AquaticDiapers said:
I cut out meat. Turns out it has a huge carbon and water footprint, and production results in a lot of deforestation. Something like fifteen percent of global emissions are directly related to animal agriculture, and it's the single biggest bad environmental thing most people do. Between that, switching my car for one that gets 35mpg, and a few other minor things, I've more than offset even 24/7 hogwild diaper usage, which I don't do either, haha. Seriously though, cutting out meat is the single best thing you can do to reduce your impact, even just for peace of mind it's good.
Thanks AquaticDiapers for your post.
This is an interesting thread. I think most people on this planet really do want to care for it, as it is our home and we don't want to trash it out so we no longer have a decent place to live. Anything that we can do to help the environment, no matter how small does add up to make a difference, especially if done by a lot of people over a large period of time.
The one thing I would caution here, is that sometimes general ideas without understanding the full context of them may sometimes result in activities that while seemingly done to help out the environment, may not always be as intended.
This stated, I am going to share forthright, that I am a real life cowboy and raise livestock for consumption as an agricultural product. Hence, my viewpoint is coming from such, and likely may differ from what you may have read elsewhere.
As evident in most acknowledged scientific studies, a balance diet of fruits, vegetables, meats, and so forth, as given in the healthy diet triangle, is what we as humans and our metabolisms are supposed to have. Meats are often towards the top of the triangle and not as the same percentage as whole grains and such, but they are an essential component of getting the protein and specific other nutritional components our organisms require.
Folks can choose how they meet their nutritional needs, but the fact is that we are omnivores, that's just nature's reality.
So having said that, it certainly is one's choice, but there is lots of false science out there about the costs to the environment in regards to production of meat. For instance, the animals I raise are on lands that are not otherwise suitable for crop production, and would result in dangerous levels of uncontrolled vegetative growth that can easily result in catastrophic wildfires.
What are the dangers of such smoke and atmospheric release of carbon and greenhouse gasses when such devastating events occur? Reducing these vegetative fuels through grazing and production of a beneficial source of food and nutrition could arguably be noted as a huge benefit to the environment rather than the risk of wildfire and the devastating amount of erosion and sedimentation into streams and rivers that occurs after a wildfire event.
Are there threats to the environment from production of meat. Certainly, yes. But likewise the same for production of any agricultural commodity. So my point is not to create an argument, but rather hopefully a source of education that there is a lot more going on and one cannot say that consumption of meat is bad for the environment. The truth is that it depends on how it is produced, and what a ll takes place.
There is no question that there is more deforestation that occurs in creating homes and harvest of wood products for timber, and expansion of urban populations than for production of lands suitable for grazing. Often, as urban sprawl continues, there is the "last crop" which is taking otherwise productive farmland of orchards and crops into housing and concrete and asphalt jungles where no longer any such harvest of sustainable food products occurs.
Sorry for the lengthy post, but this is from personal experience. The location I grew up as a child was finally bulldozed over and townhomes and shopping centers now exist. Where once four generations of my family raised crops and livestock, there is now a Walmart and strip mall of businesses and asphalt parking lots. There are townhomes and a supersized Maverick convenience store, and fast food joints and there is no sign of anything that is being produced for food and subsistence. Just the stores and outlets that sell such items from the increasingly limited places that produce them.
I guarantee you that the once vibrant grasslands and healthy environment of trees and plants and living things that were raised for the benefit of humanity, were tons better for the environment than the toxic environment of cars burning hydrocarbons and the electricity to power the movie theaters and the shopping malls and outlets for entertainment and such.
Hence, my point is, don't take everything you read to be truth.
Take a careful look around you and determine for yourself as to what is really affecting the environment. If you want to come out and take a tour of the TeddyBearCowboy ranch vs going for a drive in downtown suburbia or any city anywhere, I think you will see a heck of a difference in what protecting and caring for the environment is than what you may read in Life or Newsweek magazine. Nature is very much more natural here than the environment which most live today.
I would gladly drink freely from any of the runoff waters of my ranch than to risk drinking the water from the runoff of storm drains and curbs and gutters from any city or urban location. The livestock on my ranch are cared for probably better than the majority of human populations on this planet. With careful attention to their health and well being. They receive a diet that meets all of their nutritional needs and is not polluted with caffeine, or fats, or salts and the stuff that most humans willingly take into their bodies every day. They receive almost daily health examinations and are immunized against all sorts of diseases, including coronavirus! If they have an ailment, they are promptly treated and cared for.
Anyhow, I digress deeply and apologize.
As you shared in your post, you are concerned about the environment, and again, I applaud you for that. We all need to be taking care of our home and ensuring it is available for us and future generations. But I share all of this lengthly narrative in the hopes that folks don't get lost in paths that they think are doing something altruistic, when they very opposite may be the reality. We all have to look at the facts and then decide for ourselves.
. There's a neat and interesting novel that has some lore about the relationship between birds and trees, "Raven's End" by Ben Gadd, one of my favorite books.
Instead of drinking bottled water, I use quality Nalgene water bottles filled with spring water I bottle myself.
