Disclaimer: Please don't flame. Lara said she's interested in other
opinions, and the following is my personal opinion. I do not expect
others to share all of my values, and I am not attempting to "heal or
convert" you.
Lara wrote:
>1. Somewhere between 80 and 90% of all grain grown in the U.S. is for
>animal feed, and, if I remembel correctly from my readings, it takes
>approximately 15 lbs. of grain to make 1 lb. of meat (beef at least) - not
>very efficient.
To me, there are values more important than efficiency. Quality of life
comes to mind.
> Whether one believes it to be a good idea or not, in light
>of the worldwide overpopulation problem, many more people could be fed if
>this grain were to be consumed directly by humans.
Yes, but I do not want to live on gruel and bread. My personal preference would
be to grow more beef on grass. My personal preference would
be to reduce world population. And my preference would be for us to use
our vast human resources to teach food production skills to those who
need them, rather than mining our scarce physical resources in order to
ship vast sums of feed/food overseas.
>an individual who refrains
>from eating meat saves thousands of gallons per year.
Yes, and the fewer individuals there are, the more water there is for each
of us. Why should it be a goal to reach the maximum subsistence carrying
capacity of the Earth? Or is it an inevitability? I hope not.
>the volume of animal waste produced is
>many times more than can be put to use, and is a serious pollution problem.
Hmm. I agree that animal waste is not being put to good use, but I find
it very hard to believe that there is more than could be put to use. I
am interested in references to pollution problems which are unrelated to
carnivores. Human waste is currently toxic, due to the natural and
synthetic toxins we consume, but I am not under the impression that the
waste of domesticated stock is particularly toxic. Educate me. If this is
an issue of methane production, then again my preference would be to reduce
population to a more sustainable level.
>I don't believe we humans
>were meant to consume meat on a daily basis - ... the harmful effects
>on health are well-known and all too evident.
I like to eat meat. Longevity is not my primary goal in life--I want to
enjoy what time I have here, rather than obsessing about the length of
my stay. Not too long ago, humans only lived to be 40 years old. They probably
ate a lot less meat then. To me, this is a non-issue.
--Robert