Do you honestly feel hand on heart that being veg/vegan you are protecting nature more than others?!
Answers:
I just fecking love it! And sorry Hawkeye, but I'm going completely off topic here.
Firstly, I am a vegetarian, not an ethical one, but a much maligned veggie all the same. Secondly, I am a vet.
What I want to see here from all these, 'animals are shoved into dark cupboards and scared by people in Freddie Kruger masks before having their hoofs burned off with electrical laser pulses and then tickled to distraction' quoters is Published and Verified Evidence! As in a record I can find in a university library.
We can all post wiki links and peta brainwashing. In fact I'm sure I can find something on the internet that says the moonlanding was staged and giving lots of conspiracy theory 'evidence'.
Like you Hawkeye, I do not live in the centre of the universe (USA) and yes, guess what, we do not treat our farm animals like crap in the rest of world. I can right now this very second look out my window and see a field full of cows grazing on 'shock horror' GRASS!
It is an insult to those in my profession who work hard for the welfare of animals, be they meat eaters or not to have to read this type of misinformed crap every day when it is WE who are out there seeing the reality not stuck behind a pc watching peta videos and crying rivers over it.
And now to answer your question ( finally )
Any effort to help save our environment should be applauded regardless of whatever high horse you sit on.
An angry vet :)
Honestly, yes.
So much land is used for raising meat, and much of that used to be woodland and forests.
The reality is that nature IS being bulldozed to make room for the meat and dairy industry to operate.
So many animals are being killed. This only happens because people want to eat them. It makes perfect sense therefore that the less people eat them, the less this will happen.
Also, for each female cow raised for milk there will be a male cow that was killed. Males don't produce milk so are all killed as a useless byproduct.
I know it's easy enough to say that a single individual can't make a difference, but as more and more individuals become vegan the need for the land to be used in this way will decrease.
So yes, I really do feel I'm helping to protect nature.
X
Vegan
To a certain extent, yes. It is more than just about being a dietary vegan though. I try to buy organic where practical, I recycle, I use eco-friendly products, I avoid driving where practical and I don't smoke et cetera. I could be a dietary vegan but still litter everywhere, not be bothered recycling, continue to use chemical and non-biodegradable products, smoke cigarettes and drive an SUV everywhere and I would not be helping the environment/nature anymore than someone who doesn't do those things and eats meat.
My point is that if two people who are doing equally as much to be eco-friendly outside of dietary preferences, but one eats meat and one is vegan, it's the vegan who is "protecting nature" more than the meat eater, despite the m.e.'s efforts to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Actually, it takes far more farmland to raise cattle for their meat than it does to raise a variety of plant-foods to feed any number of people... what do you think the cattle are eating? Corn and soy, mostly. That means not only do you need the land to raise the cattle on, but also thousands of acres to plant food product to feed to the cattle to fatten them up for slaughter. Wouldn't these thousands of acres (millions in the US) be better used planting and harvesting crops for human consumption directly? The fast acres of monocropping corn and soy to feed to cattle could be turned into farming systems where a variety of plants are grown... not only a benefit to the land (rotational farming helps to preserve nutritive value in soils, reducing and even eliminating the need for artificial fertilization which can severely impact the surrounding environment), but also to the lives of humans, both in the sense of preserving nature and in preserving our own health.
EDIT::::::: Yes, I come from farming "STOCK". I grew up on a farm in Nebraska, where cattle (along with corn and soy) are one of our biggest productions. The vast majority of cattle in this day and age are raised feedlot-style... that is, they are bred on-farm, and shipped to a dry lot (bare dirt) feedlot at between 9 months and one year old to fatten up until they are ready for slaughter. The feed source at feedlots is generally a grain-based feed mixture... employing quite a bit of corn and soy, as well as providing silage hays at most locations (to attempt to stave off bloat caused by a high-grain diet). A huge majority of the corn and soy grown in the US is actually grown to be fed to cattle, pigs, and chickens on these same feedlots. Perhaps your farming styles are more varied in the UK (as it seems you are from there), and while, yes, there are some traditional ranchers in the US who grass-feed their cattle throughout life, the vast majority are raised factory-style on dry-lot. We simply do not have the grazing land necessary to support the millions of cattle we raise yearly for food, therefore, use of the dry-lot with corn-based feeds.
Yes, there are breeds of cattle with larger body-types. However, that does not change the fact that with current production methods, 90% of cattle are raised on and fed grain-based diets... simply because it is much more convenient for the producer, and provides a growth rate that is exceptionally higher than the same cattle fed on free-range grass.
You, my dear, seem to be the one who is at least slightly confused with the facts of production, here.
Some forms of omnivorous lifestyles can be less environmentally harmful than some forms of vegan lifestyles. But considering the meat industry in its current state, the average vegetarian is more environmentally friendly than the average omnivore. Only a small minority hunt their meat and refuse to consume food from factory farms. Factory farms don't feed their animals on fresh pastures. In 2005, factory farming methods produced 40% of worldwide meat production. Factory farms are very wasteful and cruel. [1] Most animals might be in a natural environment, but a significant amount of those that are raised for food are not.
A growing population does put stress on natural resources, but a growing gluttonous meat-eating population puts more stress on it than a vegetarian one. You have cited no references for your claims that it would take more resources and land to support a vegetarian population, nor have you given any about your claims about nutritional needs. How much more vegetables/legumes/grains/etc. would be needed? What in extreme climates could not be preserved or imported? (yes, the environmental argument for vegetarianism might not be applicable to EVERY place, but in lieu of cruelty importing is a better alternative) If we're going to speculate here, I'll say that there is probably a larger amount of vegetables/legumes/grain needed to feed the animals in the factory farming industry to provide a relatively small amount of protein and fat.
The argument about having to kill to preserve ecosystems is not entirely relevant. Although vegetarians are more likely to be opposed to all types of killing, many would say they are against UNNECESSARY killing, i.e. breeding animals just to kill for food.
There is also the issue of methane emissions from cattle causing global warming, if it is true.
[1] Danielle Nierenburg (2005) Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry. Worldwatch Paper 171: 5 (reference taken taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_farming#cite_note-13)
[2] http://www.scribd.com/doc/13396628/Environmental-Threat-to-Food-Production
ehe, thats debatable
more than others, yes and no
i empathyse with animals and people more than others, its part of who i as an individual am, so naturally that will come out in how i am with other life and will alsothen affect life inevitibly
i certainly have more respect and acceptance nature and our attitude towards it than some people
but so do some non veggies
hawkeye;-)
additional
haha;-) me too hawkeye, im a lot more cynical about it all nowadays, but i still have that peace love hippy inside me beggin the world to hug and have fine wine and choclate ;-D
hi im not a vegetarian or any of that bullcrap :) i live on a farm and nothing makes me more upset then when all of these people attack the dairy industry and everything with false accusations. i dont want to get started but i kinda just wanted to say people need to GET THEIR FACTS STRAIGHT before saying **** that makes them look stupid. if they acutally go on a farm then they will see all those stupid peta videos and stuff they watch is false. they manipulate things to make farms seem much worse. peta in the past has paid people millions of dollars to beat animals on video just to show even more lies. i hate peta and everything about it because what they say they are is a lie.
thanks haha i need to vent from time to time
Nobody can live without have any impact on nature, animals or other humans. But I thinkt that by being vegetarian I am reducing the bad impacts that me being alive has. So I can enjoy my food knowing that no animal has been harmed for it.
am a vegetarian
http://grannybutter.xanga.com/684435154/…
Enjoy.
Personally, I just think that we are naturally omnivores, so I do what's natural. I get plenty of vegetables and a decent amount of meat and dairy for a balanced diet.
I don't know.
But, using other animals for energy is less efficient. More water goes into the production of a pound of meat than a pound of vegetables.
Yes. I mean, people always say that if you don't buy the meat, someone else will. But it does make a difference.
Do you know that part of the rainforest is being cut down to raise cattle to make beef people eat everyday? Anyone can say that humans are killing the environment, but they don't realize that recycling isn't the only way to help.
Hello
Its called clearing your soul actually
Yes, and you have no proof otherwise, only lies
it is
I know that i feel better that i am not eating murdered animals just for my pleasure. i think the human body is developed enough to be able to survive and get the same nutrients from something else other than meat.
im proud to be a vegetarian and its the easiest thin give ever done in my life. i no longer feel guilty for eating the poor animals that get murdered for the sake of our diet when we don't really need it.
And i'm sure that it's cheaper to grow vegetables/fruits than to farm and kill animals.
Are you saying that its cheaper to grow and breed animals just to kill them than it is to grow vegetables for our growing population? of course we have a growing population, that wasnt your question. Id rather have a growing human population than people breeding animals, different breeds and cross breeds (that is not natural by the way, which is another point of how disgusted i am with the way animals are treated).
We cannot stop the human population growing. So we need to provide for the population. isnt that obvious? My point is(and my opinion, which is what you asked for in the first place, and if you stopped telling people that their opinion was wrong, then maybe people wouldnt get so irate with you because you dont always have to be right) is that I feel better within myself that i dont eat meat. i might not be 'saving the world' or whatever, but i am doing my bit for it. i recycle, walk when i can and am a vegetarian.
and one last thing... i dont care where you live, it doesnt make a blind bit of difference to me.
You are perhaps allowing more animals to live.
To the poster above me: Are you serious? Male cows being killed simply because they don't produce milk? That's silly... Everyone knows they are actually taken from their mothers, tied to a pen where they will get limited exercise, and fed an iron-poor diet which will keep their flesh light in color, thus making them the perfect VEAL.