Cowspiracy! Non tech related

[moderategamer]

So I don't usually go for the whole Vegan argument I eat meat and some dairy products as I feel they are a necessary part of our diet. However after watching this documentary and doing a bit of my own research number crunching and shit my mind has literally been blown it's astounding A how much livestock we have, B how much it takes to feed livestock, C how much of an impact they are having on our environment, D how much meat we waste and E just how fucked the longterm sustainability of the planet is.

Also America get your shit together and stop eating so much.

I would highly recommend watching this documentary 'cowspiracy' even if it's not your thing I went in to it thinking that there was no way in he'll I would ever stop eating meat I'm quite stubborn and I like meat but now I am seriously considering going Vegan.

[Godlygamer23]

Moved to Off Topic. If you wish to post something non-tech related, post it here. However, this does not mean you can dump whatever you want here. We have requirements for this sub-forum which you can find on the front page of this sub-forum.

[Albatross]

Good for you and all, but we need meat and it won't ever change.

Edited September 8, 2015 by Godlygamer23

[79wjd]

TL;DR if we stopped eating meat we would be able to end world hunger. (although, it's not economically feasible to give away surplus food as it also destroys the economy to which the food is being given to...so solving world hunger isn't quite as simple as providing enough food. 

 

And in terms of global pollution -- animals (cows) produce far more methane than humans do CO2 (and to those who don't know, CH4 is worse than CO2).

[moderategamer]

TL;DR if we stopped eating meat we would be able to end world hunger. (although, it's not economically feasible to give away surplus food as it also destroys the economy to which the food is being given to...so solving world hunger isn't quite as simple as providing enough food.

And in terms of global pollution -- animals (cows) produce far more methane than humans do CO2 (and to those who don't know, CH4 is worse than CO2).

Yep it's a bit of a tricky one for sure there's no real way to save the planet at the moment without completely destroying the world's economy. Cows produce more than 50% of the world's greenhouse gases so if we completely cut cows out of the equation then we could continue burning fossil fuels indefinitely untill they ran out that is. Or another way to look at it is if somehow we completely stopped using all fossil fuels today we would still have surpassed the recommended safe level for greenhouse gases by I think they said 2030 or something absurd like that.

[79wjd]

Yep it's a bit of a tricky one for sure there's no real way to save the planet at the moment without completely destroying the world's economy. Cows produce more than 50% of the world's greenhouse gases so if we completely cut cows out of the equation then we could continue burning fossil fuels indefinitely untill they ran out that is. Or another way to look at it is if somehow we completely stopped using all fossil fuels today we would still have surpassed the recommended safe level for greenhouse gases by I think they said 2030 or something absurd like that.

Well, all I have to say is, fuck the Earth; I'm not giving up burgers or steak. 

[moderategamer]

Good for you and all, but we need meat and it won't ever change.

Unfortunately you are right it will never change however we do not need meat or at least we do not need meat in the quantities we are consuming at the moment not even close. If livestock were to stop eating crops today we could feed the entire world population on our current crop yields with enormous surpluses.

[79wjd]

Unfortunately you are right it will never change however we do not need meat or at least we do not need meat in the quantities we are consuming at the moment not even close. If livestock were to stop eating crops today we could feed the entire world population on our current crop yields with enormous surpluses.

We could do that even while maintaining our current beef consumption. The bigger issue is actually the economical repercussions. Imagine if US farmers were encouraged to grow and donate surplus crops to the starving, what would happen is the impoverished in the countries receiving that food would grow (it's the same issue that welfare faces -- it encourages you to not work hard). Which would result in 1) an increase in impoverished population who become dependent on welfare, and 2) local farmers begin to lose money. So it ends up destroying an economy on two fronts, and the only way to avoid that would be if only people who NEED the food take it (and that's the same issue the US currently faces with welfare -- as it stands, there's a point where there's not a lot of reason to work and lose out on welfare). 

 

In a world where everyone would be honest and have a desire to work, then it would be simple enough if restaurants/farmers/other would simply donate the food that they're already producing but that ends up in the garbage (and the main argument against that, that most people make, is they would be liable for any damages, however that's not the case due to the Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, which protects donations of all food substances so long as they were allowed to be served in the first place). 

[moderategamer]

Well, all I have to say is, fuck the Earth; I'm not giving up burgers or steak.

I feel you but damn the planet really is fucked. If you haven't watched it you should really give it a shot I know it sounds shit but it was actually pretty incredible the numbers really are mind blowing and life altering.

[watts300]

The documentary was probably funded by an organization or council somewhere that wants to push their propaganda in order to spread their agenda.

[TetraSky]

The planet is doomed no matter what we do right now anyway. Our oceans are filled with plastic, animals are going extinct left and right, super volcanoes about to blow at any moment, 4 hurricanes at once in the pacific ocean due to global climate change, nuclear weapons in the hands of a bunch of man-child... and more!

 

Might as well keep enjoying your burgers while you still can and try to ignore the all mistakes our forefathers made and that we are reaping the fruits of.

[79wjd]

The planet is doomed no matter what we do right now anyway. Our oceans are filled with plastic, animals are going extinct left and right, super volcanoes about to blow at any moment, 4 hurricanes at once in the pacific ocean due to global climate change, nuclear weapons in the hands of a bunch of man-child... and more!

 

Might as well keep enjoying your burgers while you still can and try to ignore the all mistakes our forefathers made and that we are reaping the fruits of.

I'd like to point out that those "man childs" have managed to avoid nuclear war for over 60 years. 

[Serin]

Remember that lab grown beef burger thing from a little while back? That should very much be the future of meat production. Power it with solar energy and/or one day fusion energy and you've basically solved all of the problems listed. Even PETA is for it, I think that speaks volumes.

In vitro meat, if you're looking for search terms. 

[Aphexx]

ever since I've dropped massive pounds I've been on a fitness/health kick and have been really open to the Vegan propaganda. although I've not and don't plan to cut out meat entirely I have highly cut down my use of it adopting a John Mcdougall's Starch Solution like diet cooking in the traditional Japanese style of lots of veg and a bit of meat to flavor the dish.

 

I think insects would take on before that test tube meat would ever take on in the world and yes there are some farms in the states growing insects for human consumption

[Camul]

Meat is gross anyway. Not the taste, just the thought of what it is. I don't want that shit in my body. Going vegan is not something I'm opposed to, but I also love chocolate. I know vegan chocolate is a thing, but it's not the same as Dairymilk chocolate.

[Yuval]

but its so good. omnomnom

[moderategamer]

The documentary was probably funded by an organization or council somewhere that wants to push their propaganda in order to spread their agenda.

 

The documentary was barely funded no organisations want anything to do with it as they wont be able to sustain their funding if they talk about it. you should watch the documentary and see why this isn't being dealt with it's really interesting he had his funding cut half way through the making as the funders got scared.

 

ever since I've dropped massive pounds I've been on a fitness/health kick and have been really open to the Vegan propaganda. although I've not and don't plan to cut out meat entirely I have highly cut down my use of it adopting a John Mcdougall's Starch Solution like diet cooking in the traditional Japanese style of lots of veg and a bit of meat to flavor the dish.

 

I think insects would take on before that test tube meat would ever take on in the world and yes there are some farms in the states growing insects for human consumption

 

I don't think we need to drop meat it is important to our diets but we can definitely use a lot less and still be healthy plus the amount we waste is astounding. I could definitely adopt insect eating in my diet.

 

Meat is gross anyway. Not the taste, just the thought of what it is. I don't want that shit in my body. Going vegan is not something I'm opposed to, but I also love chocolate. I know vegan chocolate is a thing, but it's not the same as Dairymilk chocolate.

 

yeah i don't eat chocolate it's not my favorite but I can see little things like this keeping people from going Vegan, can you imagine a world without chocolate.

 

 

but its so good. omnomnom

 

 

It is great.

[watts300]

The documentary was barely funded no organisations want anything to do with it as they wont be able to sustain their funding if they talk about it. you should watch the documentary and see why this isn't being dealt with it's really interesting he had his funding cut half way through the making as the funders got scared.

 

 

Look up "propaganda."  Nearly everything can be spun to promote a certain point of view about the respective topic when leaving out information or editing the video.  If I wanted to make a video to make you look like Hitler's second coming, I could.  I could find things you say and things you do and present them in any order or manner I chose to remove them from their original context.  Haven't you ever heard some one say, "He took me out of context"?

 

This isn't being closed-minded, it's just basic common sense.  It's how TV media works, newspapers, magazines, anything.  To think otherwise is naive. 

 

These sorts of documentaries, by their very nature, are designed to try to persuade the viewers to agree with the makers skewed point of view. 

[moderategamer]

Look up "propaganda." Nearly everything can be spun to promote a certain point of view about the respective topic when leaving out information or editing the video. If I wanted to make a video to make you look like Hitler's second coming, I could. I could find things you say and things you do and present them in any order or manner I chose to remove them from their original context. Haven't you ever heard some one say, "He took me out of context"?

This isn't being closed-minded, it's just basic common sense. It's how TV media works, newspapers, magazines, anything. To think otherwise is naive.

These sorts of documentaries, by their very nature, are designed to try to persuade the viewers to agree with the makers skewed point of view.

I get that this is the case in most cases and I wasn't implying you were close minded. I simply don't believe that this was the case in this documentary it's just one guy trying to uncover the truth that is being intentionally covered up because it's an inconvenient truth. Like I said though you should watch it before you take any opinions on it its a worthwhile watch and has some great facts in it that I honestly believe are life changing. And let's just ignore the fact that I'm eating a double cheeseburger from McDonald's whilst typing this OK [emoji12]

[watts300]

it's just one guy trying to uncover the truth that is being intentionally covered up because it's an inconvenient truth. 

Well my point was... it's what *he* believes is the truth.  Some people also believe in the Bible. 

[moderategamer]

Well my point was... it's what *he* believes is the truth. Some people also believe in the Bible.

Yeah and I believe 2+2=4 because it does... like I said watch it see the facts and form an opinion I get the sense that you are in fact actually close minded judging by the way you seem to be incapable of hearing other people's opinions and just make some sarcy remark when you don't like what's being said.

[watts300]

Yeah and I believe 2+2=4 because it does... like I said watch it see the facts and form an opinion I get the sense that you are in fact actually close minded judging by the way you seem to be incapable of hearing other people's opinions and just make some sarcy remark when you don't like what's being said.

Wait, first you said "truth" and then you said "opinions."  It's very clear that you're confused. 

 

And that's exactly why you enjoyed that propaganda video.  

 

Have a nice day.

[SeriouslyMikey]

As long as the world is fine while I am here, why should I care? Not like I am going to have kids.  

[moderategamer]

Wait, first you said "truth" and then you said "opinions." It's very clear that you're confused.

And that's exactly why you enjoyed that propaganda video.

Have a nice day.

What doesn't make sense about that I'm saying hear the FACTS that this guy uses then form your opinion as to whether or not this is propaganda or a serious documentary without bias. Learn to read and come back when you get rid of your superior being complex and realise that you don't automatically know everything. I enjoyed the documentary because it gave me access to information that is being deliberately omitted from the general population because it will hurt the pockets of the industries and in turn destroy the economy because unfortunately we live in a world where money is absolute and the people that have it have the power to influence the world without question because if they collapse we all collapse due to all the fake money out there circulating in order to keep the machine running.

[moderategamer]

As long as the world is fine while I am here, why should I care? Not like I am going to have kids.

Do you not think you will be here in 2030? Because that's how immediate this problem is.