• jerkface
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    3 days ago

    Vegans consume fewer plants than anyone else. It takes a LOT of plants to raise a cow, pig, or chicken. From an economic point of view, meat is a way of refining mountains of cheap, plentiful, safe plant products into a scarce, harmful and addictive luxury product. This comes up a lot, you’d be amazed how many plants rights activists your average vegan runs into.

    • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      the same plants that are being fed to animals are the plants that we eat too. animals are mostly said crop seconds or parts of plants the people can’t or won’t eat.

    • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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      2 days ago

      Wouldn’t you need to decimate the population of cows, pigs, and chickens in order to reduce their environmental impact? This argument always invokes an image of Thanos wiping out half the universe in order to ‘save’ it, but the people making this argument never seem to be receptive to acknowledging this point and just hand wave this step away.

      • Holomew@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        The population of livestock is artificially high because of meat industries. Additionally, all animals in a meat producing farm will be killed already. That’s the entire purpose. Simply slowing the reproductive rate of the industry would reduce the populations on a fairly short timeline. I’m a meat eater myself, but using the killing of animals as an argument AGAINST slowing meat production is not very logical.

      • Landsharkgun@midwest.social
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        2 days ago

        Which would you prefer? A thousand people living freely or a hundred thousand people living in cages too small to stand up in?

        Get outta here with pretending that big number = better. Those animals are raised in horrifying conditions explictly to be slaughtered. They wouldn’t exist in the first place except for the cruelty and greed of the meat industry. We routinely acknowledge that there are ‘fates worse than death’ for people, but when it comes to animals people seem to forget that. With the ending of the meat industry, fewer animals would exist, but they would be much better cared for.

        • Cypher@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Ending the meat industry would result in the extinction of breeds we have engineered for meat and milk production.

          Ending factory farming would significantly reduce numbers and increase quality of life for the animals.

      • anar@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 days ago

        Meat eaters are already decimating populations, they are Thanos with a universe conveyor belt, clicking every second.

    • fsxylo@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      Vegans: we’ll have only a little vegetable cruelty, as a treat.

      Whatever keeps the high horse fed.

      • jerkface
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        3 days ago

        You’re going to have to unpack this a bit more for me.

        Edit: Ohhhh, you’re another one of those plant rights activists. Buddy, I eat plants for breakfast. You know what? Now I’m going to eat twice as many plants, just because it upsets you.

        • fsxylo@sh.itjust.works
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          3 days ago

          Oh no, you’re not better than anyone! Tragic.

          Assholes like wiping shit off. Which is what the block button does to you.

          • antiabed@feddit.nl
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            3 days ago

            Dumbest person on the internet today award goes to…… YOU!!! Congratulations 🎉🏆🎉

            • fsxylo@sh.itjust.works
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              3 days ago

              Either that’s true, and I can’t read your comment anyways, or it’s not and you’re a dipshit.

              • copygirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                3 days ago

                Real classy of you to do the toddler thing of sticking your fingers in your ear and going “la la la I can’t hear you”. (It’ll be an honor to share a spot on your block list with these other two fellas.)

    • rtxn@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I challenge you to make an appetizing meal out of the plants (and specific cultivars!) used as animal feed.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Unless you count grass and non-human consumables and non-potable water…sure…until then that’s bullshit.

      • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
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        3 days ago

        How is that bullshit? I am not vegan, but that’s just a scientific consensus and a major reason why plant diet is way lower carbon than a meat diet. If you need to grow plant food for your animal food, eventually you have to grow way more plant food.
        Most animals raised for meat consumption are fed with crops, notably soy, not wild grass.
        Thinking animals raised for meat only consume resources (land (first cause of biodiversity loss), plants, water, energy) that would not be useful to humans anyway is undoubtedly wrong.

        Researchers Poore and Nemecek are a great source of meta-analysis information about those subjects. Check this summary here for example: http://environmath.org/2018/06/17/paper-of-the-day-poore-nemecek-2018-reducing-foods-environmental-impacts/

        Let me know if I misunderstood your point.

        • jerkface
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          3 days ago

          It’s less important that such arguments be factually accurate than that they are superficially convincing enough to distract the person giving the argument from thoughts and feelings they are unwilling to process.

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/50901500/px-based_v3.2/educ-matrls/pdfs/HO_what-cows-eat.pdf

          We do not feed them food we can eat, it would be such a waste to do so. We literally feed them shit we cannot consume. Feeds are made from roots/stalks/inedible plants.

          The vegan industry doesn’t like this, so they say well that land could be used for other things, when in reality it’s already being used for the food that we eat.

          • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
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            3 days ago

            They are also fed grains and soy in varying percentage depending on regions and countries.
            There is also still the use of land, energy, fresh water and the methane emissions typical of cows.

            This is another break down of the above-mentioned study: https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets

            You can see that indeed, the USA does better than other countries on not dedicating crops to animal feed, but it is still about 14%, while the world average is around 40%. Isn’t that a lot that could be earned back?

            • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              The majority of the land used for cattle grazing is not suitable for farmland. It’s either to hilly or rocky or just plain doesn’t have great soil. Not to mention the level of crops it would require to feed people and the amount of people who just cannot sustain on a all vegan diet. There is a reason we are omnivores and not herbivores.

              • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
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                3 days ago

                This is also covered by the study and the article I shared above. It would require using more lands for crops that feed people, but that’s ridiculously small compared to the land that would be regained from stopping animal agriculture, which is 75%. Just removing cows would do the vast majority of that.

                Crops for feed can be regained and if most pasture land is inappropriate for crops, some are, so we would gain from freeing those too. Furthermore, this land can be given back to biodiversity, which will also benefit us in the long term, if just protecting biodiversity for the sake of it is not a good argument for you.

                Again, I am not vegan, I mostly advocate for reducing, not forbidding, consumption proportionally to ecological impact. If some people for medical reason require meat, I’m completely fine with it, this would likely be a small percentage of the current consumption.

                Omnivore, not obligate carnivore except for a few exceptions maybe, so we could use a low meat diet or a fully plant based diet fine.

                • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  2 days ago

                  this land can be given back to biodiversity,

                  there is no reason to think this is going to happen. they’ll build a mall or a skyscraper.

                  • jerkface
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                    2 days ago

                    “This is an area the size of North America plus Brazil”

                • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  2 days ago

                  poore-nemecek is based on misreading LCA studies. LCA as a measurement is not transferable between studies. poore-nemececk just went through and did averages. it’s not good science. it’s not even science.

                  • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
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                    2 days ago

                    Do you have a source more reputable than the Science journal and the Oxford university?

                • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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                  2 days ago

                  This is also covered by the study and the article I shared above. It would require using more lands for crops that feed people, but that’s ridiculously small compared to the land that would be regained from stopping animal agriculture, which is 75%. Just removing cows would do the vast majority of that.

                  Again the majority of the land used for cattle is not suitable for crops. So unless you plan on putting houses on that land it’s not going to be used for anything anyways.

                  Crops for feed can be regained and if most pasture land is inappropriate for crops, some are, so we would gain from freeing those too. Furthermore, this land can be given back to biodiversity, which will also benefit us in the long term, if just protecting biodiversity for the sake of it is not a good argument for you.

                  O it would be great to have more biodiversity, we need all the insects we can get, but cows aren’t killing off our insect populations, growing crops and spraying pesticides are. Which don’t even get me started on organic…they use organic pesticides which are way more devastating to the environment.

                  Again, I am not vegan, I mostly advocate for reducing, not forbidding, consumption proportionally to ecological impact. If some people for medical reason require meat, I’m completely fine with it, this would likely be a small percentage of the current consumption.

                  In honesty, we need vertical farms and lab grown meat. If that could be pulled off then we’d be golden. I’m not against eating plants, but I’m not someone who likes that militant vegans come in and spew bullshit just because they want to feel morally superior to people who eat meat.

                  Omnivore, not obligate carnivore except for a few exceptions maybe, so we could use a low meat diet or a fully plant based diet fine.

                  https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/how-to-maintain-a-balanced-diet-as-a-vegetarian-or-vegan#:~:text=Opt for vitamin D-fortified,Starting slowly.

                  The issue isn’t that we can’t, it’s that the majority of people already eat like crap, which meat helps fill in the blanks. If we went to all plant based, people would still eat like crap and be missing vitamin D and protein.

                  Also a good chunk of us are already eating a low meat diet because that shit is expensive.

                  • jerkface
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                    1 day ago

                    Are you not aware that the more meat you eat, the younger you die and the more major diseases you experience? Meat is toxic, people are not better off for having any amount of it in their diet. Plants are made of protein. Calorie for calorie, plants are a superior protein source. There is not one major health consequence in the world today caused by too much not enough protein. The leading cause of death of all humans on earth COMPLETELY GOES AWAY without meat consumption, and so do several others. The idea that a lack of vitamin D and protein is a major health issue for humans who eat mostly plants is ridiculous, and any consequences can be easily mitigated. There is nothing you can take that will prevent meat from killing you.

              • ThoGot@lemm.ee
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                3 days ago

                The majority of the land used for cattle grazing is not suitable for farmland.

                But why should land be treated in that binary? How much biodiversity is being destroyed just to keep cattle or some other animals instead of keeping it in its natural state?

                • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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                  2 days ago

                  In it’s natural state bison would have been grazing on it. That also doesn’t solve the gripe that vegans have which is that land could be used for crops, which really destroys the biodiversity of land. At least with cattle, you just let them eat anything that grows. Horses are usually terrible for biodiversity because people mow the land and want nice lush fields, were as cattle farmers don’t, they let the cows eat roughage which is actually healthier for them. They also rotate pastures a lot more than most horse people do.

              • catloaf@lemm.ee
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                3 days ago

                Pretty well, actually. Grasses like corn, wheat, rice, and oats make up a substantial portion of the typical diet.

                • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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                  3 days ago

                  Cool, can’t grow that shit where cattle graze. We also…once again do not feed things that we can consume to cows. It literally would be a massive waste of money.

      • jerkface
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        3 days ago

        What figures are you basing your ignorance off of? The majority of the plants humans grow through crop-based agriculture are fed to non-human animals. Animal ag is one of the largest consumers of fresh (ie “potable”) water. There are ten animals living in human possession for every human on Earth. Without intensive plant agriculture, we could not possibly feed them all. Grass and run-off is not what is producing your food.

        And since we are specifically discussing the hypothetical suffering of plants, why wouldn’t you count grass? You’re triggered.

        • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 days ago

          The majority of the plants humans grow through crop-based agriculture are fed to non-human animals

          That’s a lie. 2/3 of the world’s crop calories go directly to people. One third of the world’s crop calories go to livestock, but that’s as the other user is mentioning, mostly crop seconds or parts of plants that we can’t eat.

        • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
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          3 days ago

          The majority of the plants humans grow through crop-based agriculture are fed to non-human animals.

          It’s not that clear, it depends on the country. See the part about share of cereals dedicated to animal feed in this link, it’s about 15% in the USA and the rest of the feed is byproducts of crops used for human reasons. https://ourworldindata.org/land-use-diets

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          What figures are you basing your ignorance off of? The majority of the plants humans grow through crop-based agriculture are fed to non-human animals. Animal ag is one of the largest consumers of fresh (ie “potable”) water. There are ten animals living in human possession for every human on Earth. Without intensive plant agriculture, we could not possibly feed them all. Grass and run-off is not what is producing your food.

          No they are not. They eat the shit we cannot eat, they graze the majority of their lives and we use non potable water to water them. The feed we feed them is not made with anything that a human could consume. It’s roots/stalks/inedible plants. This bullshit that keeps being promoted by vegans that everything a cow can eat is bullshit.

          And since we are specifically discussing the hypothetical suffering of plants, why wouldn’t you count grass? You’re triggered.

          Because your entire point was that vegans consume less plants than anyone else, which is basically saying “vegans are still better than meat eaters” it’s more hilarious dick wagging from you chods.

            • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              Lol I’m butthurt? Lol you vegans are fucking hilariously ignorant bunch. You’re like religious zealots too, all high and mighty with an ignorant levels of information being spewed to you.

              • swim@slrpnk.net
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                3 days ago

                This is the epitome of projection, FYI. All this wasted energy and impotent vitriol, railing against a non-existent evil (“the vegan industry?” seriously sad), defending the (actually malignant) status quo for free. It’s exhausting feeling so sorry for you

                • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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                  3 days ago

                  What status quo? Lol the majority of your food comes from small farms, not these mega corps that everyone seems to think exist. Farming is a fuck ton of work for little reward, it’s why most younger people are selling their parents farms vs taking over the business.

                  • swim@slrpnk.net
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                    3 days ago

                    Accept that you’re misinformed or deliberately misleading. There are no other options, sorry. “Family farms” are simply operators of big agriculture’s bidding, the latter having complete regulatory and market capture.

                    “Only four corporations—ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus—control more than 75 percent of the global grain trade. They overwhelmingly push commodity crops like corn and soy on local farmers at the expense of native crops.”

                    “the vast majority of cows in the United States live on factory farms. Factory farms depend on cheap and unsustainable animal feed, such as corn and soy, to maximize profits at the expense of animal welfare.”

                    “Factory farms now account for 72 percent of poultry production, 43 percent of egg production, and 55 percent of pork production worldwide.”

      • NFord@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        Are you saying grass aren’t plants? Why would it matter if the plant is consumable by humans if vegans are trying to minimize suffering?

        • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Because they’re not about minimizing suffering, it’s about being morally superior to meat eaters and letting everyone know about it. The post I replied to, literally made that a point.