Can you explain what costs you are referring to here? I have! I can't see how anyone can NOT see them! The costs of changing farming, manufacturing, all those jobs form farming to processing, sales, distribution etc. They won't happen overnight and who will bear the brunt of all the re-tooling?
But the world going vegan won’t happen overnight either. It’s going to be a gradual decrease as people realise their current rate of meat consumption is unsustainable and give it up. While it’s true that some forms of food processing jobs will be lost as people eat less meat, others will be gained as people eat more plant based foods. Industries die all the time, and we find a way. If we didn’t then there would never be any progress - it would stop us from moving to renewable energy sources because jobs would be lost in the coal industry. It would stop us from using google because of job losses for the yellow pages. Do you see how regressive that is? Change happens all the time, and the reality is we can’t sustain current rates of meat consumption or the consequences are going to be a lot worse than re-tooling.
I’ve solved this one - next time you want to buy meat, just don’t. Don't be so poe faced! That's the sort of comment that is only designed to piss off a lot of people. It is holier than thou and has no thought whatsoever for the worldwide economy, let alone that of individaul producers.
You asked a stupid question and got a glib answer. How else do you think we are going to move to a world which consumes fewer animal products except by a lot of people making an individual decision not to buy them anymore? You asked how we do it - that’s how. By deciding not to, by asking others to consider doing the same. What possible alternative is there? A government ban? Ration books? Vast taxes? Clearly none of those are going to happen (or at least not in the immediate future. Maybe once the oceans have risen enough to swamp the Maldives and most of Oceania we might start taking a more proactive approach).
So even if every omnivore in the world ate nothing except berries and avocados flown in from other countries, it would still involve less carbon emissions than consuming cows, sheep, and dairy products. I don't know how much more clear I can be. Meat eaters will not die, they will start to consume more plant based foods. Those foods, globally not per item, will then have an increased negative impact. That's why using current impact data without including the costs of change don't make sense!
Ok but this is a very simple concept - meat eaters consuming exclusively plant based foods will lead to a massive reduction in carbon emissions, even if all of those foods are flown in from other countries. In other words, the benefit of stopping meat consumption is much greater than the cost of increased imported food consumption.
It’s a simple sum. 1kg of lamb consumed leads to about 40kg of carbon emissions. 1kg of avocados (one of the least environmentally friendly vegan foods) leads to about 0.86kg of carbon emissions. Therefore, meat eaters would have to be eating 46 times as many kilos of avocados as they were eating kilos of beef for the environmental impact to be comparable. Do you see how it’s ridiculous to suggest that the increased consumption of plant based foods, even if they were all imported, would negate the benefit of giving up meat?
We DON'T KNOW if the negative impact will be less. We can assume it will be... but over what time period and at what cost, as explained
We do. As above, it’s a simple sum. This position is widely accepted among climate scientists. It is not a controversial or unproven assertion.
And again... given that I haven't said that I thnk reducing meat comsumption is a bad thing, I have no idea why I am being grilled. If ANY dissent is given this much flaming it is no wonder that the stereotypes are becomeing so engrained.
So when you put your position across you think it’s reasonable, but when I put mine across you’re being flamed? Why is it one rule for you and one rule for me?
A lot of what you have said is wrong. I’m not talking about your opinions on the ethics of eating meat - you can make whatever decisions you like about your own diet and choices. But a lot of the averments you’ve put forward as facts are easily disprovable. I’m entitled to point that out in an open discussion, and I don’t think you can reasonably consider that a flaming.
Veggie / Vegan - evangelistic tossers!!
Meat eaters - the greediest fucks around!!
Some people (not me, you will note) are rude on the internet. What’s your point?
Lighten up. Have a discussion with open ears! good advice, you should follow it.