If we all turned vegetarian....

[Oppono Astos]

If every human stopped eating meat, what would happen to the species of animals which make up a large part of our everyday diet? Would pigs, cows, sheep, chickens and turkeys etc become extinct? What would be their place in the world if we don't eat them? Is it their destiny to provide us with food? Would they become a wild species, endangered or domesticated?

Is eating meat a responsible thing to continue doing? Are meat eaters helping a species continue to live in this world? Instead of stopping eating meat would it be better to campaign for better conditions for these animals and only eating organic meat?

I'd hate a whole species of animal become extinct just because I couldn't be bothered to speak out on their behalf and press for better conditions for them from birth to slaughter. I was a vegetarian for 10 years by the way...

Animals becoming extinct is a very strange euphemism for animals having to be euthanized.

A parallel would be in Britain during WW2 where the major food chain farm animals had to be destroyed to avoid the inevitable competition for both land and crops that were needed to feed humans - see the current BBC series Wartime Farm.

[King Fluffs]

If we all became vegetarians I'd like to think that we'd let all the animals we would usually eat free.

However, knowing how cruel the human race is, we'd more likely cull 'em.

[Bling]

Animals becoming extinct is a very strange euphemism for animals having to be euthanized.

A parallel would be in Britain during WW2 where the major food chain farm animals had to be destroyed to avoid the inevitable competition for both land and crops that were needed to feed humans - see the current BBC series Wartime Farm.

I'm not talking about the animals being euthanized.....but rather if we stopped eating them, and their numbers gradually reduced due to lack of demand....after many years would those species become extinct?

[Oppono Astos]

I'm not talking about the animals being euthanized.....but rather if we stopped eating them, and their numbers gradually reduced due to lack of demand....after many years would those species become extinct?

What animals are you then referring to? Farm land will have to be turned over to increased arable food/crop production; food chain animals compete for resources that will be needed to feed humankind - economics and reality will dictate that numbers could not be allowed to decline naturally.

[Bling]

What animals are you then referring to? Farm land will have to be turned over to increased arable food/crop production; food chain animals compete for resources that will be needed to feed humankind - economics and reality will dictate that numbers could not be allowed to decline naturally.

I don't think you've quite crasped the original point of this thread, maybe you'd like to re read it from the start and then you'll be clearer on the subject

[Guest]

I don't think you've quite crasped the original point of this thread, maybe you'd like to re read it from the start and then you'll be clearer on the subject

Attempting to reset the discussion to your poorly constructed question - rather than following the logical train of what you propose isn't very constructive.

Br Cornelius

[Bling]

Anyway back to the subject....I personally feel that if this hypothetical scenario was to ever occur, the species we currently consume would be used for other things - such as pig heart valves used in human heart surgery. But the number of these animals would be minute compared to what they are now. I guess some people would keep them as pets, some would go into zoos, and some may just dwindle out.

[+ouija ouija]

I believe that we need to eat meat in order to have a well balanced diet. Humans have been eating meat for thousands if years- you can't just change our diets and expect no health issues to arise. But, that being said, I have been tempted to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle due to all the crap fed to the animals and what is injected into it before we see it on the shelves.

We do not need to eat meat in order to have a well-balanced diet.

The 'health issues' that would arise would be an improvement in the nation's health!

It's my guess we were eating vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruit, a loooooooong time before we started eating meat. Ask yourself: WHICH IS EASIER TO CATCH: A CARROT OR A WILD COW? This tells me that we are natural vegetarians ..... that was our first diet.

[+ouija ouija]

What animals are you then referring to? Farm land will have to be turned over to increased arable food/crop production; food chain animals compete for resources that will be needed to feed humankind - economics and reality will dictate that numbers could not be allowed to decline naturally.

This post relates directly to your original question, Bling. I don't understand why you said he hadn't grasped the question

[Bling]

Edited September 28, 2012 by Bling

[Hippycrite]

What animals are you then referring to? Farm land will have to be turned over to increased arable food/crop production; food chain animals compete for resources that will be needed to feed humankind - economics and reality will dictate that numbers could not be allowed to decline naturally.

80 million acres of farmland is in corn production in the USA, resulting in roughly 11 billion bushels of corn harvested. Most of it is used as animal feed or for ethanol (a by-product of which is also used as livestock feed). Only about a billion bushels are used for human consumption.New farm ground wouldn't have to be discovered, because it's already in use.

[glorybebe]

Factually incorrect.

That is your opinion.

[glorybebe]

We do not need to eat meat in order to have a well-balanced diet.

The 'health issues' that would arise would be an improvement in the nation's health!

It's my guess we were eating vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruit, a loooooooong time before we started eating meat. Ask yourself: WHICH IS EASIER TO CATCH: A CARROT OR A WILD COW? This tells me that we are natural vegetarians ..... that was our first diet.

And why did the vegetarian hominids die out? We can all have our own opinions. You disagree with me, fine, but I had taken a lot of history and have read copious amounts on diets and food allergies due to having them. I have formed my opinion based on the courses and books I have read.

Anyway, Bling, if we just stopped eating those animals, I think that some would be adopted by people who didn't want to see them be disposed of or left to fend for themselves. IMO (in my opinion for those who tell us we are wrong for having them) I wouldn't see a long and happy life for the animals. If they were able to live outside of captivity, I could see them throwing of the ecosystems horribly.

[+ouija ouija]

And why did the vegetarian hominids die out? We can all have our own opinions. You disagree with me, fine, but I had taken a lot of history and have read copious amounts on diets and food allergies due to having them. I have formed my opinion based on the courses and books I have read.

I'm not so sure the vegetarian hominids 'died out', wouldn't it be more likely that as humans worked out how to catch animals and eventually domesticate them, they simply added meat to their diet and then milk, cheese and eggs too?

I too have read copious amounts about diet, over the 40+ years that I have been vegetarian and now vegan. I have formed my opinions from personal experience and observation of other vegetarians and vegans. I brought my son up on a vegetarian(and sugar-free) diet, as did a friend of mine with three children, and all four of them are incredibly healthy and active. My friend's son has recently completed the Iron Man Course(cycling, swimming, running), which is no mean feat!

Just out of interest, my son did not have any immunisations/vaccinations until he was well into his teens (when he made his own decision about one)

And yes, you can just stop eating meat one day without any ill-effects.

[+ouija ouija]

I believe that we need to eat meat in order to have a well balanced diet. Humans have been eating meat for thousands if years- you can't just change our diets and expect no health issues to arise. But, that being said, I have been tempted to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle due to all the crap fed to the animals and what is injected into it before we see it on the shelves.

Factually incorrect.

That is your opinion.

That is not just Atlantia's 'opinion', it is a FACT too! Vegetarianism is not a new thing, you know. Many, many people around the world live their entire lives as vegetarians.

[Arbenol]

Not sure how accurate this is but I read that if you were to stop eating red meat this would have the same effect, in terms of carbon footprint, of trading in your 3.5l SUV for a Prius. I know that's a bit off topic but I believe this will be a driving force, along with moral considerations, for a massive increase in vegetarianism over the next few decades.

As for the animals we now farm for their meat. They only exist for that prupose and if fewer people eat meat, fewer animals will be bred. Until the artificial breeds created by man will be no more. For each farmed animal there are still wild varieties. Pigs, oxen and fowl might be rare in the wild in many places but they're mostly not extinct.

[None of the above]

That is your opinion.

No, simply stating the fact.

[None of the above]

Domestic farm animals have been selectively bred into their current form for hundreds of generations. They are not 'species' they are sub-species or 'breeds' artificially created by man.

In some cases the original 'wild' breeds have already been lost, in others they still exist and there are 'old breeds' that represent links between the two poles.

If demand for their flesh fell to a point where they were no longer being 'bred' then yes some may die out unless (as with all large animals in the industrialised world) they recieved some protection and were able to survive with minimal management as do 'feral' ponies, and some hardy breeds of cattle and sheep already.

Some would also be preserved as are 'rare breeds' at the moment. The rest would die out.

The argument that we should support this unsustainable and odious trade in death because of the jobs it creates has been used in the UK for many years to support the unsustainable destruction of the wild fish stocks of the North Sea (and elsewhere). Now we have reached a tipping point where many of the great predator and bony fish species of the worlds oceans face extinction because of it.

The dietary argument that not eating meat is somehow 'unhealthy' is simply wrong.

Having a poor diet is not something that is forced on vegetarians any more than it is something that is forced on those that eat meat.

I have been a vegetarian for 32 years and vegan for 10 of those now.

The ability to see what's in your food and make informed choices toward a balanced diet is easier now than it has ever been. Including or excluding animal products while maintaining a healthy balanced diet is no more difficult than following a gluten-free diet, Diabetic diet, Halal diet, Kosher diet, any number of life threatening food allergies etc.

Or for that matter simply being a meat eater who wants to follow a balanced healthy diet.

The 'unhealthy' diets are those poeple who eat without thought about what they are eating.

Cardiac and stroke wards in hospitals aren't full of 'vegetarians'.

There isn't an 'epidemic' of morbid obesity amongst vegetarians.

There isn't an epidemic of high blood pressure amongst vegetarians.

Etc.

As for what the world would be like if humanity gradually turned vegetarian?

How could it not be a better place?

http://www.guardian....-food-shortages

"Forget meat – there's a world of vegetarian food out there

As shortages threaten to force meat off the table, you don't need to dust off dreary 1970s cookbooks to find great alternatives"

There really is so much information out there. I guarantee that I eat a better, more varied and tastier diet than the vast majority of 'carnivores'.

http://www.guardian....ggie?intcmp=239

"In praise of … going veggie

The real case for going veggie is that being vegetarian has never been easier, tastier or more varied"

Also, becomming vegetarian makes sense.

It's good for you, it makes you more aware of what you are eating. It lessens the suffering of our fellow creatures and indirectly it helps our fellow 'man'.

It's a way that every individual can make a real difference and it's never been easier to do.

http://www.animalaid...ggie/ALL/2736//

"As news of a looming global food crisis hits the headlines, leading water scientists have announced that people all over the world might be forced to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle in order to cope with future water shortages.

With an extra two billion people expected to be alive in 2050, supplies of fresh water will come under increasing pressure. As animal-based foods require around 5-10 times as much water to produce as plant-based ones, the best way to reduce demand for water is to move to a global vegetarian diet. Malik Falkenmark from the highly-respected Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) wrote in a new report:

‘There will not be enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the expected 9 billion population in 2050 if we follow current trends and changes towards diets common in western nations.’"

Healthy food minus the suffering and guilt.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Atlantia

[XenoSky]

At this point its a choice to eat meat. im not a supporter of breeding for slaughter therefore im pescatarian, because fish are (for the most part) wild caught but when it comes to survival and the necessity of sustenance the rules change for me but like i said its still a choice.

[White Crane Feather]

Well there is a more than intelligent response to this question... Thank god... A rarity for um.

Yes.. The ecology of the earth would change.. Dramatically.,... But only bear in mind that our vegan brothers and sisters could not presue their lifestyle without modern economy's full of meat lovers.

Think about that for a half an hour. But you might need a little education on the nutritional needs of humans an the environments they get them from.

Edited September 30, 2012 by Seeker79

[RaptorBites]

What a fun little thread.

Something to pull my brain away from the Conspiracy Page.

If we didn't eat the cows, then they would continue to reproduce at an alarming rate.

Their production of methane gas would cause the world to explode when I light up for a cigarette.

This is the reason why I eat cow.

To save the world.

[Arbenol]

Yes.. The ecology of the earth would change.. Dramatically.,... But only bear in mind that our vegan brothers and sisters could not presue their lifestyle without modern economy's full of meat lovers.

Why couldn't they?

Think about that for a half an hour. But you might need a little education on the nutritional needs of humans an the environments they get them from.

Not sure what you're saying here. I'm no vegetarian and I love my steak - but humans don't need to eat meat to fill their nutritional requirements. There's nothing in meat that you can't get elsewhere. Where people still practice a 'hunter/gatherer' existence in parts of southern Africa, the women who provide the veges and nuts contribute equivalent calories and proteins as the men who provide the meat. There's a lot of evidence that meat was a rich source of fats and proteins that contributed to the evolution of increased intelligence in humans, but this is irrelevant to any argument on the necessity of meat in our diets now.

[mysticwerewolf]

yes if man kind totally stopped eating meat, many of the species we breed for meat would become extinct unless we kept them in zoos for people to come see. To many of them have become totally dependant on man and with the rapidly dwindling resources and open land on this planet there would not be room on the planet for them. (chickens for example chickens could not be released into the wilds and survive. when i was raising them for meat ( open range by day fenced in and contained at night) 30 years ago one chicken in fifty would actually brood the eggs it laid. if we left the eggs there for the chickens to hatch they sat and rotted.

If man vanished tomorrow most domesticated animals and farm raised food animals would vanish ( either by predation or starvation ) within a couple years.

P.S. as long as i have any choice I will never become a vegitarian and I love most vegies

Edited September 30, 2012 by mysticwerewolf

[Timothy]

Domesticated animals would get slaughtered by predators in much less humane ways than we do it...

[None of the above]

What a fun little thread.

Something to pull my brain away from the Conspiracy Page.

If we didn't eat the cows, then they would continue to reproduce at an alarming rate.

Their production of methane gas would cause the world to explode when I light up for a cigarette.

This is the reason why I eat cow.

To save the world.

My hero!

I can see a staute of you being built....

You have a match in your hand and a thoughtful look on your face....

On the base the words: 'I smell cow-fart, bring me a burger!"

Edited September 30, 2012 by Atlantia