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Read other letters about this article
Remember when meat was a treat? There was a reason for that...
Mr. Riddler,
The question of eating food from other countries is somewhat up in the air. Generally I think it makes sense that eating locally is better. But I think there are studies that show ocean tankers using less fuel than disel or gasoline trucks. Of course, with peak oil, we will be forced to eat locally.
I don't think any vegans or vegetarians or fish vegetarians think you can eat out of your backyard alone. Where did you get this? The simple rule is if they don't have to cut down forests to plant cow food, in Brazil or elsewhere, that is a net gain. Or cover 60% of the midwest with corn for ruminants that eat grass... I.E. waste of land, gasoline, inputs, and the animals themselves.
No one is forcing someone who can't do without meat medically to do so. That is silly. But the myth that you cannot live without beef is just that, a myth. You have to eat more intelligently, and get your protein from other sources, but then, that is what vegetarians are asking. Somehow India developed a vegatarian culture of many years, and somehow survived as a society. If they return to meat in a major way in that country, they would truly overload their landmass.
The massive meat diets we have are a product of the cheap oil fiesta, and it's going away, folks.
