Comments on: Meat needed to sustain life http://brownfieldagnews.com/2009/07/29/meat-needed-to-sustain-life/ Tue, 22 May 2012 14:42:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Cyndi Young http://brownfieldagnews.com/2009/07/29/meat-needed-to-sustain-life/comment-page-1/#comment-583 Cyndi Young Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:17:49 +0000 http://brownfieldagnews.com/?p=5984#comment-583 Reducing or eliminating meat consumption would cause more people to go hungry. We need both animals and plants to feed the world and to manage natural resources. Here in the U.S., somewhere around half the land cannot be used for growing crops. It can be used for grazing. If not used for grazing, the land would be of no use as a food resource for people. Reducing or eliminating meat consumption would cause more people to go hungry. We need both animals and plants to feed the world and to manage natural resources. Here in the U.S., somewhere around half the land cannot be used for growing crops. It can be used for grazing. If not used for grazing, the land would be of no use as a food resource for people.

]]> By: Daniel http://brownfieldagnews.com/2009/07/29/meat-needed-to-sustain-life/comment-page-1/#comment-326 Daniel Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:26:49 +0000 http://brownfieldagnews.com/?p=5984#comment-326 Cyndi, You said: "There are a lot of healthy, happy vegetarians running around," but then say we need meat to nutritionally satisfy a world population. This is a contradiction. You also said: "We simply do not have enough land on this planet to raise enough fruits and vegetables to sustain life for 7 billion people." Consider this: Nearly a third of all Central American rainforests have been cleared to make pasture for cattle. Seventy per cent of all cleared Amazon rainforest is used for grazing cattle and most of the remaining 30% is used to grow animal feed (and we’re losing another 50 million acres every year). The U.S. has lost more than a third of its topsoil to erosion from animal grazing and growing crops for cattle and other livestock. Roughly 7 football fields of land are bulldozed every minute to create more room for farming animals. One acre of land produces 165 pounds of beef OR 20,000 pounds of potatoes. Fifty-six million acres of land in the U.S. is used to produce hay (yes, hay) for livestock whereas 4 million acres of land is used to produce vegetables for humans. The amount of land needed to feed a pure vegetarian for a year is 1/6 of an acre while the amount of land needed to feed a meat-eater for a year is 3 1/4 acres (or about 20 times as much). Reducing or eliminating meat consumption would feed MORE people and require LESS land to do so. Food for thought. Cyndi, You said: “There are a lot of healthy, happy vegetarians running around,” but then say we need meat to nutritionally satisfy a world population. This is a contradiction.
You also said: “We simply do not have enough land on this planet to raise enough fruits and vegetables to sustain life for 7 billion people.”
Consider this: Nearly a third of all Central American rainforests have been cleared to make pasture for cattle. Seventy per cent of all cleared Amazon rainforest is used for grazing cattle and most of the remaining 30% is used to grow animal feed (and we’re losing another 50 million acres every year).
The U.S. has lost more than a third of its topsoil to erosion from animal grazing and growing crops for cattle and other livestock. Roughly 7 football fields of land are bulldozed every minute to create more room for farming animals. One acre of land produces 165 pounds of beef OR 20,000 pounds of potatoes.
Fifty-six million acres of land in the U.S. is used to produce hay (yes, hay) for livestock whereas 4 million acres of land is used to produce vegetables for humans. The amount of land needed to feed a pure vegetarian for a year is 1/6 of an acre while the amount of land needed to feed a meat-eater for a year is 3 1/4 acres (or about 20 times as much). Reducing or eliminating meat consumption would feed MORE people and require LESS land to do so.
Food for thought.

]]> By: Yana http://brownfieldagnews.com/2009/07/29/meat-needed-to-sustain-life/comment-page-1/#comment-318 Yana Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:15:03 +0000 http://brownfieldagnews.com/?p=5984#comment-318 Why is it that such small things bother us so much? They are animals for god sake. It is insanity to be debating this. Animals do not "debate" if they should eat us or not. It's protein for us. what's done is done. Why is it that such small things bother us so much?

They are animals for god sake. It is insanity to be debating this.

Animals do not “debate” if they should eat us or not. It’s protein for us.

what’s done is done.

]]> By: Chris http://brownfieldagnews.com/2009/07/29/meat-needed-to-sustain-life/comment-page-1/#comment-314 Chris Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:01:52 +0000 http://brownfieldagnews.com/?p=5984#comment-314 Cyndi, you just keep repeating the same "factoid": "We simply do not have enough land on this planet to raise enough fruits and vegetables to sustain life for 7 billion people" Where is this coming from? You've yet to back this up with any figures or references. Daniel (above), however, clearly stated: "it requires more land, energy and crops to sustain meat-eating (not to mention the environmental devastation and increase in greenhouse gas emissions) than a plant-based diet. For every 100 grams of protein consumed by a cow, only 10 grams of meat protein is produced. That’s a loss of 90%. If everyone went vegetarian/vegan, there would actually be more food available - enough to feed the world’s hungry - instead of it being converted into animal protein." Read that, please, and if you would like to refute those figures, please do so. "We need meat" isn't a clear statement, especially considering the amount of land, feed, and water required to *produce* that meat. It is, hands down, an inefficient usage of all the resources involved. (Yes, I eat meat, but I absolutely advocate a reduction in meat consumption.) Cyndi, you just keep repeating the same “factoid”: “We simply do not have enough land on this planet to raise enough fruits and vegetables to sustain life for 7 billion people”

Where is this coming from? You’ve yet to back this up with any figures or references.

Daniel (above), however, clearly stated: “it requires more land, energy and crops to sustain meat-eating (not to mention the environmental devastation and increase in greenhouse gas emissions) than a plant-based diet. For every 100 grams of protein consumed by a cow, only 10 grams of meat protein is produced. That’s a loss of 90%. If everyone went vegetarian/vegan, there would actually be more food available – enough to feed the world’s hungry – instead of it being converted into animal protein.”

Read that, please, and if you would like to refute those figures, please do so. “We need meat” isn’t a clear statement, especially considering the amount of land, feed, and water required to *produce* that meat. It is, hands down, an inefficient usage of all the resources involved. (Yes, I eat meat, but I absolutely advocate a reduction in meat consumption.)

]]> By: Cyndi Young http://brownfieldagnews.com/2009/07/29/meat-needed-to-sustain-life/comment-page-1/#comment-227 Cyndi Young Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:57:33 +0000 http://brownfieldagnews.com/?p=5984#comment-227 WHOA. Please listen to the program before commenting. I think you just read the title and made a judgement call. I am not suggesting that every individual must eat meat to sustain individual life. There are a lot of healthy, happy vegetarians running around. They just have to manage their diet to be sure nutritionally they are getting what their bodies need from other sources. Big picture: on this planet, we cannot grow enough plant material in the long term to nutritionally satisfy a world population. We need meat. We simply do not have enough land on this planet to raise enough fruits and vegetables to sustain life for 7 billion people WHOA. Please listen to the program before commenting. I think you just read the title and made a judgement call. I am not suggesting that every individual must eat meat to sustain individual life. There are a lot of healthy, happy vegetarians running around. They just have to manage their diet to be sure nutritionally they are getting what their bodies need from other sources.
Big picture: on this planet, we cannot grow enough plant material in the long term to nutritionally satisfy a world population. We need meat.
We simply do not have enough land on this planet to raise enough fruits and vegetables to sustain life for 7 billion people

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