Not read the whole thread but I do know us vegetarians are a higher form of life than the primitive meat eaters ;-)
I've gave up eating meat before I started school, just didn't like it. That was nearly 50 years ago. I dont ever crave a bacon sandwich or a 2am kebab but it dosent worry me if people want to indulge.
Also I never force my vegetarianism on anyone, if I go to dinner with others I will eat the same as them less the meat.
I post it here to inform the debate, not to antagonise, but DON'T open it if you have squeamish people around, or you are squeamish, or at work, or possibly have children there.
sorry, just edited it as the opening picture was full on..
If you go to slaughterhouse on youtube you can see what we are talking about, possibly have a visceral response to place alongside the intellectual responses.
Judging by a lot of posts on here just being a vegetarian is cause for many of you to despise, and even hate me.
Okay, let's imagine a world where tomorrow everyone wakes up and goes "you know what, i'm going to be a vegetarian from now on".
What a good idea. I mean all the candle makers were truly buggered when the lightbulb was invented, and the farriers were when the internal combustion engine came along, not to mention the Thatchers when tiles were easier to transport. The bargees all starved to death when trains happened.
As a vegetarian I could probably live with the meat industry disappearing, maybe a lot of those involved in producing meat as food would end up looking after and tending crops.
I post it here to inform the debate, not to antagonise, but DON'T open it if you have squeamish people around, or you are squeamish, or at work, or possibly have children there.
sorry, just edited it as the opening picture was full on..
If you go to slaughterhouse on youtube you can see what we are talking about, possibly have a visceral response to place alongside the intellectual responses.
Judging by a lot of posts on here just being a vegetarian is cause for many of you to despise, and even hate me.
Okay, let's imagine a world where tomorrow everyone wakes up and goes "you know what, i'm going to be a vegetarian from now on".
What a good idea. I mean all the candle makers were truly buggered when the lightbulb was invented, and the farriers were when the internal combustion engine came along, not to mention the Thatchers when tiles were easier to transport. The bargees all starved to death when trains happened.
As a vegetarian I could probably live with the meat industry disappearing, maybe a lot of those involved in producing meat as food would end up looking after and tending crops.
I post it here to inform the debate, not to antagonise, but DON'T open it if you have squeamish people around, or you are squeamish, or at work, or possibly have children there.
sorry, just edited it as the opening picture was full on..
If you go to slaughterhouse on youtube you can see what we are talking about, possibly have a visceral response to place alongside the intellectual responses.
Judging by a lot of posts on here just being a vegetarian is cause for many of you to despise, and even hate me.
Okay, let's imagine a world where tomorrow everyone wakes up and goes "you know what, i'm going to be a vegetarian from now on".
What a good idea. I mean all the candle makers were truly buggered when the lightbulb was invented, and the farriers were when the internal combustion engine came along, not to mention the Thatchers when tiles were easier to transport. The bargees all starved to death when trains happened.
As a vegetarian I could probably live with the meat industry disappearing, maybe a lot of those involved in producing meat as food would end up looking after and tending crops.
I post it here to inform the debate, not to antagonise, but DON'T open it if you have squeamish people around, or you are squeamish, or at work, or possibly have children there.
sorry, just edited it as the opening picture was full on..
If you go to slaughterhouse on youtube you can see what we are talking about, possibly have a visceral response to place alongside the intellectual responses.
Judging by a lot of posts on here just being a vegetarian is cause for many of you to despise, and even hate me.
Okay, let's imagine a world where tomorrow everyone wakes up and goes "you know what, i'm going to be a vegetarian from now on".
What a good idea. I mean all the candle makers were truly buggered when the lightbulb was invented, and the farriers were when the internal combustion engine came along, not to mention the Thatchers when tiles were easier to transport. The bargees all starved to death when trains happened.
As a vegetarian I could probably live with the meat industry disappearing, maybe a lot of those involved in producing meat as food would end up looking after and tending crops.
stop trolling and read the rest of my post.
I am afraid you are mistaken, I am not trolling.
Things change (usually over a shorter period of time than 'tomorrow'), and people usually have to adapt to that change. There are countless industries and workforces that have virtually disappeared before now when change has occurred. As for the world going into meltdown, well to repeat a point from earlier, if we had loads more oxygen producing, carbon monoxide absorbing plants, and loads less oxygen consuming carbon monoxide producing animals the world would likely be a better not a worse place.
I post it here to inform the debate, not to antagonise, but DON'T open it if you have squeamish people around, or you are squeamish, or at work, or possibly have children there.
sorry, just edited it as the opening picture was full on..
If you go to slaughterhouse on youtube you can see what we are talking about, possibly have a visceral response to place alongside the intellectual responses.
Judging by a lot of posts on here just being a vegetarian is cause for many of you to despise, and even hate me.
Okay, let's imagine a world where tomorrow everyone wakes up and goes "you know what, i'm going to be a vegetarian from now on".
What a good idea. I mean all the candle makers were truly buggered when the lightbulb was invented, and the farriers were when the internal combustion engine came along, not to mention the Thatchers when tiles were easier to transport. The bargees all starved to death when trains happened.
As a vegetarian I could probably live with the meat industry disappearing, maybe a lot of those involved in producing meat as food would end up looking after and tending crops.
stop trolling and read the rest of my post.
I am afraid you are mistaken, I am not trolling.
Things change (usually over a shorter period of time than 'tomorrow'), and people usually have to adapt to that change. There are countless industries and workforces that have virtually disappeared before now when change has occurred. As for the world going into meltdown, well to repeat a point from earlier, if we had loads more oxygen producing, carbon monoxide absorbing plants, and loads less oxygen consuming carbon monoxide producing animals the world would likely be a better not a worse place.
Considering I tackled the issue that it won't just be farmers that will be affected with this change in my previous post I won't dignify this with a reply and say that you're either trolling or a little stupid.
Ethically it's worse being a vegetarian than it is being a meat eater.
@Jints - the last sentence of your post is spot on mate. There seem to be a couple posting on this thread who seem to despise vegetarians and the whole concept of trying to live a cruelty-free life but hey, it's not for me to call them out because basically I can't be arsed to get into a row with individuals who seem intolerant to others. I'm happy with the choices I make and the reasons for those choices so if anyone doesn't like it, well f**k 'em.
There's no one being intolerant of vegetarians, just their comments implying carnivores are a backward, uninformed race apart. Vegetarians can't advance the argument in support of vegetarianism without playing the "cruelty" or "care for animals" card. Vegetarianism = "trying to live a cruelty free life".
So you justify vegetarianism through suggesting carnivores are cruel or like killing things. Most vegetarians, including my wife and three daughters just don't like the idea of eating meat, end of, leave it at that. Had plenty of opportunity to examine all the arguments without anyone despising anyone. I don't care a fig they are vegetarians and unlike vegetarian/animal rights activists, carnivores have no desire to convert the World to their way of thinking. If my family had to justify their views like you do by implying people who eat meat like cruelty or enjoy killing things - they would get under my skin and prompt a reaction, like comments on here have.
I post it here to inform the debate, not to antagonise, but DON'T open it if you have squeamish people around, or you are squeamish, or at work, or possibly have children there.
sorry, just edited it as the opening picture was full on..
If you go to slaughterhouse on youtube you can see what we are talking about, possibly have a visceral response to place alongside the intellectual responses.
Judging by a lot of posts on here just being a vegetarian is cause for many of you to despise, and even hate me.
Okay, let's imagine a world where tomorrow everyone wakes up and goes "you know what, i'm going to be a vegetarian from now on".
What a good idea. I mean all the candle makers were truly buggered when the lightbulb was invented, and the farriers were when the internal combustion engine came along, not to mention the Thatchers when tiles were easier to transport. The bargees all starved to death when trains happened.
As a vegetarian I could probably live with the meat industry disappearing, maybe a lot of those involved in producing meat as food would end up looking after and tending crops.
stop trolling and read the rest of my post.
I am afraid you are mistaken, I am not trolling.
Things change (usually over a shorter period of time than 'tomorrow'), and people usually have to adapt to that change. There are countless industries and workforces that have virtually disappeared before now when change has occurred. As for the world going into meltdown, well to repeat a point from earlier, if we had loads more oxygen producing, carbon monoxide absorbing plants, and loads less oxygen consuming carbon monoxide producing animals the world would likely be a better not a worse place.
Ethically it's worse being a vegetarian than it is being a meat eater.
I disagree with that, because I don't believe that eating meat is ethically better than being a vegetarian.
I post it here to inform the debate, not to antagonise, but DON'T open it if you have squeamish people around, or you are squeamish, or at work, or possibly have children there.
sorry, just edited it as the opening picture was full on..
If you go to slaughterhouse on youtube you can see what we are talking about, possibly have a visceral response to place alongside the intellectual responses.
Judging by a lot of posts on here just being a vegetarian is cause for many of you to despise, and even hate me.
Okay, let's imagine a world where tomorrow everyone wakes up and goes "you know what, i'm going to be a vegetarian from now on".
What a good idea. I mean all the candle makers were truly buggered when the lightbulb was invented, and the farriers were when the internal combustion engine came along, not to mention the Thatchers when tiles were easier to transport. The bargees all starved to death when trains happened.
As a vegetarian I could probably live with the meat industry disappearing, maybe a lot of those involved in producing meat as food would end up looking after and tending crops.
stop trolling and read the rest of my post.
I am afraid you are mistaken, I am not trolling.
Things change (usually over a shorter period of time than 'tomorrow'), and people usually have to adapt to that change. There are countless industries and workforces that have virtually disappeared before now when change has occurred. As for the world going into meltdown, well to repeat a point from earlier, if we had loads more oxygen producing, carbon monoxide absorbing plants, and loads less oxygen consuming carbon monoxide producing animals the world would likely be a better not a worse place.
Ethically it's worse being a vegetarian than it is being a meat eater.
I disagree with that, because I don't believe that eating meat is ethically better than being a vegetarian.
if everyone was a vegetarian hundreds of millions of animals would die and be forced into extinction. Fact. Millions would lose their livelihoods. Fact. Hundreds of square miles in the UK alone would become useless. Fact.
If we were all meat eaters... Nothing would happen.
@Jints - the last sentence of your post is spot on mate. There seem to be a couple posting on this thread who seem to despise vegetarians and the whole concept of trying to live a cruelty-free life but hey, it's not for me to call them out because basically I can't be arsed to get into a row with individuals who seem intolerant to others. I'm happy with the choices I make and the reasons for those choices so if anyone doesn't like it, well f**k 'em.
There's no one being intolerant of vegetarians, just their comments implying carnivores are a backward, uninformed race apart. Vegetarians can't advance the argument in support of vegetarianism without playing the "cruelty" or "care for animals" card. Vegetarianism = "trying to live a cruelty free life".
So you justify vegetarianism through suggesting carnivores are cruel or like killing things. Most vegetarians, including my wife and three daughters just don't like the idea of eating meat, end of, leave it at that. Had plenty of opportunity to examine all the arguments without anyone despising anyone. I don't care a fig they are vegetarians and unlike vegetarian/animal rights activists, carnivores have no desire to convert the World to their way of thinking. If my family had to justify their views like you do by implying people who eat meat like cruelty or enjoy killing things - they would get under my skin and prompt a reaction, like comments on here have.
I don't believe the vegetarians on here are suggesting that carnivores are cruel and like killing things.
Possibly vegetarians are saying they think the meat industry is cruel however, and that does not imply carnivores like cruelty. A lot of carnivores I have met have said they couldn't actually do the slaughtering themselves, but they still want to eat meat. It is possible those carnivores actually dislike the idea of doing the slaughtering because they are not cruel and they don't like to kill animals directly.
if everyone was a vegetarian hundreds of millions of animals would die and be forced into extinction. Fact. Millions would lose their livelihoods. Fact. Hundreds of square miles in the UK alone would become useless. Fact.
If we were all meat eaters... Nothing would happen.
This isn't very good logic. Becoming a vegeterian is an individual choice, which may or may not be an ethical one for the person concerned. An individual becoming a vegeterian can't cause everyone else in the world to become vegeterian and therefore that choice can possibly lead to your farmageddon scenario.
Your argument is against a straw man. It would have some force against someone contending that legislation shoudl be passed making eating meat illegal. But nobody has suggest that.
If you were correct that eating meat is an ethical choice, it would necessarily be the case that the more meat you eat the more ethical you are.
I came away from the programme with three key things. 1) The fat in red meat is not harmful to you (I always assumed it was) 2) Processed meats are bad news (I always assumed they were not good but not that bad). 3) A vegetarian diet with limited amounts of meat is better than a vegetarian diet (This is what I do although fish didn't get mentioned).
To a great extent, it it came back to what we know though - that moderation is not going to do too much damage. If you eat McDonalds every lunchtime, drink 10 pints while smoking 40 cigarettes and have a kebab on the way home - well, what do you expect?
You've just described my life and I'll have you know I'm going to live forever just to piss off the health nazis:)
GF is a vegetarion , minds her own business - never tries to convert people but everywhere she goes , people always have to attack and ridicule her for her own life choice.
Gets on my nerves that, i rarely have to explain why i am a meat eater.
I post it here to inform the debate, not to antagonise, but DON'T open it if you have squeamish people around, or you are squeamish, or at work, or possibly have children there.
sorry, just edited it as the opening picture was full on..
If you go to slaughterhouse on youtube you can see what we are talking about, possibly have a visceral response to place alongside the intellectual responses.
Judging by a lot of posts on here just being a vegetarian is cause for many of you to despise, and even hate me.
Okay, let's imagine a world where tomorrow everyone wakes up and goes "you know what, i'm going to be a vegetarian from now on".
What a good idea. I mean all the candle makers were truly buggered when the lightbulb was invented, and the farriers were when the internal combustion engine came along, not to mention the Thatchers when tiles were easier to transport. The bargees all starved to death when trains happened.
As a vegetarian I could probably live with the meat industry disappearing, maybe a lot of those involved in producing meat as food would end up looking after and tending crops.
stop trolling and read the rest of my post.
I am afraid you are mistaken, I am not trolling.
Things change (usually over a shorter period of time than 'tomorrow'), and people usually have to adapt to that change. There are countless industries and workforces that have virtually disappeared before now when change has occurred. As for the world going into meltdown, well to repeat a point from earlier, if we had loads more oxygen producing, carbon monoxide absorbing plants, and loads less oxygen consuming carbon monoxide producing animals the world would likely be a better not a worse place.
Ethically it's worse being a vegetarian than it is being a meat eater.
I disagree with that, because I don't believe that eating meat is ethically better than being a vegetarian.
if everyone was a vegetarian hundreds of millions of animals would die and be forced into extinction. Fact. Millions would lose their livelihoods. Fact. Hundreds of square miles in the UK alone would become useless. Fact.
If we were all meat eaters... Nothing would happen.
Gosh what is there to say about your facts?
I suppose your facts imply there is an ethical imperative behind the meat industry, and being a carnivore is doing the world a favour.
In regard to your first fact, well the meat industry means that hundreds of millions of animals die, do they not?
The second fact about livelihoods I touched on before, when one industry finishes people find alternatives, like the village blacksmith becoming the village garage for example.
The useless square miles of the UK is more complex. The European Economic Community has, or did have a policy of 'set aside' where land was deliberately not used because of farming policy, we also had wine lakes, butter mountains and the like because of the system in place. Land that is used for grazing can sometimes be used in other ways like tourism...although that is likely to be less productive, but land that is heavily used to grow animal feed can be used to grow all sorts of crops which may well balance thing a fair bit, and anyway factory farming is not particularly land dependent is it? The brown field sites freed up by less meat industry could also be put to use.
Your 'facts' are not invulnerable to being disputed, and those facts only touch on a small part of the ethical debate.
I post it here to inform the debate, not to antagonise, but DON'T open it if you have squeamish people around, or you are squeamish, or at work, or possibly have children there.
sorry, just edited it as the opening picture was full on..
If you go to slaughterhouse on youtube you can see what we are talking about, possibly have a visceral response to place alongside the intellectual responses.
Judging by a lot of posts on here just being a vegetarian is cause for many of you to despise, and even hate me.
Okay, let's imagine a world where tomorrow everyone wakes up and goes "you know what, i'm going to be a vegetarian from now on".
What a good idea. I mean all the candle makers were truly buggered when the lightbulb was invented, and the farriers were when the internal combustion engine came along, not to mention the Thatchers when tiles were easier to transport. The bargees all starved to death when trains happened.
As a vegetarian I could probably live with the meat industry disappearing, maybe a lot of those involved in producing meat as food would end up looking after and tending crops.
stop trolling and read the rest of my post.
I am afraid you are mistaken, I am not trolling.
Things change (usually over a shorter period of time than 'tomorrow'), and people usually have to adapt to that change. There are countless industries and workforces that have virtually disappeared before now when change has occurred. As for the world going into meltdown, well to repeat a point from earlier, if we had loads more oxygen producing, carbon monoxide absorbing plants, and loads less oxygen consuming carbon monoxide producing animals the world would likely be a better not a worse place.
Ethically it's worse being a vegetarian than it is being a meat eater.
I disagree with that, because I don't believe that eating meat is ethically better than being a vegetarian.
if everyone was a vegetarian hundreds of millions of animals would die and be forced into extinction. Fact. Millions would lose their livelihoods. Fact. Hundreds of square miles in the UK alone would become useless. Fact.
If we were all meat eaters... Nothing would happen.
100 yards down my lane is a farmer who has a herd of about 100 cows, he employs no-one else, occasionally maybe a vet. He owns about 6 very large fields say about 200 acres.
If this field was used for orchards, vegetables, crops it would employ many more people, if it was farmed organically it would employ even more. Our agriculture policy has meant that farms are getting bigger and bigger and employing less and less people.
Breeds of domestically bred animals are basically being put on the scrap heap anyway in favour of a monoculture. These animals are bred to be killed, 100 of millions of them every year, you cannot on one hand use that as a sentimental argument while on the other hand wave each generation off to the abattoir.
I eat out quite a lot as we often have friends over here on holiday, and I have to say that the vegetarians among them are a lot more easy to please than the people who still think they are six and won't eat any vegetables, or won't eat anything that isn't plain, or anything with bones in, or fish or all the other childish fads that people have. Most veggies accept that they may have only one or two choices on the menu in a country like Portugal, and get on with it.
I eat out quite a lot as we often have friends over here on holiday, and I have to say that the vegetarians among them are a lot more easy to please than the people who still think they are six and won't eat any vegetables, or won't eat anything that isn't plain, or anything with bones in, or fish or all the other childish fads that people have. Most veggies accept that they may have only one or two choices on the menu in a country like Portugal, and get on with it.
GF is a vegetarion , minds her own business - never tries to convert people but everywhere she goes , people always have to attack and ridicule her for her own life choice.
Gets on my nerves that, i rarely have to explain why i am a meat eater.
I find it bizarre that lots of our meat eating male friends seem to think that they would be less macho if they gave up meat. This is not a dig at them as they are still friends, I just don't understand it. My wife and I have also been ridiculed by a publican who wanted us to order food with him, we didn't. Our neighbour publican with a restaurant also has said some very unsavoury things about Veggies. We don't eat there.
There are unreasonable comments from all sides of the debate. I don't try to convert people but conversation almost always comes around to our diet during a meal and new friends have no idea what we will serve up for a meal thinking that they will have a dish of lettuce or similar.
I eat out quite a lot as we often have friends over here on holiday, and I have to say that the vegetarians among them are a lot more easy to please than the people who still think they are six and won't eat any vegetables, or won't eat anything that isn't plain, or anything with bones in, or fish or all the other childish fads that people have. Most veggies accept that they may have only one or two choices on the menu in a country like Portugal, and get on with it.
I still think they are mad, but in a nice way.
I spent 3 weeks out your way last year. I never had a problem, being a veggie, eating out. Plenty of choice; Indian, Chinese, Italian, full veggie English breakfast, chips and beans on toast. All I had to do is rotate the restaurants every 3/4 days.
I eat out quite a lot as we often have friends over here on holiday, and I have to say that the vegetarians among them are a lot more easy to please than the people who still think they are six and won't eat any vegetables, or won't eat anything that isn't plain, or anything with bones in, or fish or all the other childish fads that people have. Most veggies accept that they may have only one or two choices on the menu in a country like Portugal, and get on with it.
I still think they are mad, but in a nice way.
I spent 3 weeks out your way last year. I never had a problem, being a veggie, eating out. Plenty of choice; Indian, Chinese, Italian, full veggie English breakfast, chips and beans on toast. All I had to do is rotate the restaurants every 3/4 days.
Absolutely CK, but I was referring to the more traditional Portuguese restaurants, where often the only vegetarian option is an omelette or a salad. Though one just around the corner from me does a fantastic veggie stir fry and a great vegetarian cannelloni as well as the best wild boar in town.
Funny enough we are going to a vegetarian restaurant tonight with West Sussex Addick (his wife's a vegetarian) - it serves some of the nicest food I have ever tasted.
My stepdaughter has become vegetarian which i find admirable. But the annoying thing is she doesnt eat bloody vegetables!! What a rubbish vegetarian. One night on holiday we had to walk to 7 restaurants to try and find something on the menu that she could eat, she didnt get a choice at the last one we just went in. So at that stage selfishly we were both thinking why dont you eat meat!!
My stepdaughter has become vegetarian which i find admirable. But the annoying thing is she doesnt eat bloody vegetables!! What a rubbish vegetarian. One night on holiday we had to walk to 7 restaurants to try and find something on the menu that she could eat, she didnt get a choice at the last one we just went in. So at that stage selfishly we were both thinking why dont you eat meat!!
No that's not selfish B. Sorry kid if your pallet wont take vegetables then you can't be fussy about eating something that you claim you can stomach. I once lived with a veggie who didn't eat 75% of the "normal" available vegetables, and so we stuck to Indian and Chinese on the rare occasions we could afford to eat out.
Absolutely CK, but I was referring to the more traditional Portuguese restaurants, where often the only vegetarian option is an omelette or a salad. Though one just around the corner from me does a fantastic veggie stir fry and a great vegetarian cannelloni as well as the best wild boar in town.
Funny enough we are going to a vegetarian restaurant tonight with West Sussex Addick (his wife's a vegetarian) - it serves some of the nicest food I have ever tasted.
Sabores veggie place in Loule is a good one if you get the chance
My stepdaughter has become vegetarian which i find admirable. But the annoying thing is she doesnt eat bloody vegetables!! What a rubbish vegetarian. One night on holiday we had to walk to 7 restaurants to try and find something on the menu that she could eat, she didnt get a choice at the last one we just went in. So at that stage selfishly we were both thinking why dont you eat meat!!
I know several vegeterians like this - they end up living off just a few begs plus pulses, rice etc. For some vegeterians its about ethical issues, for others it's about taste, texture etc.
Comments
I've gave up eating meat before I started school, just didn't like it. That was nearly 50 years ago. I dont ever crave a bacon sandwich or a 2am kebab but it dosent worry me if people want to indulge.
Also I never force my vegetarianism on anyone, if I go to dinner with others I will eat the same as them less the meat.
As a vegetarian I could probably live with the meat industry disappearing, maybe a lot of those involved in producing meat as food would end up looking after and tending crops.
:-)
Things change (usually over a shorter period of time than 'tomorrow'), and people usually have to adapt to that change. There are countless industries and workforces that have virtually disappeared before now when change has occurred.
As for the world going into meltdown, well to repeat a point from earlier, if we had loads more oxygen producing, carbon monoxide absorbing plants, and loads less oxygen consuming carbon monoxide producing animals the world would likely be a better not a worse place.
Ethically it's worse being a vegetarian than it is being a meat eater.
So you justify vegetarianism through suggesting carnivores are cruel or like killing things. Most vegetarians, including my wife and three daughters just don't like the idea of eating meat, end of, leave it at that. Had plenty of opportunity to examine all the arguments without anyone despising anyone. I don't care a fig they are vegetarians and unlike vegetarian/animal rights activists, carnivores have no desire to convert the World to their way of thinking. If my family had to justify their views like you do by implying people who eat meat like cruelty or enjoy killing things - they would get under my skin and prompt a reaction, like comments on here have.
If we were all meat eaters... Nothing would happen.
Possibly vegetarians are saying they think the meat industry is cruel however, and that does not imply carnivores like cruelty.
A lot of carnivores I have met have said they couldn't actually do the slaughtering themselves, but they still want to eat meat. It is possible those carnivores actually dislike the idea of doing the slaughtering because they are not cruel and they don't like to kill animals directly.
Your argument is against a straw man. It would have some force against someone contending that legislation shoudl be passed making eating meat illegal. But nobody has suggest that.
If you were correct that eating meat is an ethical choice, it would necessarily be the case that the more meat you eat the more ethical you are.
Gets on my nerves that, i rarely have to explain why i am a meat eater.
I suppose your facts imply there is an ethical imperative behind the meat industry, and being a carnivore is doing the world a favour.
In regard to your first fact, well the meat industry means that hundreds of millions of animals die, do they not?
The second fact about livelihoods I touched on before, when one industry finishes people find alternatives, like the village blacksmith becoming the village garage for example.
The useless square miles of the UK is more complex. The European Economic Community has, or did have a policy of 'set aside' where land was deliberately not used because of farming policy, we also had wine lakes, butter mountains and the like because of the system in place.
Land that is used for grazing can sometimes be used in other ways like tourism...although that is likely to be less productive, but land that is heavily used to grow animal feed can be used to grow all sorts of crops which may well balance thing a fair bit, and anyway factory farming is not particularly land dependent is it? The brown field sites freed up by less meat industry could also be put to use.
Your 'facts' are not invulnerable to being disputed, and those facts only touch on a small part of the ethical debate.
If this field was used for orchards, vegetables, crops it would employ many more people, if it was farmed organically it would employ even more. Our agriculture policy has meant that farms are getting bigger and bigger and employing less and less people.
Breeds of domestically bred animals are basically being put on the scrap heap anyway in favour of a monoculture. These animals are bred to be killed, 100 of millions of them every year, you cannot on one hand use that as a sentimental argument while on the other hand wave each generation off to the abattoir.
I still think they are mad, but in a nice way.
Not sure whether to 'like' this or LOL it :-)
There are unreasonable comments from all sides of the debate. I don't try to convert people but conversation almost always comes around to our diet during a meal and new friends have no idea what we will serve up for a meal thinking that they will have a dish of lettuce or similar.
BTW Kentaddick, no facts in your comments at all.
Funny enough we are going to a vegetarian restaurant tonight with West Sussex Addick (his wife's a vegetarian) - it serves some of the nicest food I have ever tasted.
Absolutely CK, but I was referring to the more traditional Portuguese restaurants, where often the only vegetarian option is an omelette or a salad. Though one just around the corner from me does a fantastic veggie stir fry and a great vegetarian cannelloni as well as the best wild boar in town.
Funny enough we are going to a vegetarian restaurant tonight with West Sussex Addick (his wife's a vegetarian) - it serves some of the nicest food I have ever tasted.
Sabores veggie place in Loule is a good one if you get the chance
@Curb_It - what does a non vegetable eating vegetarian eat?
edit - I see Jints has answered one of these questions