Vegetarians Win Noble Peace Prize

[ottabox]

Wouldn't that be a great headline for today. After all, we are talking about a truly peaceful group. Vegetarians, on the whole, do more for the environment than hybrid car owners.
I'm fairly pleased Gore got the prize. However, it would have been more transformative if an unconventional truth (vegetarianism) received the trumpeting.

[*AHIMSA*]

Yes, but I'd prefer it if we won the "Nobel Peace Prize" :D

Someday, right? :smitten:

[m4rk0]

Vegetarians, on the whole, do more for the environment than hybrid car owners.


How is that?

[ottabox]

How is that?


http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0120-20.htm

[pkk]

How is that?

http://www.goveg.com/environment-globalwarming.asp

[m4rk0]

http://www.goveg.com/environment-globalwarming.asp

Why would being vegetarian prevent animals from being raised? What about dairy and eggs? Factory farms would still be needed for that. I doubt vegetarians have very much of a positive impact on the environment.

I would think that being vegan would actually have an impact.

[ottabox]

Why would being vegetarian prevent animals from being raised? What about dairy and eggs? Factory farms would still be needed for that. I doubt vegetarians have very much of a positive impact on the environment.

I would think that being vegan would actually have an impact.

Sure, certainly vegans would deserve kudos for doing much more than vegetarians. But try and get your average person to wrap their minds around the thought of veganism!!! Baby steps are more effective than...

[m4rk0]

Sure, certainly vegans would deserve kudos for doing much more than vegetarians. But try and get your average person to wrap their minds around the thought of veganism!!! Baby steps are more effective than...


But your point that vegetarianism is much more of a positive impact than someone driving a hybrid seems misleading. I just don't see what the positive impact a vegetarian has with respect to the environment.

[ottabox]

But your point that vegetarianism is much more of a positive impact than someone driving a hybrid seems misleading. I just don't see what the positive impact a vegetarian has with respect to the environment.

Well, I provided the link, the rest is up to you.

[m4rk0]

Well, I provided the link, the rest is up to you.

This is from the article that was linked:


Raising animals for food is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide and the single largest source of both methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

Ok so tell me how raising animals for dairy and eggs will decrease these gases.

[ottabox]

This is from the article that was linked:



Ok so tell me how raising animals for dairy and eggs will decrease these gases.

You're right. Hell, I should just become a omnivore.:dizzy:

[m4rk0]

You're right. Hell, I should just become a omnivore.:dizzy:
I didn't say that. I just think that being vegetarian alone does little to stop the production of these gases. The animals that omnivores eat will continue to be "harvested". The vegetarians just grab the eggs and milk from the animals before they're slaughtered for the omniovores. I just don't see the actual positive impact (environmentally). Animal "harvesting" isn't decreased by this model. I'm not anti-vegetarian...I just leave hope that vegetarians eventually become vegans.

[Scythe]

Why the hell they award the guy who does nothing but whine about a problem I have no idea. His private jet probably uses more fuel in a trip than my car does in a year.

[Vegan Joe]

Veganism (also strict or pure vegetarianism) is a philosophy and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animal derived products for food, clothing, or any other purpose.[

[Melanie]

If nobody ate meat, then would it be really worth it to STILL raise animals for eggs and milk? What would they do with the animals after they outlive their usefulness, if no one eats meat? They might kill them anyway(because it would cost money to keep them alive), but they would have to find some other way to dispose of them right? And that would probably cost money too. So why would anyone bother, if no one ate meat?

Although I would prefer that everyone went vegan, vegetarians are still doing their part IMO.

[Bof]

I didn't say that. I just think that being vegetarian alone does little to stop the production of these gases. The animals that omnivores eat will continue to be "harvested". The vegetarians just grab the eggs and milk from the animals before they're slaughtered for the omniovores. I just don't see the actual positive impact (environmentally). Animal "harvesting" isn't decreased by this model. I'm not anti-vegetarian...I just leave hope that vegetarians eventually become vegans.

That's untrue.Raising dairy cattle and beef cattle are different industries, as are laying and meat chickens.
The more vegetarians there are, the less animals are killed.

[Bof]

Veganism (also strict or pure vegetarianism) is a philosophy and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animal derived products for food, clothing, or any other purpose.[

'Not many people know that' - Michael Caine.

[Scythe]

If nobody ate meat, then would it be really worth it to STILL raise animals for eggs and milk? What would they do with the animals after they outlive their usefulness, if no one eats meat? They might kill them anyway(because it would cost money to keep them alive), but they would have to find some other way to dispose of them right? And that would probably cost money too. So why would anyone bother, if no one ate meat?

Although I would prefer that everyone went vegan, vegetarians are still doing their part IMO.

I don't think dead animals from either industry (eggs/milk) are eaten by humans anyway.

[Melanie]

I don't think dead animals from either industry (eggs/milk) are eaten by humans anyway.

I'm not sure about that though. I remember hearing about spent chickens being sold whole for boiling since they would be too tough for cooking the normal way. I don't know about cows though.

[Indian Summer]

I'm not sure about that though. I remember hearing about spent chickens being sold whole for boiling since they would be too tough for cooking the normal way. I don't know about cows though.
I'm pretty sure that at least in some countries, the dairy cows eventually end up on somebody's plate. And if they aren't eaten by humans, they probably become dog food or cat food.

[MrsKey]

I don't think dead animals from either industry (eggs/milk) are eaten by humans anyway.

Sadly they are. Spent laying hens are slaughtered and used in things like chicken pot pies, nuggets and other processed foods where the visible injuries and "lack of quality" won't be noticeable.

Spent dairy cows usually end up as ground beef. A large portion of which (in the US) is given, through federal subsidies, to the federal school lunch programs.

[Silver]

Have you read The Cattle Rancher Who Won't Eat Meat?

When a cow is slaughtered, about half of it by weight is not eaten by humans: the intestines and their contents, the head, hooves, and horns, as well as bones and blood. These are dumped into giant grinders at rendering plants, as are the entire bodies of cows and other farm animals known to be diseased. Rendering is a $2.4 billion-a-year industry, processing forty billion pounds of dead animals a year. There is simply no such thing in America as an animal too ravaged by disease, too cancerous, or too putrid to be welcomed by the embracing arms of the renderer.

Another staple of the renderer's diet, in addition to farm animals, is euthanized pets-the six or seven million dogs and cats that are killed in animal shelters every year. The city of Los Angeles alone, for example, sends some two hundred tons of euthanized cats and dogs to a rendering plant every month. Added to the blend are the euthanized catch of animal control agencies, and roadkill. (Roadkill is not collected daily, and in the summer, the better roadkill collection crews can generally smell it before they can see it.)

When the gruesome mix is ground and steam-cooked, the lighter, fatty material floating to the top gets refined for use in such products as cosmetics, lubricants, soaps, candles, and waxes. The heavier protein material is dried and pulverized into a brown powder-about a quarter of which consists of fecal material. The powder is used as an additive to almost ALL pet food as well as to livestock feed. Farmers call it "protein concentrates." In 1995, five million tons of processed slaughterhouse leftovers were sold for animal feed in the United States.

By Howard Lyman with Glen Merzer

I am a fourth-generation dairy farmer and cattle rancher. I grew up on a dairy farm in Montana, & I ran a feedlot operation there for 20 years. I know firsthand how cattle are raised and how meat is produced in this country. Today I am president of the International Vegetarian Union.

[Silver]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43277-2004Oct18.html

Cosmetics contain animal parts!
Even the cow brain is used.
Do they use downer cows with Mad Cow disease in cosmetics?