this post was submitted on 05 May 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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[–] DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 55 points 6 months ago (9 children)

Why do people eat food they know isn't good for their health? Why do people continue to buy products from companies that have proven to only sell bad products or engage in scumbag practices?

They all have the same answer.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 16 points 6 months ago (6 children)

It turns out in 1961 the American heart Association took bribery money from procter and gamble, who owned and sold "healthier Crisco" cooking oils that weren't high in saturated fat, like beef and other cooking oils were.

The AHA then claimed and pushed that saturated fats caused heart disease.

Problem is, something like 88% of every study done in the past 60 years has found little to no link between heart disease and saturated fats.

So beef, according to most studies, isn't bad for you. The AHA was just crooked and on the take, being paid off to sell Crisco.

Now it is calorie dense and people tend to eat too much of it, but that seems to be a lot of things. Don't eat too much or you get fat. But apparently, you don't have to worry about saturated fats being bad for you.

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[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 52 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Each individual is facing the following choice in life:

  • sacrifice to save the planet, and fail
  • or not

People want to immediately jump to “if everyone would just …”

Nobody is looking at an “everyone does X” button. People only have their “I do X” button available.

So that is literally the answer to your question. Very few people would sacrifice the civilization to eat a cheeseburger. But nobody has that choice or that power in their hands. Their choice is eat the cheeseburger or not, and the survival of civilization stays rigidly the same between those two choices.

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[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 47 points 6 months ago (8 children)

Same reason we use electricity despite not being 100% green energy and thus being even worse for the earth?

If you actually wanna guilt this question then the fuck are you doing using your coal and gas powered electricity to do it?

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, because the capitalists have seen to it that you will never be permitted to make an ethical choice that would dare compete with what they expect you to choose.

Being a moralizing prick doesn't send any message, what gets people to change is making that change easy, that's why instead of being terminally online fuckwads, british vegangelists spread the good news by hosting free kitchens, volunteering to take people grocery shopping on their own pound, teaching vegan cooking classes, and all other sorts of actually addressing literally any of the actual concerns people have about going vegan instead of being a condescending snob about it.

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[–] speck@kbin.social 32 points 6 months ago (1 children)

How about we shift to talking about portion control and be less all or nothing?

[–] Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 8 points 6 months ago

How about we don't engage in reasonable, healthy discussion and instead throw shit?

[–] thesink05@lemmy.world 31 points 6 months ago (32 children)

Not everyone has the time and resources to commit to every 'good' fight under the sun especially when the systemic problems are as deeply rooted in our society as they are.

Which device did you post from? Did you vet it wasn't made with slave labor? You might need to go recycle all your devices and unfortunately that will cut you off from getting your message out to the world.

Your post does more harm to your cause than good because it just makes everyone angry at you.

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[–] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 30 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This rage bait question could be reworded as...

Why do people consume when we know it's bad for the earth.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 17 points 6 months ago

I think it's valid that he chose the #1 food source problem to talk about first. Once we fix that, let's discuss #2.

[–] DBT@lemmy.world 29 points 6 months ago (7 children)

Because it’s a damn good source of creatine and protein. And it tastes good.

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[–] thezeesystem@lemmy.world 27 points 6 months ago (6 children)

The real question is, why should we try to not eat beef for the environment, when corporations make 90% of all pollution in the world.

Maybe focus on the 90% of the problem and not the individual people who but meat?

[–] pugsnroses77@sh.itjust.works 25 points 6 months ago

the beef industry wouldnt be razing down the amazon forest if no one was buying and eating it, would they?

[–] BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 18 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (16 children)

No corporation pollutes except to produce goods or services for human consumption, or for other businesses that provide goods or services for human consumption.

Every gallon of gas burned is to power a vehicle to move you, or the goods you purchase.

Every natural gas line leads to a house, of a business that sells things to houses.

Theres no such thing as a corporation without consumers, we are where the buck is created, and where the buck stops.

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[–] oo1@kbin.social 14 points 6 months ago

I think your argument works if someone is stealing the beef.

If they are buying it then that is directly funding that "90%".

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

The thing about individual action is that if it works, it all adds up. But if people all blame the corporations, individual action makes no dent in the over 50% of emissions that individuals help make; a self-fulfilling prophecy. And yes, over 50%. Politifact goes into detail about how most emission indeed comes from consumption instead of corporate production.

[–] Drusas@kbin.run 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Your own source disputes what you say.

The original study did not include emissions from land use, land use change or forestry, or from sources such as landfills, agriculture and farming. It also did not include data on indirect emissions, which come from purchased energy such as heating and electricity, citing concerns about double-counting emissions attributable to corporations.

The study relied on data collected by the Carbon Majors Database, which focuses on greenhouse gas emissions data from the largest company-related sources. In other words, The data derives from records of carbon dioxide and methane emissions relating to fossil fuel (oil, gas and coal) and cement producers dating back to 1854. ... t’s difficult to discern how much total global emissions can be attributed to the top 100 polluting corporations, but there are ways to get a ballpark idea.

If you use the total global emissions calculated by the Climate Analysis Indicators Tool, an average of around 60% of global emissions can be traced back to those 100 companies from 1990 to 2015.

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[–] Zorque@kbin.social 7 points 6 months ago (5 children)

Because corporations make things based on the demand of those individual people. They don't exist in a vacuum. And they're not going to change because someone on the internet rants about them. Their only incentive is profit

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[–] Ceedoestrees@lemmy.world 27 points 6 months ago (13 children)

Where I live the beef is local and cheap. I'm not able to obtain enough protein without meat, as confirmed by a doctor and a nutritionist when I tried to go vegetarian. With food costs so high it's cheaper to buy cow than anything else, but when I have the money I opt for fish or turkey. I looked into hunting but it's prohibitively expensive for me with permits, tags, guns, licenses, days off and transportation. I tried fishing for myself as well, but whenever I get time to do it, there are warnings about eating fish in the area. When there aren't I never catch anything big enough to legally be allowed to keep. I'd like to get chickens if/when local government ever lifts the bylaws preventing it.

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[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 6 months ago (7 children)

What a loaded question.

Outside of the fact that a single cows life provides about 900 meals for humans, and the scraps left over make boots that last for a decade and also feed our cats and dogs. Plus, it's delicious.

[–] 7heo@lemmy.ml 10 points 6 months ago (6 children)

Yeah so, the amount of meals is correct. But that's about it. I mean, I can't say about the taste, to each their own, but one kg of cow meat needs two dozen kg of grain.

That's about as inefficient as it gets.

As for the leather, the industry doesn't like products that last a decade, so it isn't actually using the leather in such a way. Industrial leather boots last a year tops.

Finally, pet food is made out of discarded cuts of meat, the uglies, etc. But also lots of cereals, and vegetables.

So we could really afford eating less meat. It isn't good for anything. Not for us, not for the other species (certainly not for the cows, that get often half assed butchered in a hasty way because of quotas and profit), and absolutely not for the ecosystem.

But I guess the taste is all that matters.

[–] iAmTheTot@kbin.social 31 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Industrial leather boots last a year tops.

With respect, you're buying awful boots.

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[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Cows are not all fed on grain. A lot of cows are ranched on land that would not be suitable for growing grain crops.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (7 children)

Whatever their food is, 1kg of beef requires 24kg of grain's worth of energy. This is something they teach in high-school biology now. The higher the food chain, the more energy is lost. Stopping such production would be pretty beneficial to the environment, but whether we should is a complicated question.

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[–] Scrof@sopuli.xyz 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Billions of trees every year get cut down to make space for cattle pastures, now tell me how destroying entire ecosystems that have been there for potentially thousands of years is worth some particular meat.

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[–] Species8472@lemmy.world 22 points 6 months ago

Because it tastes great and it's today, and not tomorrow.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 17 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not everybody agrees that beef is bad for you and the environment. We were talking about human health, it's hard to find a more of bioavailable source of nutrition than animal protein and fat

[–] Dempf@lemmy.zip 13 points 6 months ago

While I acknowledge the concept of a "carbon footprint" is complete BS, beef production does have a very high impact on climate change. Just want to point out that fact. I still eat it from time to time though. Yes, beef is high in protein and tasty.

As an aside, I believe as environmentalists, we shouldn't shame people for doing the "wrong" things IMHO as even the best of us still contribute to the problem in some way. Everyone has their own reasons for doing what they do, and shame doesn't often change minds. Personally, I try to take my own small steps, but I'm not prepared to live like a hermit. I do try to eat meat less often, and I volunteer a considerable amount of time to lobby for more climate friendly policies. This course of action is what works well for me.

[–] JesterIzDead@lemm.ee 16 points 6 months ago (5 children)

The average human has much more of a negative effect on the environment than a cow. So, shouldn’t the question be why we tolerate so many people?

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[–] GuitarAbuser@sopuli.xyz 14 points 6 months ago

Because most of the people eat the same kind of food their parents have been eating.

[–] Steve@startrek.website 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It tastes good and I’m a carnivore.

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 18 points 6 months ago

omnivore, but i agree

[–] crt0o@lemm.ee 13 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Why is killing people wrong, but ok in war? Why do we still kill animals even though we know it's wrong? Why is killing wrong in the first place? I bet you can't find a single rational reason. That is because ethics isn't based on reason, but instead on emotion. Given that, I don't find it very surprising that it's often very hypocritical.

[–] YaBoyMax@programming.dev 12 points 6 months ago (6 children)

Ethics may not be fully objective, but claiming that they're fully based on emotion is a ridiculous thing to say. You can make ethical arguments based in reason. Pointing to the war and saying "see, ethics aren't real" is an incredibly naïve conclusion to draw.

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[–] AWittyUsername@lemmy.world 13 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Why do vegans always think they have the moral high ground?

[–] CursedByTheVoid@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Probably because they do, at least in the realm of dietary choices. Choosing to slaughter billions of sentient creatures every year for food and accessorization, when the majority of us have an abundance of other options, is morally fucked... and this is coming from somebody who eats meat with some frequency.

Just because we like it, or because it's easier, or because it's "tradition" doesn't mean it's morally righteous, it just means we're selfish assholes 💀

When people lash out at vegans it always seems to boil down to some degree of cognitive dissonance... Eat meat and revel in the immorality if you so desire, no one's stopping you; but don't fucking lie to yourself, and don't get butthurt when someone holds a mirror up to your face. The loss of life, environmental impact, and the effects on our own health is enough justification to argue in favor of veganism, vegetarianism, or some other alternative that doesn't result in needless harm.

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[–] LemoineFairclough@sh.itjust.works 12 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I did try to reduce the impact of what I eat, but I haven't found a replacement for using chicken with a slow cooker. Beef also tastes good, especially when I eat at a restaurant.

I have stopped making hamburgers on my own (and replaced them with fish or soup), but I haven't put more effort into reducing my impact recently.

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[–] Asclepiaz@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago
[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 8 points 6 months ago

Because not everyone agrees that it's terrible for Earth. And even some of those that do may not consider it so terrible for Earth that it's not worth the tastiness.

You're wasting electricity running a computer right now, when we know that electricity generation is terrible for Earth. Why are you doing that?

[–] TokenBoomer@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

It’s ingrained into our capitalistic culture. Fast food ads every 20 minutes on tv. Grilling on weekends. Tailgating. A WackDonald’s on every corner. Not to mention big Dairy.

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