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Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

nytimes.com

121–130 of 143 posts

Re: Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> propaganda from the environmentalism movement of the 70s, which sought to shift the blame for litter Oh really? Keep America Beautiful was conceived, paid for and started by: Philip Morris, Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, and Coca-Cola and others. Then they started shifting blame onto the individual. That was in reaction to Vermont proposing to require deposit and return bottles for drinks, after a surge in single-use packa…

Yes that's what I mean. Phillip Morris and the beverage makers you mention were fighting against the threat of regulations that would prevent them from continuing to pump out non-biodegradable filter cigarettes and single-serve drink containers. We could have had filterless cigarettes and returnable glass-bottle Coke. Instead, Keep America Beautiful was their brilliant idea to redirect the focus onto consumers, away…

Clearly, yet "propaganda from the environmentalism movement" implies, to me, propaganda from actual environmentalists.

I'd call what happened corporate propaganda, "propaganda from the multinationals", or perhaps the first example of greenwashing. I suspect that may explain why you picked up a few downvotes. It certainly distracted me from the real message you were trying to convey.

From your second comment, it's clear we are of similar mindset, and your point very valid. The current popular "theme of the moment" around veganism in the media does seem to have the same smell of someone trying to move the gaze away from the places that would move the dial fastest. Which in this case, of course, is constraining the global food players.

Re: Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm vegetarian and aspire to have a plant-based diet, but I recognize the difficulty in such a diet in a lot of places. With that said, I'm curious why you don't want anyone trying to convince you to change your mind? I don't want to eat meat, and I don't plan to, but if someone had some reasoned arguments as to why I should, I'd listen and decide for myself. I'm not you though, but I am curious what reason(s) you ha…

I love meat and many meat dishes. I would never stop eating them because they're a major part of my life. The question of if I want to change my diet is not one I'm asking myself. It seems weird to have to "debate" that with people. No amount of shaming is going to make me stop loving a good reuben sandwich or a carnitas burrito. I have no problem with other people eating what they choose but don't need to hear other…

Thanks for responding. Very much appreciate it, and I totally understand.

Re: Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe you should just eat properly grazed live stock, might be a lot better than going vegan. https://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_worl...

This is discussed in the article: "Some scientists have suggested that grass-finished beef, if managed properly, can be a more sustainable option: As the cattle graze, they stimulate grass to grow deep roots and pull more carbon into the soil, helping to offset the cows’ climate impact. But, on the flip side, grass-finished cattle also take longer to reach slaughter weight, which means they spend more time burping up…

I'd love to see more research on this, I just wonder who would actually do it.

Re: Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

#124

I know this isnt going to be a popular opinion here, but I'm going to say it anyways -- we are simply not going eat our away out of this climate change problem, and we shouldnt even try, we should focus the efforts in other places Here is the current breakdown of the world's emissions as of 2018: 1. heavy industry (29 percent) 2. buildings (18 percent) 3. transport (15 percent) 4. land-use change (15 percent) 5. the…

>the energy needed to supply energy

Isn't that a rather strange measure to pull out.

Also every source I've seen puts aviation much higher than 1.5%.

Re: Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

#125

I know there will be comments saying that individual action is not enough to combat climate change, or that it's too late for that, but when governments are so slow to act and corporations will only change when their bottom line is at stake, it is left to individuals to take action. Going vegan is simply the right thing to do at this point.

Personally I think that individual action is largely futile. I've also stopped eating meat. I want to be able to look gen Z in the eye when I'm old and say I did everything I could.

I want to be able to look gen Z in the eye when I'm old and say I did everything I could.

Then it won't have been futile.

Re: Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

#126
post #42

When talking about the potency of methane as a greenhouse gas, lifespan of about 20 years. CO2, on the other hand, has a lifespan of around 100 years. Interestingly, rice agriculture generates about as much methane as livestock, and burning biomass (wood) and landfills each generate about half as much methane as livestock.

No one change is going to solve this problem, we are going to have to look at everything.

Re: Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

#127

I know this isnt going to be a popular opinion here, but I'm going to say it anyways -- we are simply not going eat our away out of this climate change problem, and we shouldnt even try, we should focus the efforts in other places Here is the current breakdown of the world's emissions as of 2018: 1. heavy industry (29 percent) 2. buildings (18 percent) 3. transport (15 percent) 4. land-use change (15 percent) 5. the…

I agree with you but I wonder why you discourage changing diet to include less meat. While it has less of an impact it's one of the easier things on that list to directly influence as a single human being. It also has knock on effects and health benefits. We can focus our efforts in multiple places, going vegan won't distract us from the other areas. I won't try to debate you or change your mind however and I agree that the numbers are overwelming, especially when you take into condisderation that carbon emissions are only one part of the planetary boundary system.

Re: Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are special in that we have evolved to be utterly dominant, which gives us privileges and responsibilities other animals don’t share. Also, other animals kill out of necessity. We don’t need to kill to survive at all so why are we justified to do so?

I don't see what dominance has to do with privileges and responsibilities. Besides, humans "dominate" only in a very narrow sense. Most of the biomass on the planet is not human. There are many species of insects and microorganisms that are much more "dominant" than we are. Other animals don't necessarily kill out of necessity. For example, many animals perform surplus killing [1] - I personally know of two dogs who,…

First of all it’s not at all difficult to get plenty of protein from plant sources. You are most likely putting your children at much greater risk by feeding them factory farmed meat than not feeding them meat at all.

I guess for me it just comes from a desire to respect and value all life. It’s in our power to create a world full of unnecessary death and cruelty or without it. Why would we choose the former? I found I became a much kinder and more empathic person when I stopped eating animals. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.

Re: Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

#129

For those that would like to hear a mind blowing discussion about climate (and the earth in general), watch all of the podcasts with Joe Rogan, Randall Carlson and Graham Hancock. They are three hours each and I promise you will learn many things that give perspective on the repeat arguments and confusion about the climate. There are many other podcasts with these gentlemen, but here are three to start with. Joe Roga…

Randall Carlson talks about the "Holy Grail" the actual Holy Grail..... hmmm...

Re: Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is discussed in the article: "Some scientists have suggested that grass-finished beef, if managed properly, can be a more sustainable option: As the cattle graze, they stimulate grass to grow deep roots and pull more carbon into the soil, helping to offset the cows’ climate impact. But, on the flip side, grass-finished cattle also take longer to reach slaughter weight, which means they spend more time burping up…

I'd love to see more research on this, I just wonder who would actually do it.

Links from the article:

http://www.futureoffood.ox.ac.uk/grazed-and-confused

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4494320/

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