Do you preach vegetarianism

[Hyve]

Anytime I get told to go Vegan / Vegetarian, I go out to the nearest Supermarket, and buy an extra portion of Bacon & Gammon!

[Endus]

I see a lot of arguing about the "ethics" of vegetarianism, or the health concerns. I'm a vegetarian, and I have thoughts about the ethics, as well as health concerns of one's diet. That said, I'm not a vegetarian because of ethics or health. I'm a vegetarian because of maths. Frankly, western meat-centric diets are incredibly inefficient; it takes way more energy/water to produce meat than is reasonably sustainable in the long term. I don't think people should necessarily all be vegetarians, but until a decent number of people start skipping meat more often, we're on an unsustainable path.

This really isn't true, for a host of reasons;

1> We aren't running out of space/resources. The issue with food and population size is distribution and logistics, not production. The world can handle a lot more people in terms of food production. Where we're falling apart is distribution, and that's something we can work on.

2> People who do these mathematical analyses do so using false assumptions. For instance, they presume that every calorie a cow or chicken eats could have been eaten by a human instead, and thus the inefficient conversion of those calories into meat is deemed "bad". The truth is that livestock emerged as a way to convert inedible material into edible meat. Humans can't eat hay. Cows can eat hay, and we can eat cows. Nor can we just stop growing hay; crop rotations are important for soil maintenance, and there's plenty of existing food crops, like corn stalks, that humans don't eat which livestock can. This is what livestock are meant to do; convert matter humans can't eat into meat we can eat. They aren't taking human-edible food out of the mouths of people. The only reason we end up feeding them high-quality corn and such is if there's a glut on the market or something. Otherwise, we're feeding them the stuff that's meant for feed corn in the first place. If it were truly inefficient, livestock would've never become so critical to subsistence farming.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I don't because I don't mind meat.

[Elegiac]

There's no need to be a jerk about it. I don't look down on people who eat meat. Personal preference ought to be just that: personal preference.

I have the right to judge whom I please.

[Brachamul]

1> We aren't running out of space/resources. The issue with food and population size is distribution and logistics, not production. The world can handle a lot more people in terms of food production. Where we're falling apart is distribution, and that's something we can work on.

We are running out of one of our most important resources : a stable climate.

World beef production produces more greenhouse gases than transportation.
More than SUVs or planes. And we're not counting pigs, chickens or sheep.
That is my main argument for being vegetarian, and it is a strong argument.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...use-hamburger/

It is untrue that vegetarian diets are more expensive. Fruit and vegetables are only expensive out of season. The vegetarian diet is typically cheaper than a meat-eater one.

I don't believe in preaching, but I do believe in explaining.

[3DTyrant]

If I was a vegetarian, then no I wouldn't, but for someone to come up to me and start saying "stop eating meat, blah blah blah" kinnndaaa makes me want to tell them to shut it, and then hit them, fair game if they ARE vegetarian and don't mind that I eat meat, just the ones that try telling you what to and what not to eat

[Deleted]

That's how some diseases arose. Cow X beef -> mad cow disease.

Erm... Where exactly are you pulling this info out of? Seeing as it's simply not true. Also, cow = beef.

[Moralgy]

Okay, let me adress them.

1) Because the way some vegetarians and vegans paint up the issue about eating meat is simplistic and do not make any sense when analyzing how the world actually functions. Sure, you can have a problem with how animals are treated on some farms, and that humans can in fact be very cruel to them (something I personally despise). However, that doesn't make the act of killing for food an immoral act. It is in fact a necessity. There is a difference between torturing animals and killing them for survival.

2) I happen to come from a family of farmers who have to deal with animals on a regular basis. I can tell you outright that we don't live in a vacuum where we have our stuff to ourselves and animals keep themselves to their own personal food supplies. Whether you like it or not, animals and humans do compete for food. If in fact every human was to eat only green food, then we would have to expand our land just to supply everyone with the stuff. Which in turn would lead to less room for animals to get food, which means they would have to eat from us to survive. At least if humans eat meat as well we don't have to directly compete with all herbivores who need to eat green food. Not to mention that it keeps certain animal populations down so that they don't start competing with themselves as well for their limited food sources.

3) I like my meat. Preaching about how it is immoral is just going to make me roll my eyes for various reasons. Some of them mentioned here.

4) What's the issue here? I'm simply stating I don't have a direct problem with vegetarians or vegans as long as they don't bother me about it by putting their own personal decision onto a pedestal. I obviously don't agree with it, so nagging on about it is just going to annoy me.

1) I do find the act of killing something to consume it immoral if you can gain the same nutrients in other ways. End something with a consciousness's life because you prefer the taste over a plant is simply immoral to me. We no longer live in a hunter/gather society where resources are limited. So eating animals is not a necessity at this point, it is a luxury that is overused in most 1st world countries, especially here in the United States. Hell, my 7 year old cousins eat more meat per day than the average adult did in the early 1900s.

2) That would not be a problem because if no one ate meat, the populations of said animals would not be anywhere near as high as it is currently. The land would be used to grow food and the large amount of food that goes into feeding the animals could be distributed among starving people.(I am sure they will take what ever they can get.) Of coarse everyone can't just suddenly stop eating meat, it would have to be an over-time thing.

3) I can make shit taste great with the right seasonings, and give it to the right person and they can make a pile of crap taste like a cheeseburger, chicken, or anything really. When I switched to veggie burgers, I barely noticed a difference in the veggie burger and all but one cheeseburger I had ever eaten.

4) No, the way you worded it made it sound as though you have a problem with them if they don't agree with what you think.

I don't care if you eat meat, but you are no better than the "preachy" vegans and vegetarians you want to complain about.

[the game]

Vegetarians are hypocrits imo. They claim to not eat things that come from animals. However there wouldn't be vegetables without animal poop to fertilize it.

[Daerio]

It is possible. The same way in which it's possible for you to eat lettuce, apples, or anything besides corn and beef. I buy a lot of my meat online rather than locally. I can understand the expense issue. It is a lot more expensive and when I first switched exclusively to natural humanely raised meat I was astounded at the cost. It's a matter of priorities though ad I shop less and spend less on other things. You can either pay the farmer or the doctor!

I'm not sure I'm so comfortable with having my meat mailed to me from somewhere I've never been, and accept that it IS actually safe without confirmation. Not just the additional cost associated, but also none of the peace of mind I should be expecting.

[Vizardlorde]

Erm... Where exactly are you pulling this info out of? Seeing as it's simply not true. Also, cow = beef.

He meant feeding cows dead cows. He didnt pull anything out of anywhere cause that actually aided the propagation of the madcow disease.

[Frozenbeef]

I do it jokingly like poor bambi or poor babe but never seriously :P Also I do feel bad when i eat beef/bacon however not so much for chicken,turkey,salmon,tuna etc..

[Itisamuh]

I've never actually known a vegetarian that did preach, but if they did, I'd likely just laugh and order a steak. And someone else already said it, but the ones I really don't understand are the ones that swear they won't touch meat, but eat fish. Regardless though, I don't question their choice of food unless it's in a light hearted and joking manner (and even then only if I know them well enough to know they won't get offended) so I do expect the same courtesy.

[Moralgy]

Vegetarians are hypocrits imo. They claim to not eat things that come from animals. However there wouldn't be vegetables without animal poop to fertilize it.

That would be vegans you are trying to make a joke about.

[Vermicious]

I do it jokingly like poor bambi or poor babe but never seriously :P Also I do feel bad when i eat beef/bacon however not so much for chicken,turkey,salmon,tuna etc..

Do you sob little tears when eating a hamburger? Just curious

[the game]

That would be vegans you are trying to make a joke about.

No I'm saying that vegetables are indeed an "animal product." Due to the need to fertilize them with animal manure.

[Moralgy]

No I'm saying that vegetables are indeed an "animal product." Due to the need to fertilize them with animal manure.

That would still be vegans you are trying to make a joke about, not vegetarians.

[Endus]

World beef production produces more greenhouse gases than transportation.
That is my main argument for being vegetarian, and it is a strong argument.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...use-hamburger/

It's bullshit science, FWIW.

Animals fart. They've been farting for millions of years. Some of the air you're breathing now was once a dinosaur fart. The ecosystem takes advantage of all this, and there are natural processes which can handle a certain amount of gaseous interchange. An obvious one is that animals tend to consume oxygen and excrete CO2, whereas plants do the reverse. There are others, for things like methane.

What humans are putting out is tipping that balance, by laying a certain amount of additional greenhouse gases on top of the naturally-occuring ones.

Agricultural livestock aren't the major factor people make them out to be, because agricultural land was not always agricultural. Sure, there's a lot of cows in the US. According to a quick Google, about 90 million. The issue with that number is it discounts the number of wild animals that used to inhabit the same terrain. There used to be close to that number of wild buffalo, prior to European expansion. And that's without counting deer and such, too. We've changed the species profile, but you'd need to factor in that wildlife to determine what the actual effect of agricultural livestock was on total emissions. I'd venture it's close to a moot point, overall.

[Aalyy]

We are running out of one of our most important resources : a stable climate.

World beef production produces more greenhouse gases than transportation.
More than SUVs or planes. And we're not counting pigs, chickens or sheep.
That is my main argument for being vegetarian, and it is a strong argument.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...use-hamburger/

It is untrue that vegetarian diets are more expensive. Fruit and vegetables are only expensive out of season. The vegetarian diet is typically cheaper than a meat-eater one.

I don't believe in preaching, but I do believe in explaining.

This is not an argument against eating meat. It's an argument against CAFCO farming practices.

[Kurioxan]

Nope, in order for me to eat for reasonable amounts of money animals have to die. There's nothing more to it. Not only are vegetables more expensive, but if everyone went vegetarian the prices would be ridiculous.

vegetables are more expensive? er... where O_o besides you can grow them quite easily and cheaply.

No dont preach it. people have the right to chose what they want, even if its not the best for them.
I lost most taste for meat over the years, never really tried to be vegetarian but slowly shifted that way, albeit i am not a vegetarian i dont really eat meat that much, from meat i eat, its mostly fish, duck and chicken, about twice a week.