I wish I could agree with your thoughtful argument. The problem is that the site makes it seem as though becoming a Vegan is the only way to solve this problem (I most certainly agree that there is a problem here). Therefore this is once again going to fall on deaf ears because some simply can't resist pushing a pet agenda. They should have left off the whole vegan concept or added home range.
We are biologically hardcoded to eat both meat and vegetables. The problem is not what our diet is: rather how we go about fulfilling such a massive demand due to our inability to curb our breeding habits.
Becoming a vegan only partially solves the problem (partially = swathes of the Amazon forest being chopped down for vegetable farming). The other solution is only purchasing home range (which I always do unless it's absolutely not available) - but that had the problem of where the animals would be farmed (probably the Amazon too).
Cut down enough of the Amazon and guess what happens, not only do you stress the wildlife as you displace them but you also rapidly cause extinctions.
The problem is lack of self control, not our diet.
The site is not the official site of those who made the documentary by the looks of it. The official site is http://earthlings.com/. So discounting the film because someone promoting it advocates veganism is probably misguided.
At for environmental impact, a meat diet is generally more environmentally expensive than a vegetable diet. Animals either directly eat vegetables or indirectly (eating other animals that eat other animals that eat vegetables, etc.). Through the life of the animal it's burning the calories from the vegetables. Eat the vegetable calories directly and you're not eating them through an animal conduit that consumed much of them while existing.
"due to our inability to curb our breeding habits."
Reminder: We have curbed our breeding habits. Industrialized societies now generally face more pressing underpopulation problems than overpopulation problems, and the global population is now predicted to peak within this century, then start going back down.
You may wish they had been curbed at a lower number, you may still be concerned that we may still pass a carrying capacity before we quite peak, but a fashionably misanthropic "woe, woe, we just keep breeding forever" is not currently a valid concern based on facts.
Comments
I wish I could agree with your thoughtful argument. The problem is that the site makes it seem as though becoming a Vegan is the only way to solve this problem (I most certainly agree that there is a problem here). Therefore this is once again going to fall on deaf ears because some simply can't resist pushing a pet agenda. They should have left off the whole vegan concept or added home range.
We are biologically hardcoded to eat both meat and vegetables. The problem is not what our diet is: rather how we go about fulfilling such a massive demand due to our inability to curb our breeding habits.
Becoming a vegan only partially solves the problem (partially = swathes of the Amazon forest being chopped down for vegetable farming). The other solution is only purchasing home range (which I always do unless it's absolutely not available) - but that had the problem of where the animals would be farmed (probably the Amazon too).
Cut down enough of the Amazon and guess what happens, not only do you stress the wildlife as you displace them but you also rapidly cause extinctions.
The problem is lack of self control, not our diet.
The site is not the official site of those who made the documentary by the looks of it. The official site is http://earthlings.com/. So discounting the film because someone promoting it advocates veganism is probably misguided.
At for environmental impact, a meat diet is generally more environmentally expensive than a vegetable diet. Animals either directly eat vegetables or indirectly (eating other animals that eat other animals that eat vegetables, etc.). Through the life of the animal it's burning the calories from the vegetables. Eat the vegetable calories directly and you're not eating them through an animal conduit that consumed much of them while existing.
"due to our inability to curb our breeding habits."
Reminder: We have curbed our breeding habits. Industrialized societies now generally face more pressing underpopulation problems than overpopulation problems, and the global population is now predicted to peak within this century, then start going back down.
You may wish they had been curbed at a lower number, you may still be concerned that we may still pass a carrying capacity before we quite peak, but a fashionably misanthropic "woe, woe, we just keep breeding forever" is not currently a valid concern based on facts.