What would happen if everyone stopped eating meat tomorrow?
What would happen if everyone stopped eating meat tomorrow?
“It would have huge consequences — a lot of them probably not anticipated,” one researcher said.
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It’s a bit ridiculous to write an article about everyone everywhere stopping animal product consumption all at once. That has no basis in reality. I would love to see the world shift as close to veganism as possible. Fact is this sort of shift takes a conscious effort by everyone to make a cultural and personal change in lifestyle. I’ve been vegan for a decade and haven’t met one other close personal family member or friend who was willing to make the change. We’re too far down the rabbit hole with regards to climate change to expect a massive shift when many individuals still deny the existence of the problem. My daughter’s generation are fucked. It makes me terribly sad that my generation and previous governing generations have done next to nothing to help. All I can hope is she doesn’t have to suffer during her lifetime.
In theory this kind of article could convice people to go vegan by showing how much good it would do. Well, in theory, the articles goes on like "Scientists agree: Let's not do that.".
Some workers might be drawn into agriculture to grow more crops like legumes. That shift in labor, some researchers hypothesize, could slow economic growth by pulling people out of more profitable industries.
Economic growth is more important than the climate. Also, what. If in theory everyone went vegan (which is what the article hypothesises), how would meat be a more profitable industry.
It's a stupid point anyway workers are going to go to whoever pays the most. If you want to keep them in the more profitable industries pay better.
I hear you loud and clear. I too am a parent, and I too am vegan. So many people I know would never switch, because of x or y excuse. They see it as their right, even though the world is burning. I hope my children get a chance to live as adults, but it is everyday decisions like these that make me think their generation will suffer even worse than ours
The article pretty clearly is about how we can phase out meat in a more controlled and practical way, it just uses the thought experiment of what happens if it all goes as a starting point.
Obviously the concept of quitting cold tofu (you're welcome, PETA.) overnight is ridiculous, but the article has some interesting insights about what is reasonable and how different countries disproportionately burden the environment.
I found these two bits particularly interesting, from a US-Centric perspective.
It might be easier for the average American, who eats about 220 pounds of red meat and poultry each year, to trade a daily hamburger for a bowl of lentils than for someone in rural sub-Saharan Africa, who eats 10 times less meat, to give up the occasional goat or beef stew for something less nutritious. Such a shift in beef-loving countries also might reduce heart disease and cancer linked to eating a lot of red and processed meat.
Dutkiewicz suggested using guidelines established by the EAT-Lancet Commission, an international group of scientists who have designed a diet intended to give people the nutrients they need without destroying the planet. It consists of roughly 35 pounds of meat per year. Adopting that diet would require a drastic reduction of cows and chickens in countries like the United States, Australia, China, Brazil, and Argentina, and a slight increase in parts of Africa and South Asia.
Getting people to go from 220 lbs of meat per year to 35 is not going to be easy but feels like a lot easier thing to point to for those reluctant to give up meat - 35 lbs feels like thinking of meat as a special occasion dish, not a monster that should be avoided at all costs.
I definitely see the cause of frustration and despair, but I find articles like this one help me in having frank, educated conversations with friends and family.