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• Sunday, October 21, 2007 08:42 PM

  Thank you, thank you, thank you--great article!!

  This is the article I've been agitating for for months! Ever since http://www.liveearth.org sent out a "Go veg" admonition with a link to the PETA website, I have been on their case to explain further exactly what the hell they're talking about and what small things I can do, short of going completely vegan (which is NOT an option for my 3-year-old), to help the environment. For example, if I start substituting ground turkey for ground beef in some of my recipes, am I heading in the right direction? I've asked Liveearth, I've asked 11th Hour, I've asked "the Lantern" over at Slate--no one seemed to want to run this story. Were they afraid of PETA demonstrators showing up at their offices in chicken suits?

  I actually read that UN/FAO report on livestock, which is easy enough to find on line, and ended up somewhat confused, but generally of the opinion that beef cattle is about the worst for the environment, among the various types of livestock. It noted that poultry consume grubs and insects that would otherwise be consuming your fruits and veggies (thus reducing the need for chemical pest control), and the fact that goats graze on things we can't eat, in areas where we can't grow anything else (like rocky hillsides). Also, livestock is a vital emergency food source for people in developing nations, particularly in years of crop failure. Earlier posters are correct that the underlying problem here is overpopulation.

  I'm not so sure I would agree, based on my reading of the UN report, that dairy consumption is as bad as beef. The US dairy industry sounds like it has its act together more so than the beef industry, and has learned to breed cattle that are giving more milk for less feed (I met a woman at a Maryland county fair who said her cow was producing 16 gallons a day). I'd love to see a third world development program that involved sharing these superior breeds of dairy cattle with third world farmers who are currently raising less efficient breeds (and possibly razing the rain forest in order to do so).

  I also still really don't understand where pork fits into the picture.

  However, one thing we probably all *could* do relatively easily is reduce our beef consumption (which would be beneficial to our own health), and purchase our meats at farmer's markets from local producers who raise their livestock humanely and farm sustainably. The fact that these meats are usually considerably more expensive than at the supermarket is, in my mind, a good thing, since that provides us with a financial disincentive to doing what we should be doing anyway, which is making the consumption of beef a "special occasion" dish, not an everyday item.

  —captainlarab Read captainlarab's other letters
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