Whilst it is true that Liz Bonnin has had a high profile on TV, she is a respected science-orientated journalist: BA in biochemistry and a Masters in wild animal biology. She didn't preach during the programme. She simply presented the world as it has become with the increasing demand for meat, and questioned the sustainability of that in the long term. As I said at the outset, her presentation was nuanced, there were no quick fixes, and there was much to think about. At least I watched the programme. My comments were informed by what I had seen and, insofar as I was able, understood. I would recommend its being watched in BBC iPlayer. It makes one think . . . . but it doesn't provide simple or simplistic solutions.
The bottom line folks is that there are just too many human beings for this planet to cope with. We have become too efficient and ruthless in plundering resources while giving very belated thought to any long term future. But then that's human nature. We can condemn Brazil for felling the amazon rain forest but they are only doing what us Europeans have been doing for a very long time, the UK being one of the most nature depleted countries in the world. So the word hypocrite comes across very clearly as I watched the programme.
I am a little surprised at the somewhat selfish attitudes of some on this thread. As I have said, I am a true carnivore, but the evidence is clear we cannot eat beef and lamb in the same quantities that I used to. We all need to do our bit to save the planet. We are it's guardians and have a moral responsibility to help.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Anthropogenic CO2 has produced about four times as much warming effect as anthropogenic methane. And only a small fraction of the methane comes from cattle and other animals. So farming animals is almost insignificant compared to fossil fuel burning and other sources of greenhouse gases.
If meat consumption ceased there would clearly be a massive increase in crops required,
Not at all. As was explained in the programme, we grow huge amounts of crops for animal feed. We could feed far more people with the same amount of land, water and labour, if we grew crops that can be fed directly to humans.
Perhaps we should ship this thread over to America, have you seen the amount of beef they eat, huge steaks and burgers 😱 There’s a lot of land that would be impossible to grow crops for humans to eat that will only grow cattle feed. If we give up eating meat, we must surely give up eating chocolate and cakes, made from palm oil. I wouldn’t like to see cows and sheep extinct. Cornwall would become completely reliant on tourist trade, there would have to be houses and holiday complexes built on every bit of it, all the dairy farms converting to tourist trade.
By 2050 they’re predicting 50 billion mouths to feed, perhaps by then we can shift off up to another world. That’s a lot of people on this small planet.
I suppose if we all cut out eating meat we could take an airplane to some far off place just for a day’s business meeting, stag night or lunch, with a clear conscience.
Besides all that, I hate soya milk, and those meat substitute are horrible as well..🤢🤮
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
I was surprised how they kept cattle in the USA but that's why steak is so cheap out there, at least cattle are in the green fields for a good part of the year here.
Posts
At least I watched the programme. My comments were informed by what I had seen and, insofar as I was able, understood. I would recommend its being watched in BBC iPlayer. It makes one think . . . . but it doesn't provide simple or simplistic solutions.
As I have said, I am a true carnivore, but the evidence is clear we cannot eat beef and lamb in the same quantities that I used to.
We all need to do our bit to save the planet. We are it's guardians and have a moral responsibility to help.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
https://www.globalmethane.org/documents/gmi-mitigation-factsheet.pdf
https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/rice-farming-climate-change-global-warming-india-nitrous-oxide-methane-a8531401.html
There’s a lot of land that would be impossible to grow crops for humans to eat that will only grow cattle feed.
If we give up eating meat, we must surely give up eating chocolate and cakes, made from palm oil.
I wouldn’t like to see cows and sheep extinct.
Cornwall would become completely reliant on tourist trade, there would have to be houses and holiday complexes built on every bit of it, all the dairy farms converting to tourist trade.
By 2050 they’re predicting 50 billion mouths to feed, perhaps by then we can shift off up to another world. That’s a lot of people on this small planet.
I suppose if we all cut out eating meat we could take an airplane to some far off place just for a day’s business meeting, stag night or lunch, with a clear conscience.
Besides all that, I hate soya milk, and those meat substitute are horrible as well..🤢🤮
There will still be some meat production, but it has to be sustainable overall... currently what we are doing isn't.