BNguyen said:
1) you only proved my point, we feed cows pretty much what we can eat. For cows to not starve, we'd be competing for the same food source, although we do have other options, cows still eat much more than we do and their diet could spill over into our food sources.
2) the market may adapt but the processes are not so quick as to just shut down and that'd be it, first, you have to create the market and introduce it in such a way as for everyone to want to switch over, to do so would take years
3) plenty of the animals we raise for food do not consume what we do, pretty much what we leave over from the plants, but what we are capable of eating and digesting from plants is so little that we would have to produce crops on a much larger scale to be able to feed everyone. You don't seem to grasp that we are not herbivorous and cannot completely digest entire plants, only a small portion of that is edible and even then we can't completely digest it.
4) I'm not just talking about farmed animals, I'm talking about every animal we work to control to prevent such events as population booms and starvation from occurring. Vegans and vegetarians want animals to live long and relatively comfortable lives (I use the word comfortable because we all know not every animal is born completely healthy and capable) and that's a fine notion, but if we were to let these animals continue on without control, we would be competing with them and ultimately having to remove them (possibly causing them to starve) in order to meet society's demands for an all plant diet.
5)again you missed my point that we evolved into what we are with the aid of our diet, which consisted of meat. It means that 1) we are capable of changing now due to the evolutionary changes we made in the past, 2)without those changes made in the past, we could not make the changes now. It is only a point, not truly an excuse
6) do you even check prices at the store? High quality vegetables and fruits cost way more than a package of meat. And with the economy as it is, not everyone can afford to just switch over like you would want them to do, so yes, this argument can apply to First World countries as long as there is a poor class which can't make enough money to feed their family.
Growing a garden (with all that entails) or picking up enough greens at the store costs way more than a package of meat.
Take into fact that growing crops is not as easy as raising animals.
You have to worry about disease, pests, fungus, rot, the fact that the earth might not have enough nutrients to produce quality and edible food.
You also have to supply fertilizer, supplimental nutrients for better growth (aside from fertilizer), sufficient amounts of water, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides to prevent destruction of the crop, and sufficient amounts of land to produce enough food.
Raising animals on the other hand doesn't require as much since 1) the animals (not always) eat parts of plants and even whole plants that humans cannot, too many plants have silica in their foliage that would wear down human teeth
2) raising a flock or herd of animals is less time consuming and overall takes less effort to ensure a good end product than a crop
Most of the time, you have to wait several months to get food from a crop and it is not always guaranteed that the produce will be good, free of damage or poison, or even that the plant might produce at all
I support the eating of meat just so we are clear. What I can't stand is misinformation.
1)Um cows are feed mainly corn by the beef industry cause it make cows extra fat. This is not the food source the evolved to eat. Cows are meant to eat grass, Humans can not eat grass because you lack the physiology to do so. Therefore, humans would not be competing with cows over the same food source.
3) Uh what? This is just crazy talk. The main food source of hunter gathers was plant matter. We are capable of eating a stunning amount of plant matter. I could write a list a mile long of all the shit we can eat. The simple fact is growing vegetables for human consumption more effectively feeds people than growing food for livestock that is a fact. It takes 6 pounds of corn to produce one pound of beef. That is a horribly ineffective use of resources.
4) This is true. Goats are a great example of livestock that eats all kids of crazy plants that people can not eat. Unfortunately in the United States anyhow they are horribly under underutilized. It is also true that Human are not Herbivores, but you are completely and totally underestimate human ability to eat plants, and lack understanding of farming in general.
5) Fat obtained from animal products was what was important to early hominids. It provided the calories needed to fuel larger brains. The need for fat was a result of evolution. Eating meat did not make Hominid grow bigger brains. We are evolved to eat certain things I just don't think you understand how that process occurred.
6) I am not sure you check the prices at the store. At local stores high quality ground beef is around 4 dollars a pound. I can by quite a few more vegetables for the same cost. Now beef is actually high in my area but even at a more reasonable price of around 3 dollars a pound vegetables are still cheaper. Even whole chicken at a 1 or 1.50 dollars a pound are still not the cheaper option. Unless you have developed a way to eat bones 15 to 25% of a whole chicken is wasted.
Your closing statement is also utter nonsense. With a increase a mechanized farming it has become ridiculously easy to grow crops. It only takes 1 person to drive a combine harvester.
Also you claim that eating a lot of plants is bad for your teeth this is simple not true. There have been several studies that show that dental health is way worst in American and western European cultures then it is in Cultures that adhere to traditional hunter gather lifestyles. Diets of which contain mostly plant matter and is supplemented with animal product when available. This has to do with more then just the consumption of plant verse meat as western population also consume a lot of refined sugar and heavy processed food not avail to the tribal people surveyed, but it was concluded that tooth wear was actually beneficial as the process that causes it also keeps teeth naturally clean.
In conclusion it my opinions on eating meat verse not is simple. Eating meat is beneficial to humans but being a vegetarian has its perks as well. Doing one of the other is not better and doesn't make you morally superior.
My only problem with the current meat culture is that there is entirely way to much importance placed on meat. It is often seen as the cornerstone to a decent meal. This is a problem. In fact the modern dependance on fat salt and sugar is leading to several major health problems in the United Stated. Diabetes, Obesity, Heart Diseases are relatively new problem in the scope of human evolution. They are directly related to our overuse of meat and processed foods.
