To think we should all eat less meat & dairy

[grumiosmum]

... because of the climate crisis (as well as our health)

Important new report out today: www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49238749

There are far too many people on this planet, with their fossil fuels, air travel, need for materialistic shit and general fuckery. We are an infestation. That's the main issue IMO- overpopulation. And with overpopulation comes the need for more food sourced in unenvironmentally friendly ways to feed everyone. Have you ever watched the flight maps and how many planes are flying around the world at any given time?! It's ridiculous. We are a throw away society going to hell in a hand basket.
We cut trees down which we actually need so we can draw life giving breath. Just think about that for a minute. We cut them down in their thousands and ruin habitats of a plethora of animals and have disregard for anything that gets in our way.
This planet is a fucking shit show and quite frankly if I could stop it and get off I would.

Where does this 11 year timeline come from?

It's very alarmist and one assumes if it were true that there would no point in continuing at all.

After all the developing economies aren't scaling back are they? And we can't stop it on our own. So its inevitable that we won't make that deadline.

So, if we only have 11 years left to save the planet then fuck me, I'll indulge in anything I want. Eat meat everyday. Might as well. After all what's the point?

And no one should have any children at all.

It's extremely pessimistic.

Not trying to be obnoxious, I’m really not. Whatever we choose to eat seems to have some impact. It’s one of those things, what are we meant to eat?

I probably should but let’s be honest, I’m not going to. That makes me selfish but I don’t care. My diet is heavily based on meat, to a lesser extent dairy, and I don’t want to change it. So I’m not going to.

And it has the opposite effect of what I suspect is intended.

Someone has made our milk order at work ridiculous.
It's annoying coz at least 20 pints poured away each Monday.
It's the type of workplace where people don't want to speak up about the obvious ridiculous glut.
I'm trying to drink a lot of the work milk to reduce the waste.
In my case, drinking all that milk is a good thing.

Agree bellatrix. There is no fixing it. It’s fucked.

We should eat less meat and dairy, OP. And I will. On the day that tofu and lentils and all the rest taste half as nice as a steak in peppercorn sauce. 🥩 🍟

@HouseholdPlantMurderer that is exactly the sort of thinking that keeps everyone silenced on this issue. We live in a toxic broken system based on growth economies fuelled by fossil fuels. We are all implicit and all hypocrites. It is not our fault as the system we exist in only allows us to function within it.
But that doesn’t mean we should be afraid of questioning our own actions and the actions of others. The first step is we need to be able to talk about these issues, not be silenced.
We all have the power to lobby and protest. We all have the power to make little changes to our lives where possible which collectively can have an impact. An example, I used to love red meat and diary. We don’t eat it anymore. We also don’t eat soya or other plants that have been grown using methods that require deforestation. We eat organic, and almost all locally sourced. Yes it does limit what we eat and at what time of year but, so? Do we need to eat blueberries from Chile in December? No we do not. Do we need a steak to be healthy? No.
We also decided to stop flying, 7 years ago. I used to love travel. I would still love to travel, but flying is the worst thing one person can do in terms of carbon emissions. These are just examples of the changes we have made, because frankly we did lots of “bad” things too. But that viewpoint doesn’t help anyone. We need to start talking about this problem without pointing fingers. It is not going to go away. We all need to do what we can now.

Currently in the fridge I have some mackerel, pigeon breasts and pheasants de frosting. My dad got them for me.
The birds need trees and plants to live unlike cows perhaps ( although we p,ant hedgerows for them over here).
I struggle to see us going back to a time when people could provide for themselves though.

I watched the programme on vegetable farming in Spain. It’s horrfic. A literall sea of plastic. People are seriously deluding themselves if they think an exciting vegan diet is going to possible with serious environmental impact.

The 11 year deadline is from a report from the UN. It was released in 2018 and said we have 12 years to save the planet.

It’s because we need to act now or the effects of carbon emissions already released will become irreversible in time for us to avert the consequences.

It’s worrying that people are ignoring the issue that much that they haven’t even seen the very widely publicised UN report.

I have no plans to cut back on meat and dairy as I enjoy them.

I do my bit by not owning a car. I have never owned a car. I know some people need them for work or if they live rurally with crap public transport but it always surprises me at how many people drive to places that are easily within walking distance.

We should all walk or cycle WHERE POSSIBLE rather than drive.

Don't understand all these posts saying 'oh but eating meat isn't as bad as X, or I do Y good thing instead' - completely missing the point. The scientific community is saying we need to cut down to survive. Yes we should also drive less, have fewer children, use less plastic. Obviously. But this thread is about meat and dairy.

When someone posts a thread about parking considerately do you all pile on and say 'well yes I use mother and baby spaces when I don't need them but I always put my trolley back. YOU PROBABLY DON'T PUT YOUR TROLLEY BACK'?

Yanbu. I'm vegetarian and trying very hard to become vegan. My main consideration is the cruelty to animals but the evidence about climate change has made me even more determined to become vegan. Giving up cheese is the hardest thing for me as there is no decent substitute. I can't understand how soya milk and yogurt can be so nice and creamy and yet they can't seem to make a decent cheese from it.

@AnnaFiveTowns just give up on the fake cheese. Sheese herb and garlic is vaguely like Boursin (very vaguely), everything else I replace in another way. Truffle oil on pizza, hummus dolloped on a baked potato, extra bit of salt and drizzle of olive oil on pasta. Much better than the strange rubber they try and flog.

I don't eat meat or fish and do use milk alternatives. Love my cheese though, I am eating a bit less of it I think. I eat free range eggs but not always organic, so could improve there and I don't give too much consideration to eating locally produced food which I could improve as well. Did stop at having one child though , don't own a car, usually cycle everywhere or get public transport. Need to reduce plastic use more, do try though.

Yanbu.

I won’t stop eating meat. At all. It’s only a very small part imo. Until the big guns start doing something then it’s pointless. Most of the vegan stuff is just as bad anyway.

I’ll await the flaming.

Also battery farms should be stopped. Too cruel.

I agree. There are plenty of Hunt saboteurs trying to stop hunting. It would be good if they could stop battery hens (maybe they try).

allthegins you could try just reading the BBC article linked to in my OP which contradicts just about everything you say.

Definitely, but it is still important to eat meat and diary as they are significantly better sources of several essential amino acids, calcium (and therefore aiding vitamin D absorption), iron than anything plant based.

Yes @PooWillyBumBum, I reckon I should just forget trying to replicate cheese and move on to other things completely. It's hard though as my staple diet is cheese 😁

@allthegins Just awaiting your sources for your claims there. Anything to add? Or in the face of the actual evidence posted here can you not find anything?

However you are right. Until the governments start cracking down on large scale farming there is nothing we can do. Removing consumer demand is important but large scale farming is environmental vandalism.

I think no one has the right to tell others what to eat.
I didn't smoke or drink but never tell others not to. It is choice .
I am fibre intolerant so no chance of me going anything . I was vegetarian decades ago , but gave up on drs advice for health reasons.
If there are no farms then the animsls wont exsist except for what will be put in zoos .