Tofu-eaters please don't gloat

I find it ridiculous that this article is even trying to reprimand people for informing others that our meat industry produces incredible amounts of pollutants and in unhealthy for our environment. The title of the article is not even followed up with any strong arguments against this fact. In fact, it gives the same examples, and only half way through, uses the oh so important word, "moderation." To say that soy bean growth used for tofu is any way near the amount of soy used to feed cattle.... More

I believe it is better for a lamb to have lived and been eaten than never to have lived at all. The simple fact is if you did away with the eating of meat then the humble sheep, cow, pig and to a lesser extent the goat would all but die out on this planet. If we are not eating them we are not going to be breeding them to eat. And as the most extreme views see even using Milk and Wool as bad for the animals where will these domesticated animals find a home in your Vegan utopia. Simple.... More

I am a member of the People for Eating of Tasty Animals and I grew up in a farming community. My family hunts and growing up we found that every year we had less wooded areas to hunt and the animals had less areas to live and hide. Why was this happening? Because, as soy based foods and biodiesel become more popular the price of soybeans goes up and farmers clear as much land as they can to produce as much soy as they can. Native grasses produce a lot more Oxygen than soy plants, but if a.... More

It is true that much of the soybean and corn produced in the US goes to the meat industry for feed. However, as humans we still need protein in our diets. Soybeans and other protien rich plants would be used to substitue our diets. So, even if the US decided to go meatless we would still have a great deal of pollution due to the shift in agriculture to produce more plant products. Farming, as we know, is a huge contributor to pollution (water, soil, and air). I think that pollution problems.... More

As others have said, a hell of a lot of corn and soybeans grown in the U.S. go to feed animals who are raised for food. If more people went vegetarian, fewer soybeans would be grown, and that means less forestation.

Say half of North Americans decided to stop eating meat, or at least beef. The price of beef would plummet. So poor people around the world would be able to eat more meat! And McDonald's(R) would be there to sell it to them. Cutting meat consumption is more complicated that it seems.

You do realize the second major component after corn to animal feed is soybeans, right? This is due to it's high protein content and cheap price, and follows the basic nutritional hierarchy of carbs>proteins>fats. Protein makes up about 20% of feeds. Yeilds vary per location and season, but soybeans average about 40-50 Bushells/acre and corn 160-180/acre, or about 25% that of corn.

Of the field corn grown in the country, about 45% goes to feeding animals, and 20% goes to ethanol.... More

You do realize the second major component after corn to animal feed is soybeans, right? This is due to it's high protein content and cheap price, and follows the basic nutritional hierarchy of carbs>proteins>fats.

The US would produce more than enough soy to feed it's vegetarians if it weren't for animal feed, but farmers need a legume to fix nitrogen in between corn cycles assuming they aren't heavily applying nitrogen ferts every year.

Bernard-
I don't think the author would disagree with the fundamentals of eating lower in the food chain, and that it does impact land use and carbon emissions. He even says he'd put it in the top 5 actions to take to reduce climate impact.

He's just saying that there are probably bigger fish to fry. Taking out meat and eating more soy, at MOST reduces your carbon footprint by 6%, according to the chart he linked to. Cutting your transportation carbon footprint in half saves 14%.... That's.... More

If your alternative to eating soy products is entirely grass-fed beef, than you might have a small point about the deforestation caused by soy (and you're probably quite wealthy), but since the vast majority of animal products we eat (beef, pork, chicken and eggs) are grown with soy feed, eating lower on the food chain, even soy, results in a net DECREASE of soy grown to feed you.

It can be tricky to get your head around, bu the key point is that a large portion of the feed that.... More