cows could save the planet - tell vegetarians

[5co77ie]

it's only a problem when the economics of it are discussed.

and that's a whole other topic

Is it a problem.. not enough kids?

[fred quimby]

or maybe start to think about how we can stop the increase at the rate it is. If we don't, we're fucked.

Edited March 8, 2013 by fred quimby

[5co77ie]

yeah or alternativel Bill Hick's "sooner we start pollinating the stars the better"

But before nutters take on board Tipping Point theories - there's a hell of a lot of space we're not using yet - that we've made uninhabitable - Savory suggests we can reclaim it by having a return of herds not seen since ancient times, rather than occupying less and less in greater and greater numbers and moaning about it.

They really should teach everyone that you can fit the ENTIRE human race into an area twice the size of Australia.

[LondonTom]

I wouldn't eat my old dear either, that'd be wrong, but deer? Why not?

[kaosmark2]

I think we'd better start acknowledging that we need to let other animals live, to be be part of the eco-system. And we'd better start realising that we're not here to totally and utterly control the planet and everything that exists on it

we could have animals grazing without eating them... we can... honestly, we can

[Guest]

Raising animals and then eating them IS letting them be part of the ecosystem. Human food is part of the ecosystem.

Edited March 8, 2013 by tonyblair

[kaosmark2]

but we're either eating them to the point of extinction (fish for example) or we're fucking up the land (destroying rain-forests to make room for our food) to the point of our extinction. There has to be a balance.

The problems aren't just limited to whether there's enough room for us, or our food, there's so many of us pumping shit into the atmosphere, that even if we were to create a balance with our environment - food-wise - we're killing the planet in other ways

most problems would be lessened if there were less of us

[Guest]

I just think it's ignorant to suggest that humans aren't a part of the ecosystem and considering our food chain to not be either even moreso.

[Guest]

Yet this particular situation is one where a more varied ecosystem (grassland over desert) will be a result of us raising animals to eat.

[kaosmark2]

I didn't mean to suggest that we're not part of the ecosystem.. if I did, my mistake

but moreso..? why?

an afterthought:

I wonder how many species of animals or plants would suffer if humans didn't exist...?

[5co77ie]

an afterthought:

I wonder how many species of animals or plants would suffer if humans didn't exist...?

[fred quimby]

.

If you're going with suddenly stopped, vast numbers. Crops, anything that tries to feed off crops, any domesticated animal, anything that feeds on a domesticated animal, anything that's eaten by things that feed on domesticated animals, the flora that gets fed on by things that feed on domesticated animals, every type of fruit we eat, every species we 'protect' because they dying out probably will die out, hundreds of thousands of types of bacteria and fungus would be impacted.

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

or maybe start to think about how we can stop the increase at the rate it is. If we don't, we're fucked.

[grumpyhack]

nyway if we ate more meat, wouldn't we need more cattle etc which would release more methane into the atmosphere? If i remember rightly isn't this one of the main causes of global warming?

Edited March 8, 2013 by grumpyhack

[Guest]

If we are fucked, that's definitely not going to help.

[Ed209]

Cats, dogs and woodlice - off the top of my head

[lifelessfool]

Its quite an interesting debate my view on ecology is pretty much the same as Murray Bookchin who argued we are somewhat more than a herd on the plains, I don't see us expanding any worse than a beaver making a dam. I think I also read somewhere that population size isn't the main issue more the way we manage the resources but I do agree with Tony maybe it could use a trim...

[RobertProsineckisLighter]

As far as I'm aware among the biggest greenhouse gas contributors are farting cows releasing all that methane.

One problem is that a lot of veggies still drink milk or eat dairy products like cheese. So we'll still have farting cows, even if we don't eat them.