this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2024
1460 points (97.8% liked)

memes

10475 readers
4461 users here now

Community rules

1. Be civilNo trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour

2. No politicsThis is non-politics community. For political memes please go to [email protected]

3. No recent repostsCheck for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month

4. No botsNo bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins

5. No Spam/AdsNo advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live.

Sister communities

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Can we stop buying from them please?

[–] WhatAmLemmy 30 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

That's the best part! You can't!

Thanks to the consolidation and vertical integration of the largest multinationals, as long as you choose to live — no matter how careful and conscious your purchases — a significant proportion of it will still funnel to most of these corporations.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Meat is one of the bigger polutters. Meat industry is subsidized by the state. Plant based diets are still cheaper. The vast majority of people still choose to eat meat and actively mock vegans. Just go look at beef (worse meat for the environment) consumption stats in the US.

That's just one example.

People say they want change but won't take it where they can, because deep down it's a lie and they just want someone to fix the problem without them having to do anything.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

being vegan doesn't stop the growth of the meat industry. it certainly doesn't shrink it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

How so? Meat factories exist to feed the people who buy meat. The more people go vegan, the less meat those factories produce, until they shut down. There is no "green version" for the meat industry, it just has to die, and the alternatives already exist and are cheaper. The power is all on people's hands. The government won't do anything about (not even cut the large meat industry subsidies) as long as people keep eating tons of meat, because they know that would mean protests and losing elections.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't know if I could prove this, but I would bet there are more vegans now than any time in history, and I know there is more meat produced than any time in history. being vegan doesn't stop the growth of the meat industry.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Yeah, because there's more people in total. That doesn't mean people going vegan doesn't stop the growth of the meat industry.

Say 50% of people eat meat, and the other 50% are vegan. Then say the world population doubles. Now there will twice as many vegans, but there will also be twice as many meat eaters, and so meat production will double. But there's still only half the meat production that there would be if 100% of people ate meat. And if you could get that value to 0% percent, there would be no meat industry.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

if you could get that value to 0% percent, there would be no meat industry.

meat production happened before trade. there is no reason to assume it will ever end.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

there's still only half the meat production that there would be if 100% of people ate meat.

production determines availability. there is no reason to assume we could produce more meat than we do, given land and technology constraints.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, because there's more people in total.

make any excuse you want

That doesn't mean people going vegan doesn't stop the growth of the meat industry.

all the evidence is to the contrary

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'll reply all in one comment:

make any excuse you want

Sorry you failed math, I guess?

all the evidence is to the contrary

production determines availability. there is no reason to assume we could produce more meat than we do, given land and technology constraints.

meat production happened before trade. there is no reason to assume it will ever end.

Where do you think meat is going? Why do you think it was being produced before trade, for fun? And do you not understand the basic concept that less =/= more, and that less emissions is better than more emissions?

It's really not a hard concept to grasp, but go ahead and keep trying to hide your head in the sand and justify your consumerism while pretending to give a shit. I won't bother wasting my time on someone who apparently can't grasp basic math.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

do you not understand the basic concept that less =/= more, and that less emissions is better than more emissions?

yes, but there is no evidence that being vegan reduces the emissions from the meat industry.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

This strikes me as nonsensical. If one person stops eating meat then the meat industry will create less waste. Maybe not exactly 1 person less, but unless they literally trash all of the meat that person would have consumed, it must be less.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago

If one person stops eating meat then the meat industry will create less waste.

I guarantee a meat eater died yesterday. the industry is not going to shrink because of it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Plant based diets are still cheaper

for some people

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Can you elaborate on this? Maybe give me some examples?

Because for the vast majority of people in western countries (which have by far the most emissions per capita), it is much cheaper to eat a plant based diet. Rice, beans, and lentils are much cheaper and much healthier than eating beef every day of the week.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

for the vast majority of people in western countries (which have by far the most emissions per capita), it is much cheaper to eat a plant based diet

I don't think this is true

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (2 children)

In 2021 Americans ate about 37.81kg of beef per capita per year in 2021, that's about 0.73kg per week, or 1.6lbs.

Cheapest beef in Walmart that I can find, 1 pound for $5.93; so, for 1.6lbs, it comes out to $9.49 per week, for the cheapest Walmart beef. Keep in mind, 1.6lbs = 25.6 oz.

Beans (didn't go for the cheapest): Can of black beans (15oz) for $1.42, another can of butter beans(16oz) for $1.54.

Lentils (not the cheapest): Iberia Lentils 12 oz for $2.59.

Mushrooms (16oz) for $4.34.

So a total of $9.89 for varied and healthy food, vs $9.49 for Walmart's cheapest beef (which realistically would cost $11.86, because you can't just buy 0.6lbs of that beef).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

you're not accounting for availability of convenient calories. it's cheaper to stop at Burger King than to buy beans and spend my time soaking and cooking. the availability of similarly priced convenient calories simply isn't there if you insist on avoiding animal products.

further, even when people are preparing their own food, if they raise their own, or hunt, fish or trap it, or if it's subsidized or free, then throwing away those foods to buy beans is more expensive than eating what they have.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago

you're beans don't have the same nutrient composition on a per pound basis

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

You could buy from other company. But if you are buying the same product the pollution fingerprint would be similar on most cases.

You could just not buy the products. But if you buy things is to improve your quality of life.

So the best course of action is not to make people have less quality of life. Instead push for less people on the planet so they can afford more pollution per person.