This is for all you people who believe the human body is designed to be omnivorous

Question

I will agree that humans are more omnivorous than anything else. But how many servings of meat a week is not enough vs. too much? Eating meat is having so much of a negative impact on planet Earth. I think that, in general, the world is consuming way too much meat. If we even just cut back on our consumption, both our population and our planet would benefit. I am a strict vegetarian and limit my dairy consumption, I am perfectly healthy and I feel that I am a better person for it. I just wonder if even the avid meat-eaters will agree that a lower meat consumption could be beneficial?

Watch this video before answering, please. It's not a gory and bloody slaughterhouse video, I promise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZirmJTTh_A

Answer 1

Vegetarian

An ancient Native American word meaning:

"Bad Hunter."

Answer 2

This is very true. Going vegetarian is probably the best way we can work together to protect our planet. But a lot of people make good money selling meat - so they will continue to blame it on anything else, and a lot of people enjoy eating it - so they will continue to eat it - even if it's at the expence of their own children's future. As long as it doesn't interfere with what happens in THEIR lifetime. We - the human race - are incredibly selfish. It's sad, but most people probably won't bother to take notice until it's too late. One day when fresh water becomes more expensive than oil and the supermarket shelves are empty. Maybe that's when they will start to open their eyes. But by then it will be too late to fix. :-/

Answer 3

Too much of anything can be bad for you,but, the human being is a hunter,killer,predator.Who will survive by eating anything and anyone to hand.It is only about 350 years ago that the last practising cannibals existed in Scotland,the Mc BEAN clan-

Answer 4

Why do you try and alter Mother Nature, we are omnivores, we have been through millenia as omnivores, you and the other Vegans sound more like religious nuts to me.

Answer 5

I don't see how eating meat is making a negative impact on Earth.  

Answer 6

Moderation of everything is the key. I eat as much meat as I do vegetables, as much dairy as I do raw foods.

Animal consumption is not the drain of earth's resources people like to believe it is. The Earth is 179,941,270 square kilometres of land mass. There are approximately six billion people on Earth right now, so on average, one square kilometre has to support just over thirty-three people. However, not all of it is available for arable cultivation. The main natural factors which determine plant development are climate and soil type. This rules out the whole continent of Antarctica (13,335,740 square kilometres). We can also forget all other ice-covered areas, tundra, mountains, deserts, areas covered by rivers, salt marshes, cities, roads, and railways, savannah, rain forest, low-lying meadow land and places that are regularly flooded. That is most of the Earth's surface. Only eleven percent of the land surface can be used for the cultivation of food crops.

If we all became vegetarians, we would stop farming the land that will support only food animals. But in many areas where animals are farmed, they are the only things which can be farmed due to soil type, climate and other factors - for example, goats and sheep can be grazed on rocky hillsides, but vegetables can't be grown there. In these areas, animal farming is the most efficient use of the land.

You couldn't make the land cultivatable either. As the population has increased, the amount of land available for cultivation has decreased. Deforestation has taken place to make more space for cultivation, soils have seen more rainfall and higher temperatures. This depletes the soil's organic matter, the soils harden and turn to desert. In 1882, desert or wasteland covered an estimated 9.4 percent of the Earth's surface. By 1952 it had increased to nearly twenty-five percent.

Pardon my essay. I'm just trying to point out that both types of food cultivation are necessary in order to best benefit the human race, and our planet too.

Answer 7

sustainable food is the answer - being a vegetarian doesn't mean you are 'green' in the slightest

i love my steaks, which come from my local butcher, sourced from a little farm 3 miles from my house

Answer 8

I have cut back on my consumption of meat considerably from when I was working hard.  That said the biggest problem to our resources is the indiscriminate breeding and proliferation of the human race.

Answer 9

WUT IS WRONG WITH U PPL

WE DO NOT NEED A LARGER POPULATION

Answer 10

I think everyone should make an effort to eat ethical meat - pay the extra quid, and avoid the battery-farmed 'value' stuff.

As for quantity - not sure that's so much of an issue. I suppose it depends which meat you're talking about. Munching a few wild rabbits, for example, is not likely to collapse the entire ecosystem.

Answer 11

If I am no longer hungry, that's the right serving. If I still am, then it's not enough.  It's that simple. My intake varies from zero to a 10oz ribeye.

As for the rest of the question, I would like to ask if vegetarians would cut back on their consumption of the earths resources and promote equal distribution to the rest of the world. Am not referring to just food but ALL resources.

All these "bad for the environement" statistics and a proposal to cut back won't make to much sense in a country where starvation is the main cause for concern. "Cut back on meat eating? I havern't had anything to eat in days!! What am I gonna cut back on?" is most likely what you will hear.