Is it time to stop eating meat?

@ponderable said
Supplements

* are a method for the rich part of the global Population
* are less facile to dose (beware of the much will help more!)


In fact I am quite sympathetic to the case of reducing meat consumption. But I don't see that as a global possibillity for the next few decades. Switching from "Supermarket cheap" meat to more sustainably meat of higher qulaity is something I think could be achievable in my (expected) Lifetime to a Degree that we see a good effect.

Poorer countries eat less meat though don't they. Maybe poorer countries don't need them (supplements of B12). Countries who have less meat in their diet and yet the same levels of B12 in their system include Korea. You may find this interesting:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3062981/

For all concerned I really hope the cheap meat market ends soon. Processed meat has been a known carination for 5 years now. https://www.who.int/westernpacific/news/q-a-detail/q-a-on-the-carcinogenicity-of-the-consumption-of-red-meat-and-processed-meat

I'm a simpleton. Humans stop eating meat. Theoretically, what happens to farm land in terms of size?

@joe-shmo said
I'm a simpleton. Humans stop eating meat. Theoretically, what happens to farm land in terms of size?

What happens in what way?
The farmers still own that land, they can grow other things can't they?
Do you mean the animals will have left it unusable for crops?

I don't understand your question sorry.

@yo-its-me said
What happens in what way?
The farmers still own that land, they can grow other things can't they?
Do you mean the animals will have left it unusable for crops?

I don't understand your question sorry.

They can't just convert to vegetable farming, they are very different.

Also, Livestock eats large quantities of low grade food that wouldn't sustain humans. I believe the plant life we would need to eat is more labor intensive than what we feed the cows. Does farmland shrink, grow, etc...?

@joe-shmo said
They can't just convert to vegetable farming, they are very different.

Also, Livestock eats large quantities of low grade food that wouldn't sustain humans. I believe the plant life we would need to eat is more labor intensive than what we feed the cows. Does farmland shrink, grow, etc...?

A lot of meat is "produced" by stabled animals who get power Food to increase meat yield per time (read About CAFO e.g. in the Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_animal_feeding_operation). Those animals eat a lot of soy beans which could just as well be eaten by humans. A pig Needs About 4 Joules of soy to create one Joule of pork, so no Problem in feeding the hungry masses using the soy we now feed to pigs to Slaughter them to let a lot of meat go to waste...

@yo-its-me said
Processed meat has been a known carination for 5 years now.

I think you mean carcinogen, a cancer-causing agent.

@joe-shmo said
They can't just convert to vegetable farming, they are very different.

Also, Livestock eats large quantities of low grade food that wouldn't sustain humans. I believe the plant life we would need to eat is more labor intensive than what we feed the cows. Does farmland shrink, grow, etc...?

It wouldn’t happen overnight though would it and I’m sure actual farmers, as opposed to beef factory managers, will rotate to cash crops that we can eat instead of meat in good time.
Don’t worry though there will never be the political will to ban the eating of meat, hopefully it will over time become a highly taxed minority niche market and when the scientists develop high quality dietary safe synthetic meat killing a captive animal for a sandwich will be an anachronism.

@ponderable said
A lot of meat is "produced" by stabled animals who get power Food to increase meat yield per time (read About CAFO e.g. in the Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentrated_animal_feeding_operation). Those animals eat a lot of soy beans which could just as well be eaten by humans. A pig Needs About 4 Joules of soy to create one Joule of pork, so no Problem in feedin ...[text shortened]... ungry masses using the soy we now feed to pigs to Slaughter them to let a lot of meat go to waste...

Ok, so if we live predominantly off of "soy things" ( like the pigs ) the farm land stays constant. Perhaps even be able to shrink a bit due to decreasing irreversibility's in secondary steps to our food production ( i.e growing the pigs that are much less than 100% efficient ) . But certainly people aren't content with merely eating soy everythig day in and day out? I know I'm not.

@vivify said
I think you mean carcinogen, a cancer-causing agent.

Yes, thank you, that is what I meant to write.

@joe-shmo said
Ok, so if we live predominantly off of "soy things" ( like the pigs ) the farm land stays constant. Perhaps even be able to shrink a bit due to decreasing irreversibility's in secondary steps to our food production ( i.e growing the pigs that are much less than 100% efficient ) . But certainly people aren't content with merely eating soy everythig day in and day out? I know I'm not.

Soya is a very versatile crop. I have it in at least two ways each day (Miso and milk). But for biodiversity what would be better would be growing some soya and some other crops alongside with, for example peppermint that deters the Bean leaf beetle that way the crops can be grown without pesticides and we can all have better health from the crop.

@joe-shmo said
Ok, so if we live predominantly off of "soy things" ( like the pigs ) the farm land stays constant. Perhaps even be able to shrink a bit due to decreasing irreversibility's in secondary steps to our food production ( i.e growing the pigs that are much less than 100% efficient ) . But certainly people aren't content with merely eating soy everythig day in and day out? I know I'm not.

Soy is just one exmaple of nourishment that is digestible for humans , but is grwon to feed to pigs to obtainn prok. Off Course we won't go for a diet with just one staple...