Can you help me decide which is the worse of the 2 evils??!
I can now become a vegetarian after 4 years of having a B12 deficiency. Now my B12 levels are up I would like to become a vegetarian. HOWEVER soya products are damaging the environment and I realise you need protein in your diet as it can cause a lot of medical problems. Brazillian rainforests are being cut down.
I am off to uni later this year to study conservation and ecology hence the reason for the veggie question. Which is worse, eating animals that are produced in this country or damaging the rainforests along with species?
Please help me decide which is the best thing for the planet!
Many thanks
Answers: Hello
I can now become a vegetarian after 4 years of having a B12 deficiency. Now my B12 levels are up I would like to become a vegetarian. HOWEVER soya products are damaging the environment and I realise you need protein in your diet as it can cause a lot of medical problems. Brazillian rainforests are being cut down.
I am off to uni later this year to study conservation and ecology hence the reason for the veggie question. Which is worse, eating animals that are produced in this country or damaging the rainforests along with species?
Please help me decide which is the best thing for the planet!
Many thanks
There isn't really a right answer for this (though I imagine many people will say there is). It's a matter of ethics. It could be argued that a lot of the animals we eat are not naturally occuring creatures, we've altered them to benefit us and so it's fine to eat them as long as they've been allowed to live as comfortable a 'life' as possible. On the other hand that exact same fact could be used as an arguement against eating them.
As for the soya aspect, well yes that may be true, but it could also be true that the rainforests are being cut down to make grazing land for animals.
I personally argue that animal or plant, it's still a living organism that we're killing to eat and seeing as we're designed to eat both then that's what I do. I just make sure I eat free range type stuff, and not anything wild-caught in some foreign country (you wouldn't believe how horrific the practise of obtaining the fins for shark fin soup is).
Only you can decide which is the more ethically sound choice, and whichever decision you make you're going to get people moaning to you about what THEY think is right or wrong with your choice.
Eating animals is worse. If you become a vegetarian you don't HAVE to eat soya. Basically if you eat meat you are eating a dead body.
There are a lot of protein alternatives other than soya such as - lentils, beans, nuts etc. Why not try those instead?
Are soya products damaging the environment? I'd never heard that, have you got a link to an article so I can read up on it?
Animal farming goes on in lots of countries and animals for meat are often shipped around to different countries, producing a lot of pollution.
You don't have to eat soya products to be veggie. Seeds, beans, nuts, grains, vegetables, and fruit are eaten by veggies and non veggies regardless, so if you just cut the meat and ate a good amount of the above things then you'd do just fine :-)
Soya is damaging, but it is grown in such vast quantities to be used as cattle feed! People don't need so much, but we can't say where it has come from so its a difficult choice. I would say a raw diet of mostly local produce is the best bet. But I can't stick to it very easily
"Animal farming goes on in lots of countries and animals for meat are often shipped around to different countries, producing a lot of pollution" where do yo think grapes labeled "product of argentina" comes from, California?????? And how did westerners learn about Fuji apples if the japanese did not transport them from Japan to palces abroad? And quinoa is planted only south american not north. how did it get there? by teleport??Most of the produce transported all over the world are crop not anima produce as animal farms are more sustainable especially in arid countries while crop farms ar not.
the amazonian tribes have been eating meat and have made very little negative impact on the over all condition of the rainforest. Cattle farms all over south america have made very little negative impact on the rain forest. what has been destroying it at a catastrophic rate are the crop farms being established in ever increasing acreage, initially on the fringes, but more recently in the forest itself, not to feed local populations but crop/vegetables/fruits for export to the US and other western countries. These farms have also contributed to increasing pressure on local wildlife, either as food for the farmers or due to loss of habitat.
Your heart is in the right place, just do the best you can...
I am vegetarian and have been for a few years now. I would say the lesser of the two evils is eating soya. However I do not eat much soy products. I am more of a raw vegetable eater or cooked whole vegetables and grains. You can always have fresh fruit and salads, cooked vegetables, and other non-meat items. Soya products are not always a good substitute for meat anyways. Some people suffer from stomach irritation or gas from these products. My father is one that can not tolerate soya products at all. Especially if the items contain gluten. So, just try to find delicious recipes that are meat free and cook with whole grains and fresh veggies! There is no need to pile yourself down with soya products. There is always nuts and beans for extra protein anyways. Try experimenting and making vegetable stews, soups, and casseroles. that is what I do. I will post a good vegtarian recipe site. Try to join a yahoo group for vegetarians that is what I did. Hope you enjoy your journey as being a vegetarian if you do become one eventually! :-)
If you look into this further, I think you'll find that eating meat is much more hazerdous to the earth and soy beans ever will be.
From what I've read, the actual damage to rain forests is coming from the rush for biofuels, not tofu. :)
Sadly, on the other hand, every second, one football field of rain forest is destroyed in order to produce 257 hamburgers. Just think how many are sold at MickeyD's every hour? That equates to a MUCH bigger environmental impact than soya.
I'm a little confused about some of your statements.
Are you saying the production of soy foods are the only thing people do that damages the environment? I'm no expert on the environment, but that can't be correct. What about cars?
Rainforests are being destroyed for the sole purpose of growing soy? I don't think so. We grow lots of soy right here in the USA and they don't have to cut down rainforests to do that.
Besides, if you don't want to eat soy, you don't have to eat it to be a vegetarian anyway.
It just seems to me that you are focusing on a few issues and ignoring several others.
What's worse for the environment? My guess would be destruction of the rainforests. But I don't see how not being vegetarian or not eating soy is going to save rainforests.
Okay, firstly the majority of soya production which is done in the rainforest is not for vegetarian/vegan products, it is mostly actually grown for animal feed. This animal feed is often imported into this country as high-protein feed for cows so buying local meat could contribute to this process. The amount of square meterage required to grow food for animals is far greater than that for human consumption and it is this demand for animal feed that has caused the majority of rainforest degradation (MacDonalds being a prime cause).
The soya products I buy are all sustainabley sourced and do not involve any destruction of the rainforest or other such fragile environments. Alpro Soya is good and there are many other soya products which you can buy knowing that the soya is sourced sustainably and is ecologically sound. There is no species or rainforest damage caused by my veganism.
Secondly, Marmite is a fantastic source of B12 and it's vegan, you can't go wrong with that!
Take care and I would say there's nothing to choose between them as it is misinformation about soya production that is the 'evil' in this equation.
this is pretty simple. meat must be fed. eating something that you have to feed is not efficient and requires more land than just eating the produce yourself does. meat uses significantly more land (i read somewhere that it takes approximately 10 times the land to get the same nutrition) and creates a number of other strains on the environment as well, such as methane from cows causing global warming and chicken crap having to be treated like toxic waste because of the drugs we feed them. and no one says you have to eat soy everyday to be a healthy vegetarian. If you really care about the environment this is a very simple decision.
First of all, B12 has nothing to do with being a vegetarian. Animals do not produce B12 naturally, any more than humans do. Animals are given vitamins in their feed to boost their levels. A human can get adequate B12 from nutritional yeast, seaweed, vegetables, pulses, and legumes, as well as the required protein. Its a misconception that we can only get B12 and iron from meat-simply not true. As for your actual question, it doesn't have to be a choice. Eating dead animals makes no sense. Rainforests do not need to be destroyed to feed humans. I grow all of my own fruits, veggies, and herbs, and drink raw, organic milk from my own cow. I churn the cream into butter, homemade yogurt and various types of cheeses. The best thing for the planet AND your body is to eat nourishing whole foods that are responsibly farmed. Even a university, there is no reason you can't purchase or grow organic veggies. It does not have to be an all or nothing proposition.
There's a couple near me that grow veg and sell it out of a wheelbarrow in front of their house.
It's not been industrially farmed, sprayed with insecticide, sat on a plane or been packaged in plastic. I can't think of a single downside.
There's also a host of wild food which you can forage for - and it's fun.
So far as veg is concerned, the world is your lobster. As it were.
As for meat, don't discount it. Deer get culled - and eating it won't encourage more killing.
Farm owners are legally obliged to keep rabbit populations down. Again, if you can find somewhere to get these rabbits, you're only putting the already dead rabbit to use.
Pheasants are paid for by shooters. It costs them anything up to thirty pounds per bird to shoot and then they don't eat them. As with rabbits, your meal is basically carbon negative - you're consuming calories that would have otherwise taken time and energy to produce. As for the moral aspect, where is the issue in not letting something go to waste?
Rare breed meat is treated like royalty. It lives in low density populations and can help protect the biodiversity of other species as well - for example, the hedged fields provide sanctuary for birds and the fact that the animals are there provides dung beetles with something to chew on.
This route has the added benefit of not supporting supermarkets in their systematic homogenisation of food, the destruction of small producers and bankrupting independant retailers.
Mind you, in a year's time you'll be able teach all of us about this once you've done some studying. I'm looking forward to reading what you've found out.
Watch this video and tell me what's worse.
B12? How is that possible? What on earth have you been eating?? Try eating some less processed foods, organic foods, foods from your own garden. Get your flora in your gut going... stop eating things that kill or impede your flora...
Anyway, why the hell do people always think that soybeans and vegetarianism are linked together?? They are just f*cking beans people. Get with reality. Protein is everywhere... in every living thing on the planet... You can get protein from eating anything... any kind of food.
The largest production of soybeans is in the USA, not Brazil. It's fed to cattle and other animals. So eat up, skip the meat, and there you go... you are helping. The rain forests are being cut down for cattle grazing, not soybeans.
There are no two evils in your question. You have it wrong. Just start your own garden and they you don't have to worry about where the h*ell your food is coming from or how it was grown etc. That's what I do. One little patch of ground is all you need. Or even in buckets of dirt on the rooftop... or in thick plastic bags on your balcony. Can grow food anywhere.
You are right Soya is damaging the environment.
The best thing is to combine common sense with moderation . . . i.e. a balanced, moderate diet. That means the majority of one's diet is plant-based. Small amounts ... maybe 10-20% is fish, seafood, poulty and on rare special or social occasions a small amount of "red" meat. You especially should know that from your bout with B12 deficiency.
Well, as far as my own research goes, I found that most meat animals are fed with soya from any-old-where as long as it's cheap for the farmer. We are talking TONs of the stuff. and don't forget it takes 10 kilos of plant protein to produce one kilo of animal protein.
Veggie soya foods will say if they're organic, non-GM, fair-trade or whatever, and you only get the amount it says on the packet.