the meat we do buy has the knock on effect of us buying less meat, if that makes sense.

I was on a thread the other day,and an interview with Lierre Keith was linked to (she's a radical feminist and environmentalist for those who haven't heard of her.) She was talking about the vegatarian myth,and how as a long term vegan she has returned to meat eating because as it turns out,she feels a plant diet is neither good for her,nor the planet.
I'm really wanting to learn more on the whole debate at this point.

You can ask. I'll decline. How civilised.

YANBU

I think I will try to do meat free Mondays for myself and my family.

More veg so better for our health.
Cheaper so better for our pocket
Better for animals if they don't have to be killed.
Better for the planet as less energy used in production. (and less methane from cow farts....although does that mean more methane from our own farts...

Meat free Monday drives me mad, it is a pointless alliteration based campaign which ignores the fact that one of the most efficient ways to eat meat is a roast on Sunday and leftovers Monday/Tuesday. It's totally disingenuous and s bonkers way to eat

YANBU. You're preaching to the converted here though.

Obviously you're right.

I still wouldn't go vegan though, too difficult.

Instead I'm flying less (not at all in 10 years) so I will make it up that way.

My apologies for misunderstanding you, Nargles.

Lots of 'I' in your post

You know where to shove it

I think,that although I definitely flirt with the idea of veganism,I need to answer a few more questions.
Like reading up on Lierre Keiths theory,and trying to establish why eggs from my own free range hens are a no-go.
I am certainly a meat reducer,and I am sure that a reduction in processed meat products if nothing else,just has to be a good thing.

whats the reality of meat and dairy? that we have farms? that we kill to eat them? its what we do, its been going on since time began so its not anything new.

I think that was directed at me.

No, I'm sorry, but you're just 100% wrong. Modern farming techniques have most certainly not been going on since "time began". They haven't been around for long, actually, and what a coincidence that they coincide with an obesity epidemic. That's not mentioning the ethical side of it which is the main issue for most of us.

I like meat, but it's got to be sustainably raised. I only eat free range chicken ( or organic chicken), British pork ( not into crated pigs at all), and good beef or uk raised lamb, so I want good ethically produced protein.

Everyone? I haven't eaten any meat or fish in 30 years I can't eat less.

I don't think yabu. I'm not veggie but eating meat the way the world does is entirely unsustainable. Some very ignorant people on here.
We've cut down and eat meat twice a week so far.

I need to eat fish and meat, but only within my criteria for acceptability!

I think there's a massive can of worms to be opened with the entire food industry,and its high time it was tackled.
Its a massive interconnected web that boils down to profit and greed.

This thread is really depressing. We are walking into catastrophe because no one wants to make any changes - even small changes. Instead, people get huffy and defensive which helps no one.

Farming today is hugely different than it was in our parents' generation. Deforestation is happening at an unprecedented rate to meet the demand, we've already lost half the world's forests - as of a couple of years ago. But hey, who cares? We want our lifestyle at any cost, sod future generations.

I get very hungry without meat but agree with all your points. I don't know much about it but know enough to know the industry is disgusting and cruel. I tend to bury my head.

YABU, suits you fine, you can't preach to others what to eat and what not to eat.

Most westerners? eat meat... so what? is that a problem? you can eat whatever you like too, I dont bang on about it. Up to you. I get pissed off with people that keep trying to tell others that being veggie or vegan is best when they actually have to/or should supplement their diets because of it. Humans eat meat for a very good reason.

In the sand, in case you were wondering where.