> The text of this article is about how mass farming of meat is bad  
> for the environment, not that eating meat is bad for the  
> environment. If eating meat alone was bad for the environment, then  
> eradicating all carnivores would solve our global warming problem, no?

It is true that locally raised meet likely has negligible negative  
impact and that the real problem is mass farming of meat, but I think  
even very environmentally conscious meat eaters are unlikely to  
always eat "good" meat.

> To change the topic slightly, your article reminded me of a very  
> interesting essay by Jared Diamond (the "Guns, Germs, and Steel"  
> guy) claiming that farming was the worst mistake humanity ever made:

While farming may not also be perfect, it is by far the lesser evil  
to eating meat.  Consider we have to feed 10 people for 1 year.  Then  
think about how much land and resources you would need to feed them a  
meat eating diet.  Each animal they eat will need a tremendous amount  
of resources to raise that animal to be eaten.	Then consider if  
those 10 people were vegetarians.  The amount of land and resources  
needed to feed them would be drastically smaller.

It's just more efficient to be vegetarian.

I think I just discovered my short answer to when people ask me why  
I'm vegetarian, "It's just more efficient."

Best,
Josh





> On Wed, 24 Jan 2007, Robert Felty wrote:
>
>> Really great article about how eating meat is bad for the  
>> environment. Thanks to Clare for pointing it out to me.
>> You can read it at:
>> http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0120-20.htm
>>