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CBeisbol t1_iqw1i33 wrote

AKA: another reason to be vegetarian

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Either_Pollution_840 t1_iqwjni2 wrote

What are the previous reasons

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CBeisbol t1_iqwkhtf wrote

Healthier

Better for the environment

Not killing animals for no reason.

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Either_Pollution_840 t1_iqwkpyn wrote

I haven't looked into the heath benefits but that's possible. How would it be better for the environment, and killing animals for consumption is not killing without reason.

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stoicinmd t1_iqwn858 wrote

Animal agriculture uses a lot of land and contributes, by some estimates, as much green house gas emissions (primarily methane) as the transportation sector. Most of the corn in the US is grown to feed animals not humans. Converting land that is used to grow animal food to human food would reduce pressure on scarce water resources especially in ranch land out west and reduce dependence on pesticide and herbicides used if we reduced the overall farming footprint.

Here is one source: https://news.stanford.edu/2022/02/01/new-model-explores-link-animal-agriculture-climate-change/

There are many sources if you google something like “greenhouse gas emissions animal agriculture “

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binz17 t1_iqwtk21 wrote

ive been trying to be plant-based for a year, mainly for health and environmental reasons. But many of the environmental statistics used to justify veganism are more than a little misleading. not wrong, but probably not as strong as indicated. like lots of crops are grown for meat/dairy animals. but replacing that food source with human vegetables does not use the same farmland. a lot of grazing land is also not suitable for human vegetables. many human vegetables must be irrigted, while grazing land is rain fed.

I still believe that vegetarian/plant-based is better overall, but it's just so hard to get unbiased information.

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Gleethos t1_iqziaz6 wrote

I am sceptical of the claim that you cannot grow vegetables (or other plant foods) on grazing lands. If it grows grass and wild flowers how come it is absolutely impossible to grow something else?!! Nowadays we actually grow, water and harvest grass just like we do so with vegetables simply because it is more efficient than letting cows trample all over the grass..., so why not just get rid of the middle man? I also think the water usage would be way less, not only because cows drink a ton of water, but also because we would need to use waaay less land to generate the same amount of calories... Less land means more natural wildlife and forests which translates to replenishment of underground aquifer... Meat eating is not only normal, but a major part of most cultures, so it is to be expected that we look for reasons that support the continuation of something so dear to our hearts, so this whole "we can only use grazing land for meat" kinda sounds like a convenient excuse to me...

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Financial-Jicama6619 t1_iqwvvau wrote

There is a documentary called Game Changer on Netflix. It is definitely worth a watch. Plenty of sources cited. I went from a gym rat thinking meat protein is superior and what I tried to get tons of calories from. I mean hey, that’s what my idol, Arnold went by too and the guy had incredible physique. Imagine my surprise when he showed up on this documentary explaining how he was wrong….

Besides that is is just chalked full of eye opening information. Including how meat is bad for our environment (waste, land use, water use compared to plant).

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CBeisbol t1_iqykaef wrote

Others have given you some good information

I'll just add - use some common sense

Animals eat plants and convert that to protein (and all kinds of other stuff) which we then eat

Humans just eating the plants would cut out the middle man so to speak. It's just a more efficient system.

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