Live data from Hacker News

Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger

e360.yale.edu

41–50 of 295 posts

Re: Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger

#41
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That's essentially what we do with cows. Do you see the hypocrisy? We don't inflict this on humans so why do it to other creatures which can know terror and pain just as we do?

I wouldn't eat beef if it was raised in those conditions but it doesn't reflect the reality of most British beef rearing operations. Most British beef is fed predominantly a forage based diet, outside in pasture except during the winter months and perhaps during the period before slaughter where they are flattened up.

Re: Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger

#43
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now chopping and burning down the amazon to create grazing land for cattle? yeah that's going to probably kill us all. How? I mean, I'm not a fan of destroying forests, etc, but around here, there is no unmanaged land so presumably all the forests were already burnt etc for farmers... But we're all around, right? I don't get how burning the Amazon for food people want will actually kill us.

Because the rainforest is important in regulating global temperature and oxygen production, much more so than the (probable) temperate climate forests you are from. You are living in a post destruction area, with new forests planted to supplement the destruction that was there before. Most of these forests aren't more than 70 years old, that's about when we finally made an effort to fix how badly we totally fucked up…

I didn't shoot myself in the foot.

Someone around here did clear the forests for farmland... and people are doing ok.

Its not that everyone died, as the comment I responded to said.

Re: Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beef in itself is not bad for the environment. It's the scale of demand that is bad. And that demand is fueled by the combined effects of global population growth and global increase in standards of living. We tend to stop at the symptoms instead of going after the root cause.

Agreed. Check out /r/keto and /r/zerocarb for some great research about the natural human diet. Humans have eaten beef (exclusively even) for billions of years.

Humans have only existed for about 300,000 years. Cows are about 10,000 years old.

Re: Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger

#45
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

North America (and the US) is greener than 20 years ago. Europe is greener than 20 years ago. Asia is greener than 20 years ago. Africa is greener than 20 years ago. The entire planet is greener than 20 years ago. It has nothing to do with people planting trees and everything to do with Co2 being what plants eat.

Fully agree. The world was greenest during the Carboniferous when avg temps were 0 above modern levels and CO2 was 800ppm.

That's my understanding as well: more carbon dioxide -> more green.

Re: Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger

#46
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Beef in itself is not bad for the environment. It's the scale of demand that is bad. Wasting crops feeding cattle is inherently worse than the alternative, feeding directly on the crops and avoiding the wasting of calories when going up one trophic level.

That's an uneeded "optimisation". There is nothing wrong with eating meat and breeding cattle. Again, the issue is that the environment has a limited, finite capacity, which we exceed when we are 10 billion with good standards of living. To reduce quality of life (because it's not limited to meat, it's comprehensive restrictions) simply to accomodate ever more humans on the planet is madness and unsustainable, anyway…

If you think there are too many people, remember that you are people.

Re: Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger

#47
post #40
post #34

I grew up on a (very) small farm - so I knew where all the meat we ate (and eggs, apple, plums and jam) came from. One of the things I find most disconcerting as an adult is the disconnect with the food I eat. Even the local 'farmer butcher' - I don't actually know if the meat they sell me is what they say it is. I buy a lot of deer from a friend of a friend as it feels slightly more known to me - even if I have no i…

Isn’t selling venison against the law?

Yeah you're on a site called hackernews quit being a dork

Re: Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger

#48
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That's essentially what we do with cows. Do you see the hypocrisy? We don't inflict this on humans so why do it to other creatures which can know terror and pain just as we do?

Most of the human suffering in this concept comes from being able to think, compare and ideas about the good life and then those thoughts create the suffering. The actual physical suffering is limited, although present.

Cows can‘t do that and don‘t have the point of reference to compare. I doubt even humans could unless they are raised to be taught all the cultural norms and what‘s good and bad.

Re: Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger

#49
post #40
post #34

I grew up on a (very) small farm - so I knew where all the meat we ate (and eggs, apple, plums and jam) came from. One of the things I find most disconcerting as an adult is the disconnect with the food I eat. Even the local 'farmer butcher' - I don't actually know if the meat they sell me is what they say it is. I buy a lot of deer from a friend of a friend as it feels slightly more known to me - even if I have no i…

Isn’t selling venison against the law?

Which law, where?

Please don't assume that everyone here lives in the same city/state/country/continent as you.

Re: Tracking Illicit Brazilian Beef from the Amazon to Your Burger

#50
post #40
post #34

I grew up on a (very) small farm - so I knew where all the meat we ate (and eggs, apple, plums and jam) came from. One of the things I find most disconcerting as an adult is the disconnect with the food I eat. Even the local 'farmer butcher' - I don't actually know if the meat they sell me is what they say it is. I buy a lot of deer from a friend of a friend as it feels slightly more known to me - even if I have no i…

Isn’t selling venison against the law?

Depends which jurisdiction. It’s legal in the UK if you have a license and I think it has to be professionally butchered and labelled at a registered slaughterhouse.
Post reply on HN