Reducing meat/dairy consumption seems to be one of the easiest changes we can make to lower GHG output, since it doesn’t require major infrastructure changes.
But it also means changing habits, which is hard for other reasons.
It’s also going to be hard to convince the hardcore carnivores: just 12% of the population eat over half the beef in the US.
Are you saying if we eat the hardcore carnivores, the job is done, easy peasy?
It’s a lot harder to drop carbs out of my diet but I have to. I let any of them in my body and now I’m dying again woo! Yall can do what you want but I will find a source of animal products if I have to eat the local quails and their eggs. When you can’t eat legumes or tubers or fruit or grains, you’d be better off starving to death if you can’t even have a steak with your green beans. I just wish I weren’t addicted to carbs. I need to get back on keto to get my body back again… 😩
I have Coeliac’s and things with gluten are out for me unless I want a lot of misery for a couple of days (which sucks because I love bread). This cuts out a lot of things for me. I also typically do a very low-carb diet because, for whatever reason, it vastly improves my mood and how my body feels.
That said, I am moving to grow a lot more of my own food with plans to have my own chickens for eggs and eventually raising most of the meat my wife and I consume. The rest we plan on sourcing from local hunters (wild boar and overpopulated deer are big issues where we’re moving) and farmers We also eat a lot of seafood, so probably less land-based meat than most already (definitely less than when I lived in the US).
I think it is higher, the current food production is something like 25% of the global GHG emissions, 2/3 are from the animal industry. Besides the direct impact there is less land use and the opportunity to re-nature large areas.
Cutting down on billionaires would do a lot more for the environment
Both things can be true at the same time.
Billionaires / the 1% / whatever category of rich assholes you choose obviously use much more resources than “the common man”. Still, if we, as humanity, do not change how and what we consume, cutting what the rich use would not even remotely be enough.
I’ve been a vegan for 17 years and I can tell you one thing Americans don’t give a shit. They well not eat less meat. They don’t give a fuck that they are killing the planet and they sure as fuck don’t want you to tell them that. I’ve traveled over seas quite a bit and I see people from other countries seem genuinely interested in veganism but Americans don’t give a fuck and give even less of a fuck when you tell them you’re a vegan.
I’m not interested in veganism but I am interested (and practicing) massive reductionism, near vegetarianism.
I think that sliding scale of reduced meat consumption is the ONLY move that can be made. (Surprise? Lol)
Americans will accept reduced meat as alternatives are around, but it needs to be a “here’s a new fun thing” not a “stop doing that”
I reduce my meat intake but I’m not going to act holier than though and pretend it has anything to do animals.
When you tell me you’re vegan you’re telling me that’s your identity as a person and no one wants to listen to you after that. It has nothing to do with what veganism is.
There are exceptions in liberal cities, but data shows that Americans consume a LOT more meat on average than most other countries.
Realistically, pushing veganism is simply a bad choice in America. Instead, we should be pushing a simple reduction in meat consumption. Just educate people and encourage them to REDUCE meat in their diet.
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Take away the government subsidies that make our meat artificially cheap, doing that alone will naturally raise meat prices and lower the average person’s meat intake.
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Consider throwing a carbon tax on the types of meat with the greatest environmental impact, why not?
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If we want to be more equitable we could only tax the “luxury” meats (like goose, veal, lamb, oysters, or expensive beef cuts that are usually only purchased by upper class people anyway).
There are a lot of ways to skin this cat (lol), and I think we’ve sufficiently demonstrated that most Americans are WAY too resistant to cutting all meat out of their diet.
I’ve got you even better. For the past 15 years I haven’t used a car to commute, and man do vegans NOT like the fact that their aesthetic lifestyle choice is meaningless compared to reliance on fossil fuels. Other countries have policies that genuinely reduce car culture, but holy fuck as soon as you suggest not living in the suburbs, vegans are up in arms about how America is just too big for such a thing to be possible.
“Aesthetic life choice” my ass lol. I am fortunate enough to not have to rely on a car (don’t even have a driver’s license) but suggesting others can when public transport in the US is that bad is just silly. Veganism is something you can actually easily practise though that has a meaningful impact on both the environment as well as animal well-being. This is not about “aesthetics”: it’s about making life on earth easier for everyone - both humans as well as animals alike.
Veganism is not an “aesthetic lifestyle choice” nor is it “meaningless” in reducing emissions. Reducing reliance on cars is good (where possible), doing both is better. Some people’s living situations do necessitate using a car and not everyone has the money to pack up and move to a place with good public transit.
@blindbunny @inasaba they’re indeed driving global warming to the extreme with their cattle ranches and ignorance. They have a lack of education since primary school, most of them have no idea what evolution is, much less would they know what carbon emissions are!
ps. America is not a country but a Continent. It might be ok to call it like that within its limits, but we’re in an international platform here, so please…
So we decrease it from 13% of global to 10%? Not much of a dent in view of the 87% from fossil fuel use 🤷🏽♂️ but let’s not mention that
“Globally, the largest share of humanity’s CO2 emissions stems from burning fossil fuels, which made up about 87% of CO2 emissions over the past 20 years. Land-use emissions are responsible for the remaining 13%.” https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-how-land-use-drives-co2-emissions-around-the-world/
Even if we could cut all fossil fuels, the animal industry would push us over the Paris goal. Changing what we eat is a option we all have but let’s not mention that
Seriously. If everyone on earth stopped eating meat tomorrow, we would still be just as fucked as we are now.
And do we expect the meat industry to just disappear? They have lots of land and equipment that they will try to use in other ways. Maybe they’ll even decide to drill for oil on their land.
Shooting for 0% even better.
