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Cattle ranchers are making less money in the US despite beef prices at an all-time high. In the meantime, Trump started importing beef from Argentina to lower beef prices, but only achieved to lower cattle prices.
this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2025
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Leopards Ate My Face
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Sure.
My main reason for doing the vegan thing for so long wasn't animal ethics...it was environmentalism and efficiency. Animal ethics came secondary, but I did come to understand the perspective.
Humanity is now able to make fully sustainable diets from non-animal sources. Some micronutrients (namely B12, D, Iron, Zinc, and Omega-3s) are difficult but not impossible to vegan-source.
I do not see a sustainable way to feed humanity going forward on an omnivorous diet. Especially not one that involves the volume of red meat that is found in a typical American diet.
However...your appeal to nature fallacy is flawed when you realize that there is nothing natural about modern agricultural livestock. You could say that an (American) slave had a better life than a person in the wilds of Africa. That obviously wouldn't be accurate...but you could say it.
It's not so much a matter of eat-or-be-eaten but one of freedom. And bovines especially...highly social creatures and incredible emotional intelligence. More than we give them credit for.
But even my hens exhibit unique "personalities" (chickenalities?), social hierarchy, even daily routines. I got one girl who, every day, I let them out, she follows me to the nesting box, checks out the situation, pecks my leg twice, then goes to her favorite dust-bath spot so the others don't get there first.
We could obviously argue about this for a long time. We could link to studies supporting our own viewpoints and still end up disagreeing, so I'll just short circuit that and disagree with you on most of what you said.
Only the last part I agree with: animals exhibit intelligence and social structures. That isn't limited to mammals, hot or cold-blooded creatures but insects as well.
We humans think we are better, more evolved, more intelligent, and thus more deserving of the crown on this planet. How intelligent are we though if we lose our capability to reason in groups? How smart are we if refuse to tackle climate change? How deserving of the crown are we if we are willing to roll the dice and continue the mass extinction even we are provoking just so that a few of use can indulge for a few generations?
Considering livestock and related transport/storage is a large portion of total GHGs, I'd say we are making the same point.
Yeah, no.
Page 2 of A Green Misconception: The Real Impact and Role of Greenhouse Gases
Global Warming And Diary Cattle: How to Control and Reduce Methane Emission
That can also be reduced, if the extrapolation is correct to nearly 0% if algae were included in cattle-feed at just 2%
The red macroalgae Asparagopsis taxiformis is a potent natural antimethanogenic that reduces methane production during in vitro fermentation with rumen fluid Available
Again, we can quote studies at each other and claim the other person to be wrong or what can and should be done, but it won't get us anywhere. You will stick to your opinion and I will to mine.
Good day.
Your first source says that "ruminant animals contribute about 16% of the world’s total methane emissions" and that CH4 emissions lead to 28x more warming per ton than CO2.
Your second source raises a good question about your third:
The environmental impacts of raising food for cattle is also left out of these studies. Over a third of global crop production goes to cattle. That's a lot of fertile land that could be used to feed humans directly.
What is the environmental cost to raise red algae to add to the feed? At scale, is this more than just allowing the cows to belch out the methane? What other impacts does this have on the cows overall health and digestive system?
Methanogenesis is a natural outcome of their diet...the carbon and hydrogen they are consuming is going somewhere...so where?
These studies always leave these questions unanswered...like the slobs that say Ammonnia -> Hydrogen will be our savior for transport...where does the ammonia come from? Producing that is not free and comes at a significant environmental and energy cost to begin with.
Not to even get into water-in/water-out...even the much hated Almond is far more water-efficient dairy alternative (it's big problem is trying to grow it on the desert)...while Soy and Pea milk are much, much more water efficient and more nutritious than
And, that second article talks a bit about manure management, which itself is a big problem...a lot of the E. coli, listeria, and salmonella outbreaks are a direct result of poor manura management causing runoff into leafy-green fields. Another fault of animal agriculture that's oft forgotten.
So even if algae can help, the entire thing is on dire need of reform, and the costs of beef are artificially low. Like gas, they don't account for the external costs like environmental impact. That really needs to be part of the equation. If they were priced accordingly a McDouble would be a fancy luxurious dinner. Even moreso of the workers were paid fairly.
over what time? because methane breaks down, unlike co2
Per the article, over 100 years. Or, my life, my kids lifes, and most of my unborn grandkids lives. Probably some of their kids lives, too.
thank you