Is being vegetarian bad for the Environment?

Question

I was talking to my cousin and he said being a Vegetarian is bad for the Environment because we eat all the plants that give off Oxygen and stuff like that. Is this True?

Just Wondering.

Answer 1

The United Nations International Panel on Climate Change feels that your cousin has it bass-ackwards.  They name intensive animal agriculture as the world's biggest contributor to global climate change, more than all forms of transportation combined.

Meat eaters eat plants, too.  And the animals bred, raised and slaughtered for them eat a phenomenal amount of plant material before they end up on someone's dinner plate (farting methane the whole time, by the way.)

Not to mention the thousands of acres of irreplaceable rain forest that are mowed down annually to make room for crops to feed cattle and to make room to graze cattle.

Switching from the standard meat-eating diet to a vegetarian diet has been compared from switching from a gas-guzzling SUV to a compact car (and switching to veganism has been compared to riding a bike) in terms of impact on an individual's carbon footprint.

Answer 2

It's not like I'm going and hoarking down all the trees, dude.  It's good for the environment, because currently, were are chopping down the amazon so we can grow soy for the cows, so we can eat the cows.......um, I don't get it.  Why not cut out the middle man/cow?  The cows eat more than us, so......yeah, I don't get it.  

Answer 3

LOL, no.

A person that eats meat uses more plants than a person that only eats plants. Animals that are raised for meat, milk and eggs eat plants EVERY DAY(SURPRISE, SURPRISE) and over 9 billion are raised EVERY YEAR in the US alone.

Answer 4

of course not...people don't eat the trees from the forest or the wild plants

Answer 5

It's actually kinda the opposite.  :)  Besides, most of our oxygen comes from plankton.

Answer 6

No your cousin is completely wrong. Animals require plants to grow in fact 12pds of grain is required to produce 1 pd of meat. Growing feed grains for the meat and dairy industry, cheap export grain for animal feed, and cattle ranches are the leading cause of deforestation, not your vegetable dinner.  your cousin is wrong.

http://www.mongabay.com/images/rainfores...

http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/a...

Answer 7

Its actually the opposite.

Firstly, something tells me that your cousin eats plants

Secondly, what do you think the animals eat? Plants. It actually takes several pounds of plants to get one pound of meat (i can't remember the ratio, but its something like 8 pounds plants for 1 pound of meat). Animals are artificially inseminated/bred excessively so we can kill and eat them. So we have more and more animals eating more and more plants. Being vegetarian is one of the best things you can do for the environment. Also cow c**p gives of TONS of greenhouse gases. And if we weren't artificially inseminating female cows every year so we can eat them and drink their milk, we wouldn't have as many cows. Therefore, there wouldn't be as much cow c**p and not as many cows eating the plants that release oxygen into the air. And not as many greenhouse emission would be released into the air.

Tell that to your cousin, but make sure you go into a huge rant and end up standing up. People are more shocked and less likely to argue with you afterwards, or have anything reasonable to say.

Answer 8

Heck no! If anything, eating meat is destroying the environment. Factory farms are the biggest polluters on the planet.

Answer 9

no. that just means more animals, which is good for the enviornment.

=]

Answer 10

Your cousin has a very good point. If you eat animals you'll be cutting down greenhouse gasses and eliminating things that use valuable oxygen.