Free kitty!
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like a lot of people on the board i love animals. i also eat them. not because it makes me feel like "the man" or anything. i like the taste and it makes me healthy. i have a daughter now who needs more nutrients now than she will ever need in her life. how is she supposed to build up her bones and sharpen her ever so tiny teeth without eating a piece of bologna or gnawing on a hotdog? you cant get the nutrition you need without eating meat unless you take suppliments. i dont get veggie burgers. advertised as tasting like real cow. i guess i just dont understand. i would have no problem living in the woods having bear shoot my meal everynight. that is how one lives off the land. i am glad we are all keeping an open mind on this thread and not bashing the opinions of others.. i like that we can have an argument and still remain respectful. thats why i like you guys. there are many people on here we could question the morals on... not just on the topic of these animals, but i dont want anyone to come off as being hypocritical. (that last part probably didnt make sense to anyone... but i know what i wanted to say.. just didnt come out right.)
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Hmm.. let me just make it short.
There are many reasons for being a vegetarian, one is the earth's environment and how meat eating is affecting it. An example of meat eating harming our environment is the tremendous amount of fresh water used to make meat. It takes over 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, but it only takes 25 gallons of water to make one pound of wheat.1 More than half of the United State’s water is used to water land growing food for livestock.2 The amount of soybeans and grain used for livestock is enough to nourish five times the human population.3 Livestock are consuming so many nutrients that could be used to feed the starving population. Livestock animals consume 95% of the oats and about 80% of the corn we grow.4 Almost all the nutrients in the grains fed to livestock are lost and not found in the meat. Only the livestock of the United States produce 20 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the country.5 Our environment is being constantly destroyed just to make meat. The meat industry also uses a lot of land. It takes 3 times as much land to feed a person eating meat as it does a vegetarian. With one acre, some beef can be made, but the same acre can be used to make even more potatoes. The amount of potatoes would be 100 times the amount of beef. So many countries in this world have starving people, yet these same countries ship out huge amounts of meat to other countries such as the United States. In the time it takes you to read this sentence, two children have died. That is, about one every 2 seconds. These children could easily get their food needs without so many cattle in the world. The world's cattle eat enough food to provide the calorie needs of almost double the human population. "If Americans were to reduce their meat consumption by only 10 percent, it would free over 12 million tons of grain annually for human consumption. That, all by itself, would be enough to adequately feed every one of the 60 million human beings who will starve to death on the planet this year
Processing meat takes a lot of water, but also land. We need many acres of land to make meat, so acres and acres of forest are destroyed. The US has cut down over 200 million acres of forest land for making meat. With all these trees being cut down, there could easily be a shortage of wood in the future. Not only do these trees give us wood, they are a home for many animals such as birds. Now the homes of these birds are cut down and they are losing their winter homes. Trees add to our atmosphere, helping our temperature and preventing floods and erosion by absorbing water. Our life depends on these trees since they are our source of oxygen, without them, where do we get our oxygen?
There are many reasons for being a vegetarian, one is the earth's environment and how meat eating is affecting it. An example of meat eating harming our environment is the tremendous amount of fresh water used to make meat. It takes over 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, but it only takes 25 gallons of water to make one pound of wheat.1 More than half of the United State’s water is used to water land growing food for livestock.2 The amount of soybeans and grain used for livestock is enough to nourish five times the human population.3 Livestock are consuming so many nutrients that could be used to feed the starving population. Livestock animals consume 95% of the oats and about 80% of the corn we grow.4 Almost all the nutrients in the grains fed to livestock are lost and not found in the meat. Only the livestock of the United States produce 20 times as much excrement as the entire human population of the country.5 Our environment is being constantly destroyed just to make meat. The meat industry also uses a lot of land. It takes 3 times as much land to feed a person eating meat as it does a vegetarian. With one acre, some beef can be made, but the same acre can be used to make even more potatoes. The amount of potatoes would be 100 times the amount of beef. So many countries in this world have starving people, yet these same countries ship out huge amounts of meat to other countries such as the United States. In the time it takes you to read this sentence, two children have died. That is, about one every 2 seconds. These children could easily get their food needs without so many cattle in the world. The world's cattle eat enough food to provide the calorie needs of almost double the human population. "If Americans were to reduce their meat consumption by only 10 percent, it would free over 12 million tons of grain annually for human consumption. That, all by itself, would be enough to adequately feed every one of the 60 million human beings who will starve to death on the planet this year
Processing meat takes a lot of water, but also land. We need many acres of land to make meat, so acres and acres of forest are destroyed. The US has cut down over 200 million acres of forest land for making meat. With all these trees being cut down, there could easily be a shortage of wood in the future. Not only do these trees give us wood, they are a home for many animals such as birds. Now the homes of these birds are cut down and they are losing their winter homes. Trees add to our atmosphere, helping our temperature and preventing floods and erosion by absorbing water. Our life depends on these trees since they are our source of oxygen, without them, where do we get our oxygen?
Push, I respect your choice to be vegetarian. That is your choice. If you want to base that on moral beliefs, I respect that. But don't prop that position up with half facts or misleading statistics. For example:
1 More than half of the United State’s water is used to water land growing food for livestock.
More than half of WHAT water? Fresh Water? Drinking Water? Water pissed in the streets outside the clubs in the Flats in Cleveland? Half of all the water in all of the lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, and Ocean territorial waters 10 miles off shore? Half of the water that falls on the ground from rain? If it was half of all the water in the US, why aren't our lakes and rivers TOTALLY empty everywhere livestock is raised, because I know that where they DON'T raise livestock the rivers are full. Just think about how ambiguous that statement is - it is meaningless.
It takes over 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef,
Quick math: A steer could weigh 1000 lbs. That means one steer would consume 2.5 million gallons of water in a lifetime. Beef is harvested after 30 months (900 days). That means a steer must drink 2777 gallons of water a day! Just think about how silly it even sounds! Water is NOT heavily used in the slaughter process. If they are including rain water used to grow grain, then it's just propaganda.
2 The amount of soybeans and grain used for livestock is enough to nourish five times the human population.
BUT livestock nourishes us too. So if you took away meat as nourishment, we would need MORE soybean and grain to replace it. If we stopped eating meat we would not all of a sudden have 5 times the grain sitting around to ship around the world.
4 Almost all the nutrients in the grains fed to livestock are lost and not found in the meat.
And almost all the nutients I get from meat are not found in grain. That's why vegetarians must take vitamin and mineral supplements.
With one acre, some beef can be made, but the same acre can be used to make even more potatoes. The amount of potatoes would be 100 times the amount of beef.
The majority of the acreage that is used to raise cattle CANNOT be used to raise potatos, soybean, etc. The soil and/or climate won't support it. Anyone out there in Arizona, New Mexico or Southern California growing potatoes?
So many countries in this world have starving people, yet these same countries ship out huge amounts of meat to other countries such as the United States.
Perhaps the exports generate high $$$ revenue, and that revenue is then used to feed the people with other food products? This may happen in a few cases, but that's because, for what ever reason, they choose not to help their own people. For example, when was the last time you went to help serve food at a shelter, donated canned goods to a soup kitchen, money to a charity to feed the poor? (Yes, my family has done all of these in the past year). My guess is that you have not done these things. My point - for whatever reason, you choose to not help your fellow Americans, just as these exporters supposedly ignore their citizens. Other than that, I don't recall seeing any of my meat products labeled "Imported from Ethiopia".
Can you give me any solid examples that support these statements you have made?
1 More than half of the United State’s water is used to water land growing food for livestock.
More than half of WHAT water? Fresh Water? Drinking Water? Water pissed in the streets outside the clubs in the Flats in Cleveland? Half of all the water in all of the lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, and Ocean territorial waters 10 miles off shore? Half of the water that falls on the ground from rain? If it was half of all the water in the US, why aren't our lakes and rivers TOTALLY empty everywhere livestock is raised, because I know that where they DON'T raise livestock the rivers are full. Just think about how ambiguous that statement is - it is meaningless.
It takes over 2500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef,
Quick math: A steer could weigh 1000 lbs. That means one steer would consume 2.5 million gallons of water in a lifetime. Beef is harvested after 30 months (900 days). That means a steer must drink 2777 gallons of water a day! Just think about how silly it even sounds! Water is NOT heavily used in the slaughter process. If they are including rain water used to grow grain, then it's just propaganda.
2 The amount of soybeans and grain used for livestock is enough to nourish five times the human population.
BUT livestock nourishes us too. So if you took away meat as nourishment, we would need MORE soybean and grain to replace it. If we stopped eating meat we would not all of a sudden have 5 times the grain sitting around to ship around the world.
4 Almost all the nutrients in the grains fed to livestock are lost and not found in the meat.
And almost all the nutients I get from meat are not found in grain. That's why vegetarians must take vitamin and mineral supplements.
With one acre, some beef can be made, but the same acre can be used to make even more potatoes. The amount of potatoes would be 100 times the amount of beef.
The majority of the acreage that is used to raise cattle CANNOT be used to raise potatos, soybean, etc. The soil and/or climate won't support it. Anyone out there in Arizona, New Mexico or Southern California growing potatoes?
So many countries in this world have starving people, yet these same countries ship out huge amounts of meat to other countries such as the United States.
Perhaps the exports generate high $$$ revenue, and that revenue is then used to feed the people with other food products? This may happen in a few cases, but that's because, for what ever reason, they choose not to help their own people. For example, when was the last time you went to help serve food at a shelter, donated canned goods to a soup kitchen, money to a charity to feed the poor? (Yes, my family has done all of these in the past year). My guess is that you have not done these things. My point - for whatever reason, you choose to not help your fellow Americans, just as these exporters supposedly ignore their citizens. Other than that, I don't recall seeing any of my meat products labeled "Imported from Ethiopia".
Can you give me any solid examples that support these statements you have made?
So Push, Wouldn't we be better off if we just killed al the livestock so 5that they wouldn't eat all this grain¿¿ Whether we raise them for a food source or not, cows, sheep, and pigs are going to grow and reproduce. It is just like deer hunting. Take a look at Upstate NY. They actually cut back on deer hunting one year and more of these creatures died from sickness and malnutrition, than would have died by the gun of a deerhunter. I don't eat meat because I want to prove my status at the top of the food chain. Like bearswife, I eat it because it is healthy, humans have been doing in for eons, and it tastes oh so good. You have vegetarians that say god wouldn't want us to kill animals, but let me remind everyone what god used to clothe Adam and Eve. The skin from a sheep. It's a little hard to skin a sheep without killing it. Not to mention putting the blood of a lamb around your door to keep your first born from dying. Maybe god just doesn't like sheep, sh!t, I don't know. If we were all to turn to vegetarians and eat nothing but grains and soy, how many animals would starve to death because of that. As far as water conservation goes, does this mean that the irish are even worse that meat eaters, and are therefore nothing but pure evil for using half of the grain in that country to make Guinness¿ If that is true, I love Guinnes, I love meat, and I'm Irish, so that must make me somekind of Paganistic heathen.
