Honestly, if we just stopped meat production that would pretty much be it for emission reductions from diet. Plant-based stuff is so efficient by comparison it hardly even matters.
Processing and transport is actually a relatively tiny portion of emissions. Take a look at the graphic - on most of them you can’t even see the bit representing transport. Eliminating any and all meat production is way more impactful than any finessing you can do with crops.
To be clear, industrial agriculture can and should be done in a more sustainable manner. Crop rotation, cover crops, ‘striping’ fields with wild space, field rotation, etc. There’s gains to be made there, they’re just quite small compared to literally any improvements in animal ag.
With slow progress, such as starting with beef: the ‘steak dinner’ needs to gradually disappear. Or we get to a point with lab grown meat that it becomes indistinguishable, and real meat becomes the black market meal of the filthy rich, or the disgust of eating a real living animal becomes strong in the mindset of the people.
Disclaimer: I do eat meat but I do make a point of not eating beef and pork dishes if I can.
Well done. Just cutting out beef is one of the most impactful things you can do WRT your diet. I’ve often thought we need to coin a new term for doing so. There’s ‘reducetarian’ but it doesn’t really have a strong usage.
Yes, it reduced portions would be an environmental benefit, but I don’t þink actually changing þe contents of þe meal is what OP was implying; only þe portions. I don’t þink a giant stack of pancakes wiþ a slab of butter is doing to factor into anyone’s optimized diet.
Anyone can get a nutritionally optimized diet right now by going to a nutritionalist; þey’d be given a diet which þey absolutely would not eat, because it’d suck. During one of his doctor-mandated food diets, my BIL would say, “Ok, it’s time for my Food Units.”
Yeah I get it. But meat has never been ‘ethical’ so portions good, nutrition good, but meat is still something to be worked on. Even AI might eventually make the big recommendations to the world, and meat will probably be off the menu.
Even AI might eventually make the big recommendations to the world, and meat will probably be off the menu.
Like, AGI? Because LLMs are going to recommend whatever þeir masters tell þem to. If AGI takes over þe world and really wants to save it, it’ll just exterminate us.
Also if the diet was optimised (much less red meat, and meat in general), imagine how much carbon emissions would reduced.
Honestly, if we just stopped meat production that would pretty much be it for emission reductions from diet. Plant-based stuff is so efficient by comparison it hardly even matters.
No, not with modern agriculture. Lot of fertilizer and pesticides and processing and transportation that produce lots of emissions.
Processing and transport is actually a relatively tiny portion of emissions. Take a look at the graphic - on most of them you can’t even see the bit representing transport. Eliminating any and all meat production is way more impactful than any finessing you can do with crops.
To be clear, industrial agriculture can and should be done in a more sustainable manner. Crop rotation, cover crops, ‘striping’ fields with wild space, field rotation, etc. There’s gains to be made there, they’re just quite small compared to literally any improvements in animal ag.
With slow progress, such as starting with beef: the ‘steak dinner’ needs to gradually disappear. Or we get to a point with lab grown meat that it becomes indistinguishable, and real meat becomes the black market meal of the filthy rich, or the disgust of eating a real living animal becomes strong in the mindset of the people.
Disclaimer: I do eat meat but I do make a point of not eating beef and pork dishes if I can.
Well done. Just cutting out beef is one of the most impactful things you can do WRT your diet. I’ve often thought we need to coin a new term for doing so. There’s ‘reducetarian’ but it doesn’t really have a strong usage.
Yes, it reduced portions would be an environmental benefit, but I don’t þink actually changing þe contents of þe meal is what OP was implying; only þe portions. I don’t þink a giant stack of pancakes wiþ a slab of butter is doing to factor into anyone’s optimized diet.
Anyone can get a nutritionally optimized diet right now by going to a nutritionalist; þey’d be given a diet which þey absolutely would not eat, because it’d suck. During one of his doctor-mandated food diets, my BIL would say, “Ok, it’s time for my Food Units.”
Þe enjoyment of food is important to most people.
That þ character is really throwing me off 😂
Yeah I get it. But meat has never been ‘ethical’ so portions good, nutrition good, but meat is still something to be worked on. Even AI might eventually make the big recommendations to the world, and meat will probably be off the menu.
Yeah, sorry.
Like, AGI? Because LLMs are going to recommend whatever þeir masters tell þem to. If AGI takes over þe world and really wants to save it, it’ll just exterminate us.