Indian Pirates should campaign against the use of meat as a food source
Meat as a food source for humans is unsustainable at a world population size of 7 billion and climbing.
Animal Agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions - that's more than all vehicle exhaust combined. (United Nations - http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM)
Water Consumption for Animal Agriculture ranges between 34-76 trillion gallons annually.
Livestock or livestock feed occupies 1/3 of the earth’s ice-free land.
Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction.
82% of the world’s starving children live in countries where food is fed to animals that are then killed and eaten by more well off individuals in developed countries.
India produced 2681000 tonnes of meat in 2013 (https://data.gov.in/catalog/stateut-wise-estimates-meat-production).
Beef production consumes on average 4 million gallons of water per tonne.
Vegetable production consumes 85,000 gallons of water per tonne.
We currently grow enough grain on the planet to feed a population of 10 billion - no one needs to be without food.
Alexander Gounder Mon 5 Oct 2015 10:33AM
So are you making a case against Meat or against Beef, the latter has my complete opposition. I think let's not be myopic and hurriedly take sides in the food debate, we need to look deeper into what is consumed by whom and why. Before expecting people to change.
There are greater evils to fight, cigarettes, Processed Foods & even Kinder Joy (I hate that damn thing).
Pirate Vik Mon 5 Oct 2015 11:07AM
@alexandergounder I am making the case against meat on the basis of sustainability as a food source. This is not isolating any one meat product. I guess I am trying to make the case based on science and statistics rather than ideology or religion (which seems to be grabbing all of the headlines!)
athul george appadan Mon 5 Oct 2015 2:43PM
The problem has to be viewed from multiple perspectives. As @praveenarimbrathod said, some of the most vulnerable sections of the society depend on meat for their diet. We also have to think whether we can have a situation where the food prices (especially vegetable prices) sky rocketting on one side, and trying to discourage non-vegetarian diet on the other side. I don't think we can address the latter without solving the former.
Pirate Vik Mon 5 Oct 2015 3:01PM
@athulgeorgeappadan Vegetable prices are rocketing due to insufficient supply. Insufficient supply because much more resources are taken up by animal agriculture. These two problems are linked - take out one and you solve the other. I cannot fathom how vulnerable or poor people are surviving on meat when it costs so much more than vegetables to produce.
I think the real culprit of high priced vegetables is likely lack of resource - as that resource is being used for meat export.
athul george appadan Mon 5 Oct 2015 4:51PM
@vik I would like to disagree on the assumption that the rocketing vegetable prices is because of lack in supply. Eventhough it is a plausible case, many reports hae come in ecent times which suggest otherwise.
http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/tZuQGCgP3Ldcf5fPITMHcI/The-curious-case-of-rising-onion-prices.html
[deactivated account] Mon 5 Oct 2015 5:14PM
@vik : great observation! .. Had no idea that animal agriculture could cause greenhouse emission. Its quite interesting. Downloaded the pdf from the link you provided. Think you might have any links to videos related to what you are talking about?
edit: found it - COWSPIRACY Documentary full : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06yX3rjgLSo
If you dont wanna watch the 1.5 hr long documentary :
http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/
[deactivated account] Mon 5 Oct 2015 5:19PM
@vik: im quite surprised how this never made it to mainstream media .. or did it?
Pirate Vik Mon 5 Oct 2015 6:40PM
@arjun watch all of the documentary, it covers exactly why this topic is not mainstream
Pirate Vik Mon 5 Oct 2015 6:49PM
@athulgeorgeappadan so they controlled supply in the case of onions to inflate the price. I take your point and agree that the market is manipulated for short term gains - but the scale of the problem with animal agriculture rather outweighs what traders are doing. I am sure they also manipulate meat prices, people do all sorts to make money! Still, if there were more land perhaps even greater supply would make manipulation more difficult.
Pirate Praveen · Mon 5 Oct 2015 10:28AM
I support campaign to stop exporting meat. I'm still studying the issue from different perspectives. The data seems compelling but we need to consider other angles as well. Even if we stop eating meat, does that ensure poor people get food? The root cause of the issue for me is the current system that guarantee ad sustain inequalities. Also it should be a more nuanced approach, starting from the most severe and per capita consumption, cost of balanced veg-only diet etc.