Originally Posted by
AlmostTrick
1. Right, and they couldn't. Family farms could never produce the billions of animals we presently eat. Besides, many of the few animals they do produce (like cows) still get "finished" on high density feed lots.
2. Right. Even some world class athletes have managed just fine on a plant based diet. Eating meat does not guarantee good nutrition.
3. Eating less meat will absolutely reduce our use of oil. Expect meat to become quite expensive once peak oil really sets in. No more 99 cent cheeseburgers, that's for sure.
Family farms were producing most of the meat we ate until relatively recently and going back to some of those practices is not impossible. My point is that meat production isn't the problem. You could easily point at modern electronics that require a medium sized powerplant just to operate in "sleep" mode. It's everything. We need to look at everything we do and not point fingers at particular industries. Energy right now is cheap. So we don't give a second thought to plugging in yet another appliance/gizmo or driving a little bit farther.
And yes, you can get all your nutritional needs met from plants but you have to be much more careful. Many vegetarians are anemic. It's easier to get your iron requirements from red meat.