Why do people still eat beef when we know it's terrible for Earth?

It turns out in 1961 the American heart Association took bribery money from procter and gamble, who owned and sold "healthier Crisco" cooking oils that weren't high in saturated fat, like beef and other cooking oils were.

The AHA then claimed and pushed that saturated fats caused heart disease.

Problem is, something like 88% of every study done in the past 60 years has found little to no link between heart disease and saturated fats.

So beef, according to most studies, isn't bad for you. The AHA was just crooked and on the take, being paid off to sell Crisco.

Now it is calorie dense and people tend to eat too much of it, but that seems to be a lot of things. Don't eat too much or you get fat. But apparently, you don't have to worry about saturated fats being bad for you.

Why do people drive when they know it's bad for the planet

Is it capitalism?

Best response. Almost everyone alive has a net negative impact on the environment. Maybe that one Indian guy who planted a whole forest by himself gets a pass. We can try to be less negatively impactful depending on our inclinations, resources, and other interests and priorities. Some people may choose vegetarianism, some might buy an electric car or install some solar panels, some might organize politically for a new policy. Some might spend their altruism improving social conditions rather than focusing on the environment. But being ever so slightly less of a negative impact on the environment than your neighbour who has a slightly different set of priorities is hardly a reason to feel morally superior.

So honestly, in your opinion, one of the only ways a vegan can change people's minds is to take them shopping and PAY for their food for them. Amazing, this is a new level of shitty push the blame away behaviour. Pathetic.

We have a vegan infestation unfortunately.

How about we don't engage in reasonable, healthy discussion and instead throw shit?

Potatoes, pasta, bread, legumes, nut butters, vegetables, fruits, jelly, jam; all things that many people already eat with some regularity.

Time and resources are hardly an excuse, you don't have to spend two hours a night preparing some 5 Michelin star meal with the most organic, non-GMO, [insert buzzword] ingredients in order to make better dietary choices, at least not in the first world where we have ample options... Shit, even just reducing your meat intake by 10% is a net harm reduction that adds up.

The slave labor thing is valid to an extent, but not entirely analogous. For better or for worse, modern society is increasingly dependent on technology; folks rely on it, in some form, to find/perform work, pay the bills, stay in contact with friends and family, survive the climate they live in, travel, etc... This isn't typically the case with meat, it's often just carnal desire which results in the death of something to the tune of ~80 billion (with a "B") animals every year that didn't really need to be slaughtered.

People absolutely should be upset about the conditions of workers being exploited anywhere in the world and advocate on their behalf where possible, but our position shouldn't be: "Oh, some bad shit happened over here, so I guess it's fine to allow this bad shit over here to proliferate as well"... just sayin'.

Eating beef is expensive, though. I agree with the rest.

Stop eating meat, it's easy, you change your diet and are healthier.

Honestly stop saying "Your post does more harm to your cause than good because it just makes everyone angry at you"

It's a tired and worn out excuse to avoid saying "I'm lazy and selfish"

I think it's valid that he chose the #1 food source problem to talk about first. Once we fix that, let's discuss #2.

OK, but why not eat less beef and more chicken and herring?

In other words, humans are assholes

the beef industry wouldnt be razing down the amazon forest if no one was buying and eating it, would they?

No corporation pollutes except to produce goods or services for human consumption, or for other businesses that provide goods or services for human consumption.

Every gallon of gas burned is to power a vehicle to move you, or the goods you purchase.

Every natural gas line leads to a house, of a business that sells things to houses.

Theres no such thing as a corporation without consumers, we are where the buck is created, and where the buck stops.

I think your argument works if someone is stealing the beef.

If they are buying it then that is directly funding that "90%".

Because corporations make things based on the demand of those individual people. They don't exist in a vacuum. And they're not going to change because someone on the internet rants about them. Their only incentive is profit

The thing about individual action is that if it works, it all adds up. But if people all blame the corporations, individual action makes no dent in the over 50% of emissions that individuals help make; a self-fulfilling prophecy. And yes, over 50%. Politifact goes into detail about how most emission indeed comes from consumption instead of corporate production.

Corporation polluter the planet, therefore we should be allowed to torture animals. You got it boy

I'm not able to obtain enough protein without meat

How does that work? Isn't egg white pure protein? Surely eating a pile of boiled eggs would give you the same amount of protein as a steak, not counting stuff like cheese and legumes.

Yeah so, the amount of meals is correct. But that's about it. I mean, I can't say about the taste, to each their own, but one kg of cow meat needs two dozen kg of grain.

That's about as inefficient as it gets.

As for the leather, the industry doesn't like products that last a decade, so it isn't actually using the leather in such a way. Industrial leather boots last a year tops.

Finally, pet food is made out of discarded cuts of meat, the uglies, etc. But also lots of cereals, and vegetables.

So we could really afford eating less meat. It isn't good for anything. Not for us, not for the other species (certainly not for the cows, that get often half assed butchered in a hasty way because of quotas and profit), and absolutely not for the ecosystem.

But I guess the taste is all that matters.

Imagine how many people you could feed if we would just eat what we fed the animals!

It's delicious, therefore we should torture it and eat it. People are the worst.

While I acknowledge the concept of a "carbon footprint" is complete BS, beef production does have a very high impact on climate change. Just want to point out that fact. I still eat it from time to time though. Yes, beef is high in protein and tasty.

As an aside, I believe as environmentalists, we shouldn't shame people for doing the "wrong" things IMHO as even the best of us still contribute to the problem in some way. Everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do, and shame doesn't often change minds. Personally, I try to take my own small steps, but I'm not prepared to live like a hermit. I do try to eat meat less often, and I volunteer a considerable amount of time to lobby for more climate friendly policies. This course of action is what works well for me.

You beat me to it.

How would not tolerating look like? Let's start with you as an example, maybe your loved ones too. And maybe look at the horrors of a one child policy in China before we start following that idea again.

Don't ya just love when scumbags try to make ecofascism woke?

Go back to being a terrible dad Ra'as AlGhoul.

omnivore, but i agree

Probably because they do, at least in the realm of dietary choices. Choosing to slaughter billions of sentient creatures every year for food and accessorization, when the majority of us have an abundance of other options, is morally fucked... and this is coming from somebody who eats meat with some frequency.

Just because we like it, or because it's easier, or because it's "tradition" doesn't mean it's morally righteous, it just means we're selfish assholes 💀

When people lash out at vegans it always seems to boil down to some degree of cognitive dissonance... Eat meat and revel in the immorality if you so desire, no one's stopping you; but don't fucking lie to yourself, and don't get butthurt when someone holds a mirror up to your face. The loss of life, environmental impact, and the effects on our own health is enough justification to argue in favor of veganism, vegetarianism, or some other alternative that doesn't result in needless harm.

Don't poke the beast. Paragraphs incoming.

Why does "whatever the fuck you are" have an inferiority complex?

Another issue is that most of us simply won’t be around to experience the consequences

I think most people middle-aged or younger will experience the consequences (in fact, we already are with the increased frequency of severe weather events) it's just that those consequences will get worse over time.

Ethics may not be fully objective, but claiming that they're fully based on emotion is a ridiculous thing to say. You can make ethical arguments based in reason. Pointing to the war and saying "see, ethics aren't real" is an incredibly naïve conclusion to draw.

? I think you can safely get rid of a slow cooker as there is no need for this when you cool with veggies...

go make your government ban beef

I would get them to end all subsidies for the beef industry if I could. Unfortunately I'm not in control of that, all I can do is bring up discussion, and I got you to comment, so I succeeded.

What if rolling coal were a sandwich?

We only eat the fascist cows. And the homophobic chickens at Chick-fil-A.

The major contributors only sell what people buy. They won't stop so long as there's money to be made. And most plants grown for food go to feed animals.

You don't like plants because you're a big baby.

So yeah, your arguments suck.

"We" are informed individuals who care about proven scientific facts.

"Know" is the fact that methane is a strong greenhouse gas.

No, when it comes to something factually proven time and time again. Anyone can "know" anything but that doesn't mean they're correct.

I've gone through many mind changing events in my life time, so has everyone else.

No, they don't. I used to smoke, nicotine is a fucking removed of a drug, somehow I managed to quit using vaping and nicotine gum over 2 years. Beef is not an addictive chemical. You must never have experienced nicotine drug, what a naive ass comment to make.

I have food sensitivities which make it so that I can't eat most leafy greens, most legumes, mushrooms, large amounts of carbs....

I'd be on the toilet 24 hours a day if I went vegan.

Good, discussion has gotten stale as fuck on the internet. I don't want to see Lemmy become some censored smooth brained shit pool like Reddit.

This is ignoring the fact that raising a cow for consumption requires ~10 times the amount of crops per calorie compared to just eating the crops directly. Also, I don't think I've heard a single health expert recommend eating more beef - the universal understanding is that red meat consumption is generally a net negative in terms of overall health.

Because pouring vodka in my bowls of cinnamon toast crunch is frowned upon by society.

Honestly, I like the taste of cow's milk. I drink it because I enjoy it. I'm also a sucker for chocolate and milk.

The word you're looking for is omnivores