Was plant based meat a fad?

[Luke Cage]

First off, you're looking at US emissions not global emmissions which for agriculture are a much higher %. Second, those low EPA numbers are being considered underestimates by many scientists because they don't take into account the deforestation and fires that clear agricultural land, the disturbance of soil carbon that is released, and all the carbon of agricultural inputs. Globally the contribution of agriculture to global warming is more like 30-40%:

Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions - Nature Food

Data on GHG emissions from the food system are mostly scattered across sectors and remain unavailable in many countries. EDGAR-FOOD, a globally consistent food emission database, brings together emissions from food-related land use and land-use change, production, processing, distribution...

www.nature.com

In 2015, food-system emissions amounted to 18 Gt CO2 equivalent per year globally, representing 34% of total GHG emissions. The largest contribution came from agriculture and land use/land-use change activities (71%), with the remaining were from supply chain activities: retail, transport, consumption, fuel production, waste management, industrial processes and packaging.

Why Agriculture’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Almost Always Underestimated

Estimates of agricultural emissions are usually too low because they don’t include these five sources of greenhouse gases.

www.forbes.com

The Worldwatch Institute included agriculture’s supply chain as well, and it concluded that livestock agriculture is responsible for 51 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

WWI’s estimate was dismissed by some in agriculture, but a detailed assessment this year found it more right than wrong. That assessment argued for an agricultural contribution of about 37 percent of anthropogenic GHGs. Stanford physicist Steven Chu also argued recently for a higher assessment of agriculture’s contribution, in the neighborhood of 30 percent.




And the USA imports 2 billion pounds of beef every year, which recently has included up to 100 million pounds of beef from Brazil every month, which is farmed by literally burning down rainforest. That's a huge carbon impact - first the fires release carbon, then you lose the positive impact of the trees clearing carbon out, and then you have the cows producing methane and CO2.

Monthly U.S. beef import volumes from Brazil surge to record high in early 2022

Imports of beef from Brazil have spiked in the last two years as U.S. demand for processing-grade beef has substantially increased. In January 2022 alone, imports reached nearly 100 million pounds—a more than 500 percent increase relative to the same month a year earlier—with fresh beef...

www.ers.usda.gov

Interesting, i'll have to do more research on this. although i still think people will never ever stop eating meat

 

[The God Poster]

Y’all nikkas gay breh. On god.

Figured you’d enjoy a good meat thread

 

[Umoja]

Yeah, I think people are realising that it is unhealthy and tastes like shyt.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Interesting, i'll have to do more research on this. although i still think people will never ever stop eating meat

I don't think people will stop but I think it can be reduced.

When we're talking about an existential crisis, "choose a different dinner option" just seems so much fukking easier than transforming global technology or telling people to stop driving places.

Personally I think both need to be done (everything needs to be done), but changing what we eat feels like the easiest of all the changes.

 

[Luke Cage]

I don't think people will stop but I think it can be reduced.

When we're talking about an existential crisis, "choose a different dinner option" just seems so much fukking easier than transforming global technology or telling people to stop driving places.

Personally I think both need to be done (everything needs to be done), but changing what we eat feels like the easiest of all the changes.

Yeah, I'll use myself as example. When i was married, my wife at the time wasn't a vegetarian by any means, she ate beef, chicken pork, seafood.
but she also treated meat like special occasion food. So she might eat chicken for dinner on tuesday, but eat lentils or spinach and rice for the rest of the week.
She was shocked to learn that me and my family ate meat with pretty much every meal and thought that was unusual. I never fully adopted her style, but i do incorporate one vegetarian dinner per week now..

 

[CrimsonTider]

I don't think people will stop but I think it can be reduced.

When we're talking about an existential crisis, "choose a different dinner option" just seems so much fukking easier than transforming global technology or telling people to stop driving places.

Personally I think both need to be done (everything needs to be done), but changing what we eat feels like the easiest of all the changes.

This is so ridiculous. I don’t even know where to
begin

A Pepsi plastic bottling factory is doing more damage to the environmental hourly than anyone person does in their lifetime eating beef

 

[Professor Emeritus]

This is so ridiculous. I don’t even know where to
begin

A Pepsi plastic bottling factory is doing more damage to the environmental hourly than anyone person does in their lifetime eating beef

Why would you compare a factory to an individual? That doesn't even make sense. Why not compare that Pepsi plastic bottling factory to a Brazilian beef operation that is repeatedly burning down rainforest, farming beef and soy to feed beef on the cleared land, and then moving on in a few years because the soil gets depleted?

Brazilian hunger for meat fattened on soy is deforesting the Cerrado: report

The Cerrado biome, covering 20 percent of Brazil, has seen rapid deforestation in the 21st century; a recent report says that much of this is driven by soy grown to feed livestock, which feeds Brazilians.

news.mongabay.com

As I already pointed out, the global impact of agriculture is enormous and it disproportionately comes from meat, especially beef:

Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions - Nature Food

Data on GHG emissions from the food system are mostly scattered across sectors and remain unavailable in many countries. EDGAR-FOOD, a globally consistent food emission database, brings together emissions from food-related land use and land-use change, production, processing, distribution...

www.nature.com

In 2015, food-system emissions amounted to 18 Gt CO2 equivalent per year globally, representing 34% of total GHG emissions. The largest contribution came from agriculture and land use/land-use change activities (71%), with the remaining were from supply chain activities: retail, transport, consumption, fuel production, waste management, industrial processes and packaging.

Why Agriculture’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Almost Always Underestimated

Estimates of agricultural emissions are usually too low because they don’t include these five sources of greenhouse gases.

www.forbes.com

The Worldwatch Institute included agriculture’s supply chain as well, and it concluded that livestock agriculture is responsible for 51 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

WWI’s estimate was dismissed by some in agriculture, but a detailed assessment this year found it more right than wrong. That assessment argued for an agricultural contribution of about 37 percent of anthropogenic GHGs. Stanford physicist Steven Chu also argued recently for a higher assessment of agriculture’s contribution, in the neighborhood of 30 percent.

 

[CrimsonTider]

Why would you compare a factory to an individual? That doesn't even make sense. Why not compare that Pepsi plastic bottling factory to a Brazilian beef operation that is repeatedly burning down rainforest, farming beef and soy to feed beef on the cleared land, and then moving on in a few years because the soil gets depleted?

Brazilian hunger for meat fattened on soy is deforesting the Cerrado: report

The Cerrado biome, covering 20 percent of Brazil, has seen rapid deforestation in the 21st century; a recent report says that much of this is driven by soy grown to feed livestock, which feeds Brazilians.

news.mongabay.com

As I already pointed out, the global impact of agriculture is enormous and it disproportionately comes from meat, especially beef:

Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions - Nature Food

Data on GHG emissions from the food system are mostly scattered across sectors and remain unavailable in many countries. EDGAR-FOOD, a globally consistent food emission database, brings together emissions from food-related land use and land-use change, production, processing, distribution...

www.nature.com

In 2015, food-system emissions amounted to 18 Gt CO2 equivalent per year globally, representing 34% of total GHG emissions. The largest contribution came from agriculture and land use/land-use change activities (71%), with the remaining were from supply chain activities: retail, transport, consumption, fuel production, waste management, industrial processes and packaging.

Why Agriculture’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Are Almost Always Underestimated

Estimates of agricultural emissions are usually too low because they don’t include these five sources of greenhouse gases.

www.forbes.com

The Worldwatch Institute included agriculture’s supply chain as well, and it concluded that livestock agriculture is responsible for 51 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

WWI’s estimate was dismissed by some in agriculture, but a detailed assessment this year found it more right than wrong. That assessment argued for an agricultural contribution of about 37 percent of anthropogenic GHGs. Stanford physicist Steven Chu also argued recently for a higher assessment of agriculture’s contribution, in the neighborhood of 30 percent.

Because you’re talking about personal responsibility for the environment like it amounts to anything in the grand scheme of things

 

[WonderCheeks]

I don’t believe it was a fad, they just threw it any and everywhere they could get coverage. I believe their slowly raising the price is what did them in, too.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Because you’re talking about personal responsibility for the environment like it amounts to anything in the grand scheme of things

It does, because personal responsiblity is what leads to systemic change. People who sit around bytching that their individual actions won't make a difference then wonder why large-scale changes don't happen, and never put two and two together.

Individual climate action matters - Tomorrow Blog

Knowing the climate impact of their daily choices can empower people to change not only their own behaviour, but also demand meaningful collective action. Knowledge precedes action, it’s time to make the climate impact of every choice accessible to everyone.

www.tmrow.com

Greta Is Right: Study Shows Individual Lifestyle Change Boosts Systemic Climate Action

The public is more likely to support systemic climate action, new research shows, if the individuals advocating it have a low carbon footprint.

www.forbes.com

 

[Rekkapryde]

I go to Grocery Outlet and they always have a big non-meat freezer section. Rather than getting the same one all the time I like to switch it up a lot (diversity is healthy), and honestly I like the taste of damn near all of them even if they're usually not trying to "replicate meat" as much.


Some of the brands I eat from there are:

Hillary's
Dr. Praeger's
Strong Roots
Gardein
Morning Star Farms
Original Boca Burger
Quorn
Sunshine Plant-based Foods


You'll have to check the boxes of individual brands to see which ones are the best on sodium. Each brand has multiple different food base options, so try and see what you like - obviously a black-bean base is gonna be different from a quinoa base is gonna be different from a soy base is gonna be different from a mushroom base. I'm chill with all of them but probably get the Quinoa/Kale, Black Bean, and Red Beet options the most (though I haven't see the Red Beet around in a while).

Without being super strict about the research I think Hillary's and Strong Roots are among the healthiest, and they're also among the cheapest, those are the ones I get the most often. But they're also not very much like meat. Stuff like Boca or Quorn I'll just grab on rare occasions for variety but I don't eat them a lot. Black Bean, Mushroom, and Soy bases are usually among the best for people who are really trying to replicate the meat feel but I'm often happy just to eat a veggie patty and don't need it to taste like beef anymore.

I like the beyond burgers. Doesn't sit on my stomach as long as regular burgers and ground beef. Not something I eat all the time though, but they are pretty good IMO


still got a few patties in my fridge
got some 88% ground beef
and 2lbs of some Wagyu.

Finna cook dem Wag Burgers this weekend....and nobody getting none of dem shyts. Wag ain't cheap

 

[Forsaken]

- Beyond Meat isn't cheaper than regular meat.
- Beyond Meat isn't healthier than regular meat.

So what purpose does it serve?

 

[Professor Emeritus]

- Beyond Meat isn't cheaper than regular meat.
- Beyond Meat isn't healthier than regular meat.

So what purpose does it serve?

I agree it's too expensive. Like I pointed out, the more natural alternative patties are a lot cheaper.

The problem with beef is that we eat far too much of it. Even the worst processed vegan stuff is healthier in many ways than eating 50-60 pounds of beef a year - more fiber and less saturated fat. Doesn't mean you have to switch to eating 50 pounds of Beyond Meat, but if you transitioned some of that so you were only eating 30 pounds of beef and 10-20 pounds of Beyond/Impossible/etc a year, you'd probably be better off.



And the other clear purpose of the vegan alternatives is that they're far better environmentally, which is pretty damn important considering we're ramping up to an existential crisis in the next few decades with what we're doing to the planet:

Is Plant-Based Meat Better for the Environment?

When it comes to the environment, meat is bad and plants are good. But what about plant-based meat? We asked the experts to explain.

www.rd.com

“The most popular plant-based alternatives, Beyond [Meat] and Impossible Burgers, produce about 90 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions in comparison with beef,” she says. “They reduce land use by at least 93 percent and water use by 87 percent to 99 percent. They also generate no manure pollution.”

 

[CrimsonTider]

It does, because personal responsiblity is what leads to systemic change. People who sit around bytching that their individual actions won't make a difference then wonder why large-scale changes don't happen, and never put two and two together.

Individual climate action matters - Tomorrow Blog

Knowing the climate impact of their daily choices can empower people to change not only their own behaviour, but also demand meaningful collective action. Knowledge precedes action, it’s time to make the climate impact of every choice accessible to everyone.

www.tmrow.com

Greta Is Right: Study Shows Individual Lifestyle Change Boosts Systemic Climate Action

The public is more likely to support systemic climate action, new research shows, if the individuals advocating it have a low carbon footprint.

www.forbes.com

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Just saw this story and it reminded me of this thread:

Last member of indigenous tribe dies in Brazil after resisting contact for decades | CNN

The last remaining member of an uncontacted Brazilian indigenous tribe has died, Brazil's indigenous protection agency, Funai, said Saturday.

www.cnn.com

Breh had lived completely alone in the jungle for 26 years after cattle ranchers massacred his entire tribe. His people are completely extinct now. Because beef.



They do this shyt all the time. I read one article that said loggers and ranchers in Brazil had murdered 1,500 environmental activists in the last 30 years, and that's not even counting all the regular natives they kill. Purely out of greed for more land and profits.

Remember, we import 100 million pounds of beef from Brazil every month. We're literally funding genocide because we're obsessed with beef.

Ranchers Found Guilty of Chico Mendes' Murder

XAPURI, Brazil (AP) _ A cattle rancher and his son were convicted of first-degree murder Saturday for killing Chico Mendes, the rain forest defender whose death focused global attention on the destruction of the Amazon. The defendants were each sentenced to 19 years in prison at the end of...

apnews.com

Brazil’s Indigenous Tribes Are Being Hunted by Murderous Cattle Ranchers | Amazon Watch

As wife to the Chief of her Apy Ka'y community – one of the tribes of the Guarani people – Damiana's family was a prime target for gunmen hired by ranch owners who have taken over her ancestral land in Mato Grosso do Sul, western Brazil. She recently lost her husband and her three sons to...

amazonwatch.org

Brazilian rancher found guilty of ordering American nun's death

A rancher in Brazil's Amazon was sentenced to 30 years in prison for ordering the 2005 killing of American nun and environmental activist Dorothy Stang, an emblematic case for the many conflicts over land use in Brazil's resource-rich interior.

www.reuters.com

Brazilian meat giants linked to farmer charged with massacre in the Amazon

A new investigation by Repórter Brasil reveals links between JBS and Marfrig and a farmer accused of Amazon massacre

www.earthsight.org.uk

Brazilian Cattle Ranchers Brutally Attack Indigenous Tribe

There has been a surge of attacks against rural and Indigenous leaders since last year, the United Nations confirmed.

www.telesurenglish.net

How Illegal Land Grabs in Brazil’s Amazon Feed the Global Beef Industry - OCCRP

Land grabs and deforestation have devastated Brazil’s northern Pará state. But slaughterhouses, including some owned by top meat processors JBS and Marfrig, still buy from suppliers who source from...

www.occrp.org