This would be true if the foods weren’t so extremely far apart in terms of efficiency. The least efficient legumes are still much more efficient than the most efficient beef, per gram of protein. Please see table one in the largest meta study ever done on the topic below, constituting 38,700 farms and 90% global calories consumed (also included in the documentary): https://globalsalmoninitiative.org/files/documents/Reducing-food’s-environmental-impacts-through-producers-and-consumers.pdf
I would agree with you if the metrics were even close. Beef being like 100 times less efficient than legumes in many metrics makes it absolutely clear it’s better to grow legumes than beef, regardless if people want to consider, say, leather as a waste product.
You’ve got this! There are a ton of benefits to going plant-based. Dominion is a great documentary to show how most (~90%) are treated, which emphasizes the importance for us to shift away (it doesn’t sound like the way you did it was as bad as this, but this is the info that made me swap away recently).
I’m vegan btw. The meme is making fun of people who eat for taste pleasure and not any other type :)
Note that an estimated 90% of global farm animals are factory farmed, and are fed monocrops like corn and soy that humans can eat. It’s about 10 times more efficient to eat the plants directly than the animals due to Trophic Levels, so if you’re worried about plants feeling pain you’d reduce their pain by eating them directly instead of their inefficient middlemen.
The study is a meta study over 38,700 farms constituting 90% of global calories consumed though; would this still be considered a single metric? I’m looking for something else I can send to people if not this.
Thanks for your feedback! Would you have a better source that I could refer to?
Thank you! It’s been fun so far! :)
Hey! I made this content and was made aware of Lemmy by a friend two days ago. I decided to join and wanted to enter with a bang by sharing some of my OC.
Hi! This documentary touches on personal as well as systematic change, so it’s not blaming the ordinary person. It also focuses on the other areas of sustainability, such as deforestation, land use, fresh water use, biodiversity loss, and ocean dead zones. It acknowledges it’s far behind burning fossil fuels for emissions.
Definitely give it a watch!
Hey! Have you had a chance to watch the documentary? It touches on both personal and systematic opportunities to reduce our impact of food.
Also, some industries are so wasteful and resource-intensive that there’s really not a good way to reduce our impact to reasonable levels, other than swapping away from that food. For example, studies show that rearing cattle for meat is extremely inefficient, even on the most-efficient farms, when compared to things like legumes, per gram of protein.
A great source (other than the documentary) to demonstrate this: Reducing food’s environmental impact through producers and consumers
Eating Our Way to Extinction takes us on an adventure to multiple different countries, exploring the impacts of our eating choices on our climate and the environment. With Kate Winslet narrating, beautiful drone footage, and an original score, it’s the most powerful documentary on the environment I’ve ever seen.
For those that have seen it - what did you think?
Eating Our Way to Extinction takes us on an adventure to multiple different countries, exploring the impacts of our eating choices on our climate and the environment. With Kate Winslet narrating, beautiful drone footage, and an original score, it’s the most powerful documentary on the environment I’ve ever seen.
For those that have seen it - what did you think?
I’d be interested to see if this strategy works the other way around
Sources:
Tool: Microsoft Excel