meat and the environment

[Razmatazz]

I know you mamas really know your stuff on ethically raised, pastured meat etc so I was wondering if you could help me! I've volunteered to write an eco related article on meat eating, showing the other side to the general view that livestock production is destructive to the environment and a vegetarian diet is best. I was wondering if you guys know any sources for facts and stats on this?

My aim is to argue that local, grass fed meat is very sustainable and in fact vital to the environment, and that eating a vegetarian diet is not always so ethical, but i need solid data!

thanks in advance

[Carlyle]

No solid data here, but you might look for info in Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal Vegetable Miracle" (which also has a website somewhere). She had an interesting chapter on meat eating. However, I would love to see you write something that talks about how a diet that includes grass fed, local meat can be sustainable without feeling the need to bash vegetarian diets. Or at least to phrase it as "there are environmental problems with many different food choices. Choosing to eat out-of-season vegetables can be worse for the environment than eating local, grass fed beef"

Sometimes we like to make things so black and white that we lose out on awesome things that we can learn from each other, you know? It doesn't have to be Traditional Foodies vs Vegetarians. There are many positive points to both diets. One "answer" doesn't fit all--each location around the world is going to have a different "ideal" diet...based on what is local, seasonal, sustainable, for that climate and soil, etc.

[LauraLoo]

Kelly the Kitchen Kop just posted about this today:
http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2009/1...the-earth.html

At the end she has quite a few links for further research. I haven't looked them over, but you might find some good info in there.

[Metasequoia]

The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability! I just got this book this week & was hooked by the first paragraph.

[kl5]

This is a great recent NY Times op-ed by Nicollette Hahn Niman that really got to the heart of the issue in my opinion. She has some cites in the piece as well.

[nicolelynn]

I don't have any links but I have heard that large masses of land that are unfit for agriculture are perfectly suited for cattle grazing.

Also, soy crops cause deforestization the same as cattle farming.

Also, I wonder what kind of fertilizer we would use if humans didn't keep animals? Wouldn't it have to be synthetic/chemical??

Hmm I just wonder if pastured cattle produce as much methane as feed lot cattle (if their gas-=poor digestion due to their unnatural diet).

I do think byodynamic farming is a step up from organic, when everything...animals and plants works together in synergy. I don't think one functions well without the other.

I am personally coming to the conclusion to eat less meat (currently once per day and maybe once a week none at all instead of every meal like I was), but when I do it is properly raised. This seems to provide the best answer for me to get enough nutrients from eating some animal foods and at the same time be more sustainable.

[Shazer]

I would also check out books/website by Joel Salatin http://www.polyfacefarms.com/. He is probably the best known grass-feeding "salad bar beef" farmer out there and in his books he goes into great length about the ethics of natural and traditional farming versus conventional farming. He writes about carbon cycles, water usage, and composting among many other topics.