I heard something to do with Nitrogen and …cow farts(?) I am really unsure of this and would like to learn more.

Answer -

4 Parts

  • Ethical reason for consuming animals
  • Methane produced by cows are a harmful greenhouse gas which is contributing to our current climate crisis
  • Health Reasons - there is convincing evidence that processed meats cause cancer
  • it takes a lot more calories of plant food to produce the calories we would consume from the meat.

Details about the answers are in the comments

  • Skyraptor7@lemmy.worldOP
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    1 year ago

    I guess my only follow up would be that if we reduce our meat consumption to a more sustainable level, that would mean that we would have to replace our protein source with something more sustainable.

    Seafood maybe out of the question as I hear concerns about overfishing as it is.

    I would assume that would leave plant protein, like Peanuts or something similar. Are there other sources of protein that are in development (Also major assumption that Beyond and those other meats are also based on the plant protein)

    • Athena5898@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      well lab grown meat has just recently been approved for sell. So that’s a major thing. But there are a lot of plant protein resources. I’m vegetarian so I eat eggs and some milk. (I actually prefer almond milk, most of my milk consumption probably comes from why protein powder cause I can’t afford the plant protein powders for weight lifting). Now as someone who actually studied nutrition in college, the confusion comes from the fact that people don’t factor amino acids. As my teacher said “You don’t have a protein requirement, you have an amino acid requirement” once you look at it in this way, there are ways around this that we can do, but there are shortcomings as of right now (especially socio-economic) if you cut out eggs. However, it would be pretty easy to add the missing nutrients in other foods the issue comes from good ol classic capitalism issues of “efficiency and money” shit.

      Honestly, some of the biggest problems we face is just a matter of focus and funding in research. There are a lot of solutions and it’s honestly amazing how far we’ve come despite special interest groups (oil, farming trusts, etc) have worked to stunt the growth of things, so you just have to imagine what ecological, vegan, etc tech could do if it hand the same funding and backing as these other sectors. I honestly can’t wait.

    • AngrilyEatingMuffins@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Meat is actually not a good source of protein compared to plant proteins. Meat was a good way of turning stuff we couldn’t eat into stuff we can, but now they just feed livestock grains anyways.

      Lentils have waaaayyyyyy more protein to weight.

    • xapr@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      Yes, pulses like peanuts, beans, lentils, as well as rice and other grains (and a variety of other vegetable sources) are alternative sources of protein. As far as development, the only thing aside from plant-based meat substitutes are the new lab-grown meats that are being developed. Those are actual meat, but grown in a lab instead of on an animal’s body.