What would it be like if everyone were vegetarians? Implications on poverty/ environmenmt/ ecology?

Question

What would it be like if everyone were vegetarians? Implications on poverty/ environmenmt/ ecology?

Answer 1

The Environment

Conservation of Fossil fuel. It takes 78 calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of beef protein; 35 calories for 1 calorie of pork; 22 calories for 1 of poultry; but just 1 calorie of fossil fuel for 1 calorie of soybeans. By eating plant foods instead of animal foods, I help conserve our non-renewable sources of energy.

Water Conservation. It takes 3 to 15 times as much water to produce animal protein as it does plant protein. As a vegetarian I contribute to water conservation.

Efficient use of grains. It takes up to 16 pounds of soybeans and grains to produce 1 lb. of beef and 3 to 6 lbs. to produce 1 lb of turkey & egg. By eating grain foods directly, I make the food supply more efficient & that contributes to the environment.

Half the rainforests in the world have been destroyed to clear ground to graze cattle to make beefburgers. The burning of the forests contributes 20% of all green-house gases. Roughtly 1,000 species a year become extinct because of the destruction of the rainforests. Approximately 60 million people a year die of starvation. All those lives could be saved because those people could eat grain used to fatten cattle and other farm animals - if Americans ate 10% less meat.

The world's fresh water shortage is being made worse by animal farming. And meat producers are the biggest polluters of water. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat. If the US meat industry wasn't supported by the taxpayer paying a large proportion of its water costs, then hamburger meat would cost $35 a pound.

Soil conservation. When grains & legumes are used more efficiently, our precious topsoil is automatically made more efficient in its use. We use less agricultural resources to provide for the same number of people.

Saving our forests. Tropical forests in Brazil and other tropic regions are destroyed daily, in part, to create more acreage to raise livestock. By not supporting the meat industry, I directly reduce the demand to pillage these irreplaceable treasures of nature. Since the forest land "filters" our air supply and contains botanical sources for new medicines, this destruction is irreversable.

Asthetics. Decaying animal parts, whether in a freezer case or served in restaurants, can never be as asthetically pleasing to the senses as the same foods made from wholesome vegetable sources. Only habit can allow one not to perceive this: a change in diet makes this self evident.

Personal Health

No deficiencies. There is no nutrient necessary for optimal human functioning which cannot be obtained from plant food.

High fat plus cholesterol. Animal foods are higher in fat than most plant foods, particularly saturated fats. Plants do not contain cholesterol.

"Carb" deficient. Meat is deficient in carbohydrates, particularly the starches which are so essential to proper health.

Vitamin deficient. Except for the b-complex, meat is largely deficient in vitamins.

Agricultural Chemicals. Being higher on the food chain, animal foods contain far higher concentrations of agricultural chemicals than plant foods, including pesticides, herbicides, etc.

Exposure to livestock drugs. There are over 20,000 different drugs, including sterols, antibiotics, growth hormones and other veterinary drugs that are given to livestock animals. These drugs are consumed when animal foods are consumed. The dangers herein, in secondary consumption of antibiotics, are well documented.

Pathogenic Microorganisms. There are a host of bacteria and viruses, some quite dangerous, that are common to animals. When I eat meat, I eat the organisms in the meat. Micro-organisms are present in plant foods too, but their number and danger to human health is by no means comparable to that of those in meat.

Worms and other Parasites. Ditto on # 13!

Shelf life differential. Plant foods last longer than animal foods. Try this experiment: Leave out a head of lettuce and a pound of hamburger for 1 day, which will make you sick?

Organoleptic Indications of Pathenogens. Plant foods give tell-tale signs of "going bad". Ever hear of someone getting sick from "bad broccoli"?

Heart Disease. Meat eating increases the risk of heart disease, this country's #1 killer. The correlation is an epidemiological fact.

Cancer prevention. Of all the natural cancer prevention substances found: vitamin C, B-17, hydroquionenes, beta carotene, NDGA, - none has been found to be animal derived. Yet most meats, when cooked, produce an array of benzenes and other carcinogenic compounds. Cancer is infinitely easier to prevent than cure. Soybeans contain protease inhibitor, a powerful anticancer compound. You won't find it in useful quantities in animal based food.

Disease Inducing. The correlation between meat consumption and a wide range of degenerative diseases is well founded and includes.....

Osteoporosis

Kidney Stones and Gallstones

Diabetes

Multiple Sclerosis

Arthritis

Gum disease

Acne. Aggravated by animal food.

Obesity. Studies confirm that vegetarians tend to be thinner than meat eaters. Obesity is considered by doctors to be a disease within itself.

Intestinal Toxemia. The condition of the intestinal flora is critical to overall health. Animal products putrefy the colon.

Transit time. Wholesome food travels quickly through the "G.I" tract, leaving little time to spoil and incite disease within the body.

Fiber deficient. Fiber absorbs unwanted, excess fats; cleans the intestines; provides bulk and aids in peristalsis. Plant food is high in fiber content; meat, poultry and dairy products have none.

Body wastes. Food from animals contain their waste, including adrenaline, uric and lactic acid, etc., Before adding ketchup, the biggest contributors to the "flavor profile" of a hamburger are the leftover blood and urine.

Excess protein. The average American eats 400% of the RDA for protein. This causes excess nitrogen in the blood that creates a host of long-term health problems.

Longevity. To increase ones risk of getting degenerative disease means decreasing ones chance to live a naturally long healthy life. Huzas and other peoples with large centenarian populations maintain lifestyles that are relatively meat free.

Personal Finances

Health care costs. Being healthier on a vegetarian diet means spending less on health care.

Food costs. Vegetarian foods tend to cost less than meat based items.

Ethics

In a lifetime, the average meat eater will consumer 36 pigs, 36 sheep and 750 chickens and turkeys. Do you want that much carnage on your conscience?

Animals which are a year old are often far more rational - and capable of logical thought - than six week old babies. Pigs and sheep are far more intelligent than small children.

Love of animals. I love animals as I love myself. I have no desire to kill them or cause them harm.

Stance against Factory Farming.. I cannot make a statement against factory farming if I myself eat animals.

Respect for Sentient Life. I show gratitude to my Creator(s?) by eating as low on the food chain as possible.

"Economic Vote". I show support of the meat industry and the way they operate when I purchase and use their products.

Small sacrifice The sacrifice I make is nothing compared to the animals, its life.

Natural diet. Our hands, teeth, feet, intestinal tract...even our body chemistry is that of an herbivore.

Reciprocity. If I partake in the slaughter of animals, I will have to repay my contribution to that act.

"Protecting the Temple". "Whatever affects the body has a corresponding effect on the mind and soul" (E.G. White)

I believe in nonviolence. Slaughter isn't.

Every day, tens of millions of one-day-old male chicks are killed because they will not be able to lay eggs. There are no rules about how this mass slaughter takes place. Some are crushed or suffocated to death. Many are used for fertiliser or fed to other animals.

World Peace. There can never be peace among men while men are declaring war on other highly developed life forms.

Clear conscience. I know what I'm doing is right. I feel good inside about my decision to remain "meatless"

Example. To live this way is to protect the underlying values of those around me.

Easy substitutes. There are vegetable based substitutes for every meat product imaginable.

The Karma, people!

Poverty

African countries - where millions are starving to death - export grain to the developed world so that animals can be fattened for our dining tables.

Did you know that millions of people survive on less then 50cents a days, while the cost of grain for say, cattle, costs up to $2 a day per cow? This money could be spent on poverty-stricken countries, and the grain could be used to feed them.

Vego's RULE. =)

Answer 2

The problem we would create by being all vegetarian comes from its best features. We would be able to support a much larger human population, provided we do not have any major disruption in weather patterns, no major blight on plant production, ie no crop failure of major proportions.

By the nature of non-vegetarian life, we are forced to live with a smaller population, but more significantly, when we have any major crop failure, the first response of the agricultural economy is to cut back on the number of livestock on feed. If we do not have enough food, it becomes very costly and unprofitable to feed anything to livestock. In effect feeding livestock becomes a way to market food that is in excess, and keep the supply coming. By taking away surplus, it remains economical to continue to produce that food.

The exception appears in areas where only pasture makes economic sense. Land that has too little rainfall to make tillage agriculture viable, stony lands,etc. Here we will see no reduction of cattle on feed, because we do not really have a market for grass for people. But even here, when there is drought that cuts back on pasture output, we will see drastic reduction in cattle on pasture unless there is cheap grain available to preserve herd strength.

In the far north, it does appear that being a vegetarian becomes very difficult. We would have to desert those areas, leaving population control    of the herbivores there to wolf, bear, wolverine, fox and owl, plus ever present starvation.

Answer 3

Some arguments in favour of meat eating:

1) Poverty/Food security - the wider variety of different types of food we eat, the more options we have in times of drought and famine.  Imagine a rural community whose staple food crops have died but who still have animals that can graze on grass: if they didn't eat meat they'd starve.

2) Nutrition - yes, all our nutritional needs can be met from fruit and vegetables, but meat represents a very good source of some nutrients, particularly protein.  Vegetarianism might is a good choice for people who can choose from a hundred different types of fruit and veg at the supermarket. But for people living in remote rural conditions  who can't source a wide variety of vegetables, meat can be key to effective nutrition.

3) Biodiversity - how many pigs, and different types of pig, would there be in the world if we were all vegetarian?

4) Carbon and climate change - meat eating doesnt have to be associated with high carbon emissions.  Eating locally sourced meat is going to have a lower impact on the environment than flying high protein vegetables around the world to meet the demands of picky vegetarians.

Answer 4

I am a vegetarian (for 8 years now), and I cant really say how things woud be like. The reason being is because peope are different no mater if they are meat eaters or vegetarians. Hitler was a vegetarian and he caused pain, while gondi was also a vegetarian but instead of causing pain he was peaceful.

  But i aso think the world would change if everyone were vegetarians. First off it would be a better place, second the population would increase (due to the fact that people would be eating healthier), thirdly there would potentially be ess violence.  

I think that in the future everyone will be a vegetarian (Due to evolution). Vegetarians are more evolved than meat eaters. Meat eaters hunt and kil to show their sexual dominant, due to hormones. This simply means that meat eaters have more anamalistic desirs than vegetarians. To simplify my answer for your question, if everyone was a vegetarian we would be a more peaceful world, less war, higher popuation, less violence, cleaner safer planet, more animals, increase in natural environment, and much more that i will not go into detail with. Aka the world would in fact be a better place to live in.

Answer 5

Meals would be very boring.