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The Vegetarian Myth

5 Comments

Dr. Eades reviews what appears to be a very interesting book.

My thoughts: No, we can’t sustain the current human population without agriculture. But then, we’re not sure how we’re going to sustain a human population in space, either. We need advances in technology to solve either problem. I suspect that we’ll be manufacturing meat in the not-too-distant future that will have the taste, texture and nutrition of the real thing, and that will be good for all, including wildlife. But even absent that, I’d amend the old bumper sticker. Grains aren’t food. Grains are what food eats.

5 thoughts on “The Vegetarian Myth”

  1. Interesting but humans need to eat. Even if we didn’t eat cereal grains, where do vegetables come from? Its impossible to have zero impact on the land. Even hunters and gatherers shaped the landscape to produce food. And the hunter gatherer lifestyle is not an envious one.

    In some ways farming does displace the prior plants and animals that inhabited the land but farming is also about being efficient. Meaning that efficiencies save other land for nature to abuse as she wants.

    The author might no longer be a vegan but she still feels guilty for existing. No one should feel, or be made to feel, guilty for existing.

    1. Synthetic food could have a far lower impact than conventional agriculture. The efficiency of a field at converting light energy to food energy is horrible (typically < 1%; I think the highest ever recorded was 2%.) Drive the food synthesizers with nuclear or PV electricity. The synfood factory would also use far less water than agriculture (which is by far the largest consumer of water in the world.)

      There's a serious cost issue, of course, at least for now.


  2. The author might no longer be a vegan but she still feels guilty for existing. No one should feel, or be made to feel, guilty for existing.

    Why not? After all original sin has its place in religion every much as it has in environmentalism. Where else would the Universe draw its humor from?

  3. I’m not theologian but isn’t this a subset of the argument that got Able killed? Able offered God meat and Cain offered God Grain. God liked Able’s gift better… that cheesed off Cain so he offed his brother. (or did I get them backwards… it’s been a while since I’ve read that part) Either way, I think this argument has been going on for a while.

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