Apocalypse Cow - How meat killed the planet

Should’nt that be spelt SOYAlent ST???

Donkeyman!

LOL - not according to the film! Did you see it, Donkeyman? Quite scary.

Soylent green is people! Soylent green is people!

Muddy, what a load of old borax. It’s programmes like this that make us disbelieve all science programmes.

I spend more time in the country than anywhere else, and you are hard pushed to see a herd of cows anywhere. The odd field maybe. Most of the hens I see are scratching around farmyards having a ball of a time eating anything that they can find. And did you know that there is a power station locally that runs exclusively on chicken shit, so much for the pollution and contamination.

AND! more methane is produced from rotting vegetation and is released from the melting ice in the polar regions after being trapped for thousands of years than all the humans and farm animals put together. Animals eat other animals, and so the circle of life carries on. There are enough animals on the endangered species list without adding cows hens pigs and sheep, who incidentally help to manage our green areas.

Switch off your TV and step away now…:018:

Talking of science, if nature had intended us to be a species that lived solely on vegetables, we would have the digestive system to go with that. We have not.
Neither are we intended to live on meat alone. Look at those settlers in america a century ago. Eating complete bison herds, but still craving a loaf of bread.
We can live on both, greeneries and meat, but not on one of them alone. Our dentals, digestive system, energy consumption, are based on the intake of both sorts of nutrition.

That wouldn’t cause environmental problems, but for three factors.

  1. Do you remember your youth? Did you eat meat every day of the week? So reduction of meat consumption is necessary.
  2. The population has increased. Those people who had no part of our way of life are claiming their share of prosperity.
  3. The production of meat is inefficient. You need many kilo’s of gras for a cow to convert it into meat. Production of food for cattle requires grounds to grow vegatables. Surface suitable for farming is limited.

Exactly.

Sorry, but I don’t buy it. Solasch started out well but, Open spaces may be limited in the UK , but certainly not in the US or Canada. If fact we have so much open space that much of it is lying fallow.

As far as inefficiency is concerned, why would we care about that ? Cows just naturally build up meat by the consumption of grass. It’s how nature designed them. The cows are doing the work for us. Efficiency ? That’s a non-starter.

Lastly, what we ate in our youth should have zero impact on what we eat today. Part of my youth was spent on a farm and we DID eat beef/pork poultry every single day.

Something else to consider.

In order for humans to be healthy and to thrive we need to regularly consume all 20 essential amino acids. The ONLY foods which contain all 20 amino acids are: beef/pork/chicken/fish/and a wide variety of seafoods.

In human body is capable of producing 11 of those amino acids, provided we eat a tremendously wide variety of vegetables/fruits/nuts/and seeds. However, 9 of the required amino acids can not be produced by the human body and must be consumed regularly/perhaps even daily.

In addition to animal meat, dairy products are a complete source of protein. No other single food can make that claim.

The native American peoples of the high north, for example Eskimos, survived for most of the year exclusively eating animal protein ie; fish, whale blubber and meat, seal and walrus meat/fats and the occasional polar bear. During the short summer, they also had access to reindeer and rabbits. I have no doubt that during the short summer they also were able to locate and consume a few berries, but only in the summer. Those native peoples did not just survive , they thrived for 12,000 + years.

Moreover, the evolution of humans evolved their superior brains by consuming large quantities of meat protein. When we 1st stood up, that freed or hands to carry hunks of animal protein back to the small tribe. Without this consumption of meat protein, it is highly unlikely that our brains would have EVER developed into the apex predator that we ultimately become. The human brain is nourished exclusively on protein. It has been estimated by anthropologists that roughly 70-75 % of the calories and protein consumed by our ancient ancestors came from animal meat.

Lastly, think about the difference between carnivores and herbivores. Herbivores spend nearly every waking moment in search of edible vegetation. Carnivores, on the other hand, are quite content eating one huge meal of animal protein per day. The remainder of the time they spend lying about in the sun. Ancient humans used that free time to develop ever more efficient tools and hunting weapons. Once again, it was animal protein which gave us that free time.

Why import meat from elsewhere if there is so much space in the usa?

The United States imported 3.37 billion pounds of beef in 2015.** The United States imported the most beef in 2015 from Australia followed by New Zealand and Canada.

Australia, New Zealand, Canada & Mexico accounted for 87% of U.S. beef imports in 2015.

The United States imported beef from 18 different countries in 2015.

However, humans are not carnivores. Carnivores have a relatively short digestive system (as meat is easily digested). Carnivores have tear molars, to rip the flesh from the bones.
Herbivores have a long digestive system, because it takes time to break down plant cells with cellulose in it. They have molars to grind their food down.

Humans are omnivores, like pigs are. Digestive system and teeth are of an intermediate type. Humans can live on both types of food, which increases their adaptability to different environments.

Cows take hours to ruminate their food and meditating on their future on green pastures. The problem with carnivores is, that hunting with your full stomach dragging over the ground tends to give you a stomach burn (on the outside), and the prey escaping.

What gave mankind the time to develop was that from hunter (carnivore) and gatherer (herbivore) we became farmers. The affluent supply of food made it possible that some of the tribes members could have time to think on other things than where to get the day’s meal from.

Some great posts from Solasch and Bakerman, I tend to lean on the side of Bakerman when it comes to a variable diet. I believe that no food should be out of bounds when it comes to supplying valuable vitamins, minerals and other essentials to our bodies.
I worry about Vegans who deny things like eggs, cheese, fish and other seafoods, not to mention the value of any kind of meat, the human diet has been successful for thousands of years.

The world is not overpopulated! Sure, there are areas where there is a conglomeration of humans, but a greater part of the world is uninhabited.
Consider that 71% of the surface of the earth is water 27% of the land is unsuitable for human existence (Mountains, Jungle and forests) Leaving just 2% that is used for habitat and food production, how could we be overpopulated? How could we possibly have any effect on the climate when we occupy less than 2% of the surface of the world?

In the 1950’s when I was a boy, putting food on the table was the most important thing most families had to worry about. Food was expensive and took a large percentage of weekly earnings. So most families in my neck of the woods either had allotments or part of their gardens set aside for growing crops to supplement their supply of good food.

These days the importance and cost of food falls a long way behind smartphones, TV’s, and other entertainment items. I’m not criticising, just pointing out how our priorities have changed. Because food can be obtained cheaply and in great quantity and wages are many times higher than in the fifties, boxed sets and the internet are a lot more exciting that digging in a row of spuds, and now we can be fussy eaters.

Everything most of us know (or think we know) about the state of the world comes from the media. Not a problem in the 50’s most of the news was local, and we cared about our community, not about things we have no control over. But with our insatiable appetite for information we can’t get enough, not thinking for one moment that we are being manipulated and lied to. Not all of the time, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction, fake news from genuine news, and it will only get worse.

But we haven’t developed though have we. Actually taken a step backwards.
Survival of the fittest Solasch, meant that only perfect humans would survive to produce the next generation of perfect humans. Nowadays we are producing substandard humans. Could this be natures way of culling the human race?

OGF ,the world population has never been so large and its increasing all the time,
In the UK we are building houses all over agricultural land haven’t you noticed?

I was unaware that the U.S imports beef in such large quantities. It may be that imported beef is cheaper than U.S. beef. Additionally, demand may be so high that it is necessary to import beef just to keep up with demand. Given our population, the imported beef would come to aprox 10 lbs/person/year. I can’t speak for others but I know that I alone consume aprx 120 lbs /year. Finally, we must look at what the imported beef is used for. It occurs to me that dog/cat food must be considered as part of the cause.
What ever the cause of so much imported beef, I assure you that is not for lack of space. The U.S. is a huge country and it takes me 5 days to drive across it , from coast to coast (4,670 Km). In contrast, the U.K. is relatively small. If I were to drive across it from Plymouth in the west, to Great Yarmouth in the east. it would take me only 6.5 hours to drive the 588 Km.

I never meant to suggest that humans are carnivores. We all know very well that we are omnivores. My post on that subject only meant to point out that meat is the absolute richest food in protein content and that throughout our long ancient history meat has been the single most sought after food.

I did some quick reading on the beef export/import situation in the U.S. and I must admit that it is extremely complicated.
As strange as it may sound, The U.S. BOTH exports AND imports beef. Sounds crazy, but true. The demand, within the U.S., is primarily for steaks and ground beef. The “lesser” cuts are often exported but the demand for steaks (the center cuts) is so high that some must be imported. For example, the “round” comes from the hind quarters and that is no where near the value of the cuts such as rib-eye , sirloin, and filet. Thus, much round is exported, while some of the choicest cuts may be imported.

A bit off topic here but it might be interesting. When I lived in The Philippines, from 2005 - 2011, I wanted to buy a few Kilos of corned beef , but it was simply not available. So, I set out to make my own. HUGE problem ! I could not locate any “brisket” which is the traditional cut for corned beef. After scouring the markets, I still could not find any briskets. Finally, I spoke with a chef at one of the top steak houses and he informed me that the Japanese buy all of the front quarters that they could buy from Australia. Thus, The Philippines were left with mostly the hind quarters (“rounds” etc). I did eventually locate 4 kilos of brisket but I had to pay a kings ransom for it. For those who have never made corned beef, it takes 21 days of soaking in a special kind of brine and must be kept refrigerated. OMG, it was absolutely delicious served with cabbage, carrots and boiled potatoes and served with my own home-made rye bread. :-D:-D:-D

It’s true Muddy, houses are springing up everywhere just lately, but take a drive out into the country. I recently drove down to Southampton, and there is considerably more country than built up areas. Field after field, forests a plenty and lakes and streams without a building in sight.

True, villages are becoming towns and towns into cities, but people tend to gravitate around a nucleus. I agree that in years to come there will be less countryside, but there are still plenty of places in the British Isles where I can run or walk and not see a human being all day…

The reason why we think we are overpopulated, especially here in the UK is because during the 2000’s for reasons best known to themselves, the labour government encouraged thousands of foreign workers to come and settle here.
Problem was that the infrastructure could not cope with the influx. Not enough roads, hospitals, schools and services.

Plus the fact that since the fifties when hardly anybody had a car, and most people worked within walking distance of their place of work, we find that now everyone has a car and works miles away from where they live. Children no longer go the school nearest to them and have to travel sometimes miles in mums taxi, unlike the days in the fifties when it was possible to walk to school. So in sixty years almost everyone who is able to drive possesses a car. The road building has not been able to keep up with demand and we find ourselves gridlocked each morning and evening, and it’s only going to get worse.

So although in the towns and cities, and even rural areas, this gives the impression that we are overpopulated, and indeed in these areas we are, when in reality there is plenty of room. Bad people management is the real problem…

Personally, I believe that there is an excess of humanity. However, solving THAT problem is nearly impossible unless governments and the citizens wish to impose sanctions on the birth rate as China has done.

China has neighborhood “wardens” who report pregnant woman. The Chinese government then goes to the pregnant women and tells them when to report for a mandated abortion. That only applies to women who already had a child.

I’m not suggesting that such measures should be instituted in the west. I’m only saying what China’s answer is.

OGF I live in the country in a village .
This was once a very rural area but huge estates are growing up everywhere none have enough parking as everyone seems to have two or three cars .The village school is oversubscribed there is no village shop as everyone shops in supermarkets .
The nearby small historic town is clogged with giant SUVs the fields are disappearing .
There are just too many of us.