Vegetarianism, Animal Cruelty and Human Overpopulation.

StoicBuddhistAlex

I just watched earthlings



I really dont think is viabale to stop eating meat in the short run.

But 7 billion humans it too much, no matter how much we progress if we humans keep reproducing at this rate, we will kill all biodiversity.

If we all go vegan, there is not enuf space for farms unless we again kill all forest, jungles etc.

LETS GO GET A VASECTOMY who is with me?

StoicBuddhistAlex

Buddhist view on this?

Invincible_summer

I don't see what eating meat has to do with overpopulation. I'm also not sure if there's much Buddhist writing on overpopulation.

And I don't think it's true that "we" have to "again kill all forest, jungles, etc" if most of the world were to become vegan. Do you know how much real estate a factory farm (and its surrounding buildings and feces lagoons) take(s) up? A lot. With modern advances in agriculture and even using vertical farming, the same spaces could be used to provide cruelty-free food for people.

Besides, I don't think it's realistic to expect every single person in the world to become vegan/vegetarian. It would be cool if even half the world was, but it won't be the case.

Victorious

I do not know what a VASECTOMY is but on a hunch I'd say no.

/Victor

etherea

Male sterilisation

StoicBuddhistAlex

I don't see what eating meat has to do with overpopulation. I'm also not sure if there's much Buddhist writing on overpopulation.

And I don't think it's true that "we" have to "again kill all forest, jungles, etc" if most of the world were to become vegan. Do you know how much real estate a factory farm (and its surrounding buildings and feces lagoons) take(s) up? A lot. With modern advances in agriculture and even using vertical farming, the same spaces could be used to provide cruelty-free food for people.

Besides, I don't think it's realistic to expect every single person in the world to become vegan/vegetarian. It would be cool if even half the world was, but it won't be the case.

I don't see what eating meat has to do with overpopulation??

More humans = More animals to be tortured, more resources needed to kill them with less pain.

We need to start controling human population, all the advances you say are great but it would be double benefit to also reduce population dramatically.

Its really that hard just to have 1 or 2 kids????

StoicBuddhistAlex

I do not know what a VASECTOMY is but on a hunch I'd say no.

/Victor

How many kids you wana have?

StoicBuddhistAlex

Male sterilisation

Amen

person

The best form of population control has shown to be the education and empowerment of women. Material development is also a key factor because when people feel secure that their children will live past 5 they can plan their lives and incomes better. Material development and the empowerment of women seem to go hand in hand.

Population is expected to peak at around 9 billion sometime around 2050 and then slowly taper off. I think the next century will be a challenge environmentally and economically but if we, as a species, can find a way through it we'll have learnt some very important lessons.

Jason

Personally, I don't think overpopulation is the problem so as much as overconsumption and industrial production methods and military operations under capitalism.

vinlyn

Personally, I don't think overpopulation is the problem so as much as overconsumption and industrial production methods and military operations under capitalism.

I happened to be watching an old MGM light comedy the other evening from 1953. Oddly enough, the plot centered around a married couple who could only afford meat several nights a week. And it did remind me that in this country we didn't always eat meat 2 or more meals a day, everyday. But that has become far more prevalent over the last half-century.

Dakini

Population is expected to peak at around 9 billion sometime around 2050 and then slowly taper off.

Source, please.

Vegetarianism vs. meat-eating and overpopulation are linked. Animal protein is much more expensive to produce in terms of land use than vegetable protein. You can feed a lot more people on land devoted to vegetable protein than animal protein. Frances Moore Lappe first wrote about this in "Diet For A Small Planet" in the 1970's. There are farming techniques that produce a lot more food per plot than conventional farming, too. The problem is that this "vertical farming" or "french intensive farming" is very labor-intensive. It would work in countries where labor is cheap, but industrial farming developed in the West because labor is expensive, and mechanized farming is cheaper. Or was, before gas prices skyrocketed.

A multifaceted approach is needed; slowing population growth, farming more efficiently, farming to feed local populations first, rather than focussing on export crops, economic development and education for the poor, reigning in corporate power and values, re-visioning the economic system for human values and a sustainable future, etc. etc. etc....

person

Population is expected to peak at around 9 billion sometime around 2050 and then slowly taper off.

Source, please.

Here's a complete and thorough UN report:

9.22 billion in 2075. Population therefore grows
slightly beyond the level of 8.92 billion projected
for 2050 in the 2002 Revision, on which these projections
are based. However, after reaching its
maximum, world population declines slightly and
then resumes increasing, slowly, to reach a level
of 8.97 billion by 2300, not much different from
the projected 2050 figure.

http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final.pdf

Here's something more readable and concise, though it says that earlier predictions may be off and population could hit 10 billion by 2100.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/world/04population.html

IronRabbit

Anyone remember Soylent Green?



Ready for a poop burger with your soylent green chips?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20072270-71/japanese-scientist-creates-poop-burger-surely-not/

seeker242

I just watched earthlings


I really dont think is viable to stop eating meat in the short run.

It's pretty viable if you have a good supermarket nearby.

Invincible_summer

I don't see what eating meat has to do with overpopulation??

More humans = More animals to be tortured, more resources needed to kill them with less pain.

We need to start controling human population, all the advances you say are great but it would be double benefit to also reduce population dramatically.

Its really that hard just to have 1 or 2 kids????

Even if the population decreased dramatically due to some catastrophic event, having fewer people would just mean fewer animals are subject to cruelty, but they are subject to cruelty nonetheless.

Seeing as how you prefaced your original post with a link to Earthlings, I assume the topic of animal cruelty is at the forefront of this debate? If so, wouldn't it help animals more if humans ate less/no meat and advocated for animal rights than to hope for an enormously sociopathic culling of the human race?