You can't be a meat-eating environmentalist

[Salimar]

Here we are discussing whether it is our fault or not, whether we can fix it or not...

I am with Maelgrim... in the big picture, we are so small and it doesn´t matter.

Others pointed out, it could be just a cycle... the cycle of human existence will probably also pass.

To be so small and to be aware of it... now I will not be able to fart without thinking that I am contributing to human extinction.

Personally, I am old enough... I am not planning to have kids... so it won´t affect me... sometime I wonder why I even care or think about this problem... sometime I wonder whether most people think it won´t affect them... whether our politicians think it won´t affect them... whether the controllers of the world economy think, with money, it won´t affect them...

Salimar

[Salimar]

That point made about cow farts, like if climate change depended only on growing cows or not. But if it contributes, let´s do something!! I think it would be positive to cut down meat consumption. Anyway, why would someone want to eat so much meat, when the quality is going down because of massive production? (I always remember 1984 when the guy says that food is bad and hurts his stomach but nobody remembers how food tasted before). When it is creating health problems because of a massive production? We can still eat meat , much less, for instance once a week (good quality and healthy type) and help on the climate change problem and even fart - cow producers and exporters won´t be happy with this.

They also say that the use of fields to grow corn to be used as fuel is increasing the Methane emissions plus more veggies have to be grown to cover the lack of this corn. So consuming a lot of energy affects in this way.

There is a theory that Chinese rice fields also generate loads of Methane. However, people need to eat.

IMHO, cutting down energy consumption is the priority: cut down the number of valves in our car (after all, there are speed limitations), turn off lights not needed, fly less (I am guilty of this one), promote local economies so we do not have to transport goods so far away, etc.

So why do I keep thinking of this problem? I guess I am in Beijing, with so much pollution and I don´t understand what the excess of technology is helping us on!!

Salimar

[Rosuav]

Do you realise that every time you expend energy, you are contributing to the ultimate heat death of the universe? Stop all movement! Stop everything! But don't die, because that will cause decomposition, which will bring us closer to the heat death. Don't move a muscle though. The more movement you make, the quicker the universe will come to having no usable energy...

Let's not bother about methane production. There's plenty of other environmental notions that we can throw our weight behind. Some sound pretty plausible, but others it'd be impossible (or at least highly impractical) to do anything about.

[Snrrub]

Originally posted by Rosuav
Do you realise that every time you expend energy, you are contributing to the ultimate heat death of the universe?

I don't realize that.

But mainly because it's not true.

[EDIT] I'm pretty tired of these half-wit 'scientific' arguments that are thrown around on T.V. and elsewhere, that attempt to underplay the importance of real problems, or imply that working to solve them is futile. Your totally incorrect characterization of the laws of thermodynamics falls into this category.

[Rosuav]

For the humour-impaired: I was being ever so slightly facetious.