Go vegitarian.. reduce AGW.. save the planet

As a matter of tactics for convincing people to improve their carbon footprint, I think much more success will be achieved by advocating a reduction in meat eating, than a cessation of meat eating. That is, I think that tactic will reduce meat eating more.

I am often astounded by how little of the right (flavorful) meats are sufficient to satisfy my craving for meat. 1/2 ounce of good salami (for example) is about equal to 6-8 ounces of hamburger. Meat in a sauce (or casserole) can be much less than meat alone. And so on.

That said, as with gas consumption, the choice isn't really whether to continue as we are currently going, or reduce our consumption. We will reduce our consumption, it is merely a matter of whether we do it voluntarily or have it forced upon us by hard realities.

 

I'm just a s**t stirrer

Personally I appreciate the argument for vegetarianism but equally think people should be free to choose. I respect veggies for their choice but really don't like being refered to as a carcass cruncher by some of them! I respect their views and they should respect mine . Do we get childish here and ask why there isn't a 'meat' option at a vegetarian restaurant, yet the opposite is expected and required.

I don't like hypocrisy in any form and would rather people quietly just practiced what they preach - they get more respect from me if they do. This applies to the pious Prius drivers too. Just drive your car and educate the truck/gas guzzler drivers by your actions rather than your preachings.

 

If you are really going to support militant environmentalism, the best solution is my zombie plan. This would lead to the quickest reduction in CO2. Some people talk about going vegan, or mainly vegan. These are really pussies compared to my zombie plan. Oh I don't want to eat that cute animal. If god didn't want us to eat animals, she wouldn't have made them out of meat! (actual bumper sticker in my neighborhood). But if really care nothing short of human brains, raw to prevent the co2 used in cooking will do. There is simply nothing better for the environment than my 100% brain diet, and I'm not talking tofu shaped like brains, or any other of these measures.

We need to create more zombies or at least eat like them if we are going to save the planet!

 

Have you been smoking something?!?

 

Zombies. They are pretty tasty if you smoke them slowly over fruit wood chips.

Tom

 

Just coffee and brains today! mmm brains. Just remembering the discussion from sunday night with friends, and bring it to prius chat.

I know I should go completely zombie diet and only eat raw brains, but I do prefer them smoked over mequite. Fortunately we have a burn ban in effect.

Raw Brains!

 

Regardless of perspective, with 7 billion humans and one planet, production and consumption of meat is not sustainable.

 

Tom, you start talking about eating vegans... and surprise! here I am.

... and I think that just about does it for this thread. :bolt:

 

I've been having thoughts along that line, but so far have resisted the temptation to post. Now you may have done it...

Tom

 

That depends on the planet.
We don't seem to have a problem feeding the people in developed countries. In fact one of the big problems with these countries is obesity, and for the rest it's just a problem of distribution.

Didn't we outgrow that "zero population growth" fad back in the 70's? I seem to remember "scientists" back then saying that life on this funny little ball would
be untenable by the year 2000.
Guess what?

​

 

Are ya'll as territorial about how to cook zombie brains as ya'll are about regular BBQ

 

As a PROUD People Eating Tasty Animals member, I say let the Zombies (whatever continent they are from) eat their young, let the Vegans eat whatever can't run away from them, or are too lazy to catch, thats why they are Vegans, roots and bark and small shrubs with berries will not run away as you approach them. It's all they could catch!
As for me, Ruth's Chris Steak House is HEAVEN, ....Taylors Steakhouse is only 10 minutes away ( One of the top 10 Steak Houses in L.A.) ...and an occaisional In & Out burger is just a fine treat.
Moderation is the key! Enjoy a variety of foodstuffs.
You are what you eat...
You Big (insert food of choice here) Head!

 

Back when folks had to catch their meals in order to eat meat, being a vegetarian was a lot more common.

 

The implication that obesity is caused by eating too much (as opposed to the wrong things) may not be justified. And try it without oil.

This is what I call the 'snow fallacy'. Let's say that the weatherman predicts snow everyday for 3 weeks, and in all that time it never snows. Would you conclude from that that it will never ever snow again? As it happens, snow is not in any way influenced by any predictions for it.

Likewise, a growing population will eventually exceed the limits of the planet's ability to sustain it. It may well have already exceeded it, but for the massive use of stored solar energy. At the current rate of growth of 1.1%, the population will double every 63 years. So 7 Billion in 2011, 14 Billion in 2074, 28 Billion in 2137, 1.1 Trillion in 2263, and so on. If reduce our population growth (which has been declining since 1963) to zero, we will have a chance at being sustainable, if we do not nature will do it for us, and we may or may not get a chance to be sustainable. The former is not a foregone conclusion, in my opinion, it is a 50 year reversal of a trend which was present (with some bumps) for 10,000 years.

​

 

Cite please. I know of no time in history when humans were vegetarians before recent times.

 

For an example, Google Choctaw diet.

Also Incas.

I believe the Egyptians were also primarily plant eaters.

I suspect there were many other cultures that were primarily vegetarians before recent times, but not "vegetarians" because they also ate critters.

Logically, it seems that about the time people started forming into groups of hundreds and more and living in one place for long periods of time, agriculture became more important than hunting.

 

There was more humor intended than seriousness. The point I was alluding to was excessive meat eating is a recent problem.

The following 1999 paper in Science was really interesting:

Paleolithic Population Growth Pulses Evidenced by Small Animal Exploitation
Mary C. Stiner*, Natalie D. Munro, Todd A. Surovell, Eitan Tchernov and Ofer Bar-Yosef

Basically, the initial food after inhabiting a new area were easy to catch tortoises and shellfish. Once that was gone, the much harder to catch rabbits and partridges became the available meat. After that, it was move on. One major conclusion of that paper was that hunting-gathering did not support very large population since such small animals constituted the major protein sources.

 

The 'humor' people display when confronted with the idea of eating less meat reminds me of the 'humor' gas guzzler owners display when confronted with the idea of driving a Prius (or less wasteful) car.

Just saying.

 

Then there are the people with no humor at all. Just saying...