Meat: A Threat to our Planet?

[Namestranger]

Anyone else watching? Looks interesting.

I’m watching. Didn’t see the start but seems to be focusing on factory farming in America - are they getting away with what they’re doing due to lack of regulation?

Shocking how much beef, pig and chicken populations have increased in very recent years.

It’s certainly eye opening. I’m very tempted to go vegetarian

Those shots of the forest are awful

Get her, Liz!

Shame not many seem to be watching!

Don’t think it had as big an impact (on me
personally) as the plastic programme, but it is most probably a bigger issue

I think people have been more receptive to the plastic issue as it is easier to do your bit by using less plastic, recycling etc. The meat issue is something that requires a far bigger change in day to day life and I think for a lot of people they bury their heads about this issue as they are just not willing to give up meat or even reduce their intake

I agree cloud. The American scientist woman was very annoying but she reflects the views of probably the majority of the population

Very thought provoking but I strongly suspect nothing will happen until 'we' are forced to.

I was shocked to hear that in the near future the human population will grow by another two thirds. How the hell we will survive that is beyond me.

I also wondered that if David Attenborough narrated and presented that program, it would have gotten a better and wider response. A lot of the reason plastic is now a big issue, and very public is because he brought it to our attention via his nature programs

Think forward, people losing their homes, flooding and fires and drought, and food shortages—-> civil unrest, and we are talking millions of people. Is a steak or burger that good? So easy to change eating habits and reduce meat... the future generations will say this because the majority, tragically, are blind to the impact of killing 70 billion animals a year as a commodity and massive global social unrest will not be pretty.

So easy to change eating habits and reduce meat

My friend is a lecturer in climate change and he said something really wise about this the other day...I wish I could remember the exact wording but it was something like even though giving up meat isn't the biggest thing you can do to help reduce emissions it's the one thing that the majority of us are able to do literally overnight and it would make a huge difference without impacting our wellbeing.

A similar thing happens with air pollution. People talk about recycling and reducing plastic etc but they bury their heads when the topic of giving up cars in favour of public transport comes up. People want to help but aren’t always willing to change their lifestyle

Really powerful documentary. For most of my life I ate meat. I grew up as a massive animal lover, strongly against animal cruelty but ate animals at the same time, it wasn't until I watched a documentary showing slaughterhouse footage I knew I had to change.

I was really worried I wouldn't be able to do it so I challenged myself to be vegan for a week so it felt less daunting and 4 years later with a healthy one year old vegan baba I could never go back. I have more energy, rarely bloat, better skin, less period pain and lost a stone without restricting calories.

I never in a million years thought I'd go vegan, people can definitely make a change to help animals and our planet and it's so much easier now with so many plant based options available in supermarkets ☺

I was really worried I wouldn't be able to do it so I challenged myself to be vegan for a week

I did this too. I'd always wanted to switch to plant based but I just assumed it'd be way too difficult but actually, baring the odd balls up, it's been more or less fine.

@cloud1183 I couldn't agree more with your posts

It was really powerful for me. I watched Cowspiracy recently but this doc seemed more clear and concise to me.

Me and DH have in the last few months cut down meat consumption drastically. We don't even own a car. It's the plastic packaging on food that I am struggling to ditch.

What will it take for people to give up meat and dairy? People are great at finding excuses not to.

Just watching this now and I'd have never made the connection between eating meat and penguins driven to extinction i don't eat meat anyway but i hope people watch this and turn away from meat for good

just another meat bashing programme.

I've not watched it, but I gather it focuses on the Americas. A lot of meat in the UK is produced in grass-fed systems - beef and lamb. If you want to eat meat and still do your bit for the planet, go for the local, non-intensive stuff.

British reared meat is entirely different. The land they are on isn't suitable for arable, they eat food processing waste products like apple and beet hash.

The best you can do is eat local and seasonal.

Avocados, bananas, almonds, imported soya, all that processed vegetarian/vegan food - far far worse than locally raised meat and dairy.

Whether they are grass fed or not they still produce manure and gases no ? And if you watched the programme you'd see it mentions meat being imported to the UK as well as animal feeds so it is as much a UK problem as anywhere else even if we are smaller than America. But people will continue burying their heads in the sand because they can't bear to face the facts and change

Manure is a benefit: excellent fertiliser and great for soil structure.

Methane is a problem, I'm not denying that. However, it does decay quickly in the atmosphere.

If you want to eat meat, grass-fed extensively reared stuff is the way to go. Grassland sequesters carbon.

I only buy British meat. I have reduced the amount of meat we eat, and we don't buy processed food. I have an electric car, rarely fly, don't use commercial skin or hair products, laundry soap etc.

Head not buried in the sand.

Avocados, bananas, almonds, imported soya, all that processed vegetarian/vegan food - far far worse than locally raised meat and dairy

I don't think that's true when it comes to plant milks. There was a good study in Oxford where they concluded that even accounting for the water/miles/other issues associated with all kinds of plant milks if everyone ditched milk and used substitutes where necessary, it would still be massively less harmful to the planet than dairy. Perhaps if you take one pint a week from Daisy at the bottom of your garden once a week that's not the case but the food we eat is FULL of dairy milk and as a nation we consume masses of the stuff. It's not until going vegan I realised it's in bloody everything - even crisps!

A similar thing happens with air pollution. People talk about recycling and reducing plastic etc but they bury their heads when the topic of giving up cars in favour of public transport comes up. People want to help but aren’t always willing to change their lifestyle

Actually, the best thing people can do to reduce air pollution is to stop burning solid fuel, especially wood, both in open fires and in wood burners, even modern ones. Domestic wood burning contributes more harmful pollutants than all road traffic combined, many times over.