The German Government Just Banned Meat at All Official Functions - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Zergeant;51857790]Even fish? I thought the worst type of meat consumption came from cattle like cow, chicken and pig? How much impact does fish meat even have?[/QUOTE] Fish is among the worst offenders. More than half the fishing grounds are over fished. For example, all Tuna no matter where you get it, is over fished. Leading to vanishing populatons in some areas. And jellyfish booms in others. Fishing nets and drag nets also damage corals and the sea floor.

[QUOTE]The row within the current German coalition government, which is formed of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Christian Democrats (CDU), began earlier this week when Environment Minister and SDP member Barbara Henricks announced that meat and fish would be banned from official government functions. Citing the environmental burden that intensive meat production places on the planet, Hendricks issued a statement saying that only vegetarian food will now be served at events.[/QUOTE] Yeah, well, no. Actually no. It's still a stupid idea but it will only apply to events hosted by the Department of the Environment.

[QUOTE=Vegetable;51857943]Eating meat isn't a personal choice when the animal doesn't have a choice. Respect for a life should come before any taste. There are far more important things in life than that.[/QUOTE] I respect some life by its taste. As is the natural thing to do, since we are omnivores.

Yeah sorry folks, reducing or removing meat from our diets is actually a good thing for the environment, and quite possibly for our health.

[QUOTE=LiquidNazgul;51857844]Seven posts. Seven posts before a Nazi reference is made. Its not even that I'm offended or anything but come on guys, you can do better than that. Surprisingly, not all of German history began in 1933. Also, how is this ecologically friendly to only have vegetarian shit at only government events and functions? I'm not much of an economist or an environmentalist or what have you but I'm pretty sure that's not gonna combat much of anything.[/QUOTE]Environmentally meat is inefficient as fuck, regarding land usage. [sp]milk and white meat are better than others. Beef is fucking horrible lol[/sp] And likewise, economically you could call it a waste of scarce resources that could be used to feed the needy. Except we already produce enough food to feed the entire world; but yeah. I'm not really going to say that we need to round up all the meat eaters (and im one,) line them up against the wall, and gun them down if they refuse to comply. But habitually we really should eat less meat in aggregate. Hell, one of the reasons conditions for animals are so hellish is that it's just necessary to keep up with massive demand. Of course I don't know how we accomplish this. We could jam regulations in to make living conditions for the animals not shit which'll increase costs by quite a bit and greatly reduce the amount demanded, but good luck getting that passed.

[QUOTE=Hugg;51858287]Yeah sorry folks, reducing or removing meat from our diets is actually a good thing for the environment, and quite possibly for our health.[/QUOTE] Theres lots of other healthy stuff we don't do though. Quit drinking, quit smoking, stop using fossil fuels, stop using plastics, stop putting sugar into everything. Just because its the smart thing to do doesn't mean we do it. I'd go on to say that eating meat is far less than the other crazy shit we do and, while we should cut down on meat there are more important health/environmental things to do. + I'm eating lamb chops right this very moment

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;51858301]Theres lots of other healthy stuff we don't do though. Quit drinking, quit smoking, stop using fossil fuels, stop using plastics, stop putting sugar into everything. Just because its the smart thing to do doesn't mean we do it. I'd go on to say that eating meat is far less than the other crazy shit we do and, while we should cut down on meat there are more important health/environmental things to do. + I'm eating lamb chops right this very moment[/QUOTE] A lot of those problems you mentioned are being addressed by societies worldwide? Like do you seriously think smoking is at the same rates its always been.

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[QUOTE=Turnips5;51858093]that's definitely the least stupid argument to go vegetarian, in fairness[/QUOTE] Imo anything beyond "i arbitrarily want to" is pretty stupid

[QUOTE=Hugg;51858287]Yeah sorry folks, reducing or removing meat from our diets is actually a good thing for the environment, and quite possibly for our health.[/QUOTE] Reducing, yeah. Removing, nah.

[QUOTE=Zergeant;51857790]Even fish? I thought the worst type of meat consumption came from cattle like cow, chicken and pig? How much impact does fish meat even have?[/QUOTE] Many species of fish are overfished, and some are actually on the IUCN red list because of that (bluefin tuna being the first example that comes to mind). Many fishing methods like trawling and longline fishing harm non-target species. Shrimp trawling for example produces a bycatch ratio of between 3:1 to 15:1, that is, for every pound of shrimp caught, 3 to 15 pounds worth of marine life is caught and thrown back into the sea, dead or dying. Fish farming is not devoid of its problems. The feed used for carnivorous species such as salmon is partially derived from wild-caught fish. Farms themselves produce a lot of pollution due to the high densities of fish involved. Shrimp farming involves clearing out large areas of mangroves, and the shrimp ponds usually become too polluted to use after a few years, necessitating the clearing of more mangroves for new ponds. Seafood is one of the worst things you could eat if you care for the environment. Stick to chicken or hell, even beef.

Is the end goal to eliminate meat industry entirely or what? I would think that it's still good to have as long as we're less dependent on it. There'd be a lot of plant farming byproduct / low quality product going to waste if it didn't feed farm animals, right?

[QUOTE=Jake Nukem;51857872]Well that's just silly. Also this made me think... If we all of a sudden went vegan... Wouldn't we have to genocide basically 90%(or most) of the farmland population? Considering their population levels are naturally unsustainable in the slightest, and most breeds these days will probably go extinct, no?[/QUOTE] If everyone on Earth suddenly became vegan it would have disastrous consequences. Many farm animals would die or be killed as they are no longer a sustainable resource. As we have only limited space and supply of agriculture, many people around the world would starve. Particularly in third world countries and places like Japan which rely heavily on seafood to feed their country. The farm animals that survive would be incapable of looking after themselves. For example, cows would become very sick from not being milked. The wool on sheep would grow so long that many would die from the heat or the weight of not being sheared. Some would be so affected by the weight that they'd fall over and not be able to get back up. The people who don't starve would likely become anaemic and poorly from malnutrition. Many products and medicines would no longer become possible to make. But on the plus side at least the environment would be better for it right? We'd cut our greenhouse gas emissions down quite significantly. However, nowhere near enough to stave off climate change, and besides there are much better ways to reduce these emissions such as [URL="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-19/environmental-concerns-cows-eating-seaweed/7946630"]lacing cattle food with seaweed[/URL]. I don't think it will ever be possible for the world to become completely vegan, but I do think that we can work towards reducing the amount of damage that the meat industry does to the environment. Also, both meat and plants are good and bad for us in different ways. We need a balance of these two things. We wouldn't be where we are today without meat or vegetables.

I'm allergic to like 80% of raw fruits and vegetables. I couldn't take not being able to eat meat :v:

[QUOTE=Talishmar;51858361]Is the end goal to eliminate meat industry entirely or what? I would think that it's still good to have as long as we're less dependent on it. There'd be a lot of plant farming byproduct / low quality product going to waste if it didn't feed farm animals, right?[/QUOTE] There are some health problems (heart disease comes to mind) that are unique (more or less) to the west where we simply eat too much meat and dairy products. I think we should go back to seeing meat as a luxury item only to be eaten once a week or perhaps even once a month.

[QUOTE=Darth Ninja;51858362] If everyone on Earth suddenly became vegan it would have disastrous consequences. Many farm animals would die or be killed as they are no longer a sustainable resource.[/QUOTE] :speechless: That's the entire fucking point though

[QUOTE=Darth Ninja;51858362]If everyone on Earth suddenly became vegan it would have disastrous consequences. Many farm animals would die or be killed as they are no longer a sustainable resource. As we have only limited space and supply of agriculture, many people around the world would starve. Particularly in third world countries and places like Japan which rely heavily on seafood to feed their country. The farm animals that survive would be incapable of looking after themselves. For example, cows would become very sick from not being milked. The wool on sheep would grow so long that many would die from the heat or the weight of not being sheared. Some would be so affected by the weight that they'd fall over and not be able to get back up. The people who don't starve would likely become anaemic and poorly from malnutrition. Many products and medicines would no longer become possible to make. But on the plus side at least the environment would be better for it right? We'd cut our greenhouse gas emissions down quite significantly. However, nowhere near enough to stave off climate change, and besides there are much better ways to reduce these emissions such as [URL="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-19/environmental-concerns-cows-eating-seaweed/7946630"]lacing cattle food with seaweed[/URL]. I don't think it will ever be possible for the world to become completely vegan, but I do think that we can work towards reducing the amount of damage that the meat industry does to the environment. Also, both meat and plants are good and bad for us in different ways. We need a balance of these two things. We wouldn't be where we are today without meat or vegetables.[/QUOTE] what kind of outer space logic is this "farm animals would die or be killed as they are no longer a sustainable resource" like what do you think happens to farm animals on a daily basis

[QUOTE=Darth Ninja;51858362]If everyone on Earth suddenly became vegan it would have disastrous consequences. Many farm animals would die or be killed as they are no longer a sustainable resource. As we have only limited space and supply of agriculture, many people around the world would starve. Particularly in third world countries and places like Japan which rely heavily on seafood to feed their country. The farm animals that survive would be incapable of looking after themselves. For example, cows would become very sick from not being milked. The wool on sheep would grow so long that many would die from the heat or the weight of not being sheared. Some would be so affected by the weight that they'd fall over and not be able to get back up. The people who don't starve would likely become anaemic and poorly from malnutrition. Many products and medicines would no longer become possible to make. But on the plus side at least the environment would be better for it right? We'd cut our greenhouse gas emissions down quite significantly. However, nowhere near enough to stave off climate change, and besides there are much better ways to reduce these emissions such as [URL="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-19/environmental-concerns-cows-eating-seaweed/7946630"]lacing cattle food with seaweed[/URL]. I don't think it will ever be possible for the world to become completely vegan, but I do think that we can work towards reducing the amount of damage that the meat industry does to the environment. Also, both meat and plants are good and bad for us in different ways. We need a balance of these two things. We wouldn't be where we are today without meat or vegetables.[/QUOTE] Just to clarify, for a cow to produce any milk it needs to be bred. Do you mean that a cow produces too much milk for the calf? [editline]22nd February 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=mdeceiver79;51858301]Theres lots of other healthy stuff we don't do though. Quit drinking, quit smoking, stop using fossil fuels, stop using plastics, stop putting sugar into everything. Just because its the smart thing to do doesn't mean we do it. I'd go on to say that eating meat is far less than the other crazy shit we do and, while we should cut down on meat there are more important health/environmental things to do. + I'm eating lamb chops right this very moment[/QUOTE] Even if "there are more important" things to do it's still something we should do. And the great thing is, it's on an individual level, you can make a choice not to eat meat (and trust me it's not that hard with a little effort).

[QUOTE=thelurker1234;51858306]A lot of those problems you mentioned are being addressed by societies worldwide? Like do you seriously think smoking is at the same rates its always been.[/QUOTE] True. You are correct

[QUOTE=Hugg;51858367]There are some health problems (heart disease comes to mind) that are unique (more or less) to the west where we simply eat too much meat and dairy products. I think we should go back to seeing meat as a luxury item only to be eaten once a week or perhaps even once a month.[/QUOTE] Actually, you mentioning heart disease is kind of funny. Red meat does not contribute significantly to heart disease. However, it was held for a while that it did, and it's all to do with bad science. As the 70s turned into the 80s turned into the 90s, heart disease rates began skyrocketing, and medical science was at a loss to explain what we now know as HDL and LDL cholesterol and their respective health impacts to the body. Because they didn't know about the artery-clogging effects of cholesterol, they weren't looking for it, and instead started their search for an explanation by examining the various cases they had. The only common link between the majority of cases was a regular consumption of red meat, and so it was blamed [I]by default[/I] by a medical community that didn't know better. Now, to be sure, too much of anything is not healthy for you, but just eating steak every night is not going to be a massive contributor to heart disease as much as, say, eating at McDonalds every day.

You ruin continent with open borders policy, You dictate Your will to other states through Europea nunion, and now You with no logical explanation favor vegans over those who enjoy meat. Why is that?

[QUOTE=Knurr;51858425]You ruin continent with open borders policy, You dictate Your will to other states through Europea nunion, and now You with no logical explanation favor vegans over those who enjoy meat. [/quote] The continent is ruined. Nothing left but rubble. I don't think they should have removed meat from official government functions/events but they (the environmental minister) did give a logical explanation. [quote]Why is that?[/QUOTE] You can read the article and find out

[QUOTE=Knurr;51858425]You ruin continent with open borders policy, You dictate Your will to other states through Europea nunion, and now You with no logical explanation favor vegans over those who enjoy meat. Why is that?[/QUOTE] [quote] Citing the environmental burden that intensive meat production places on the planet, Hendricks issued a statement saying that only vegetarian food will now be served at events.[/quote] ??????? Also the rest of that post. Wow.

[QUOTE=Hugg;51858287]Yeah sorry folks, reducing or removing meat from our diets is actually a good thing for the environment, and quite possibly for our health.[/QUOTE] Open your mouth and look at the teeth residing closest to your lips. Do you know what those are for?

Anecdotally my sister tried vegetarianism for a year and it fucked her teeth up quite bad so I'm not really up for picking it up myself now.

[QUOTE=Stopper;51858465]Open your mouth and look at the teeth residing closest to your lips. Do you know what those are for?[/QUOTE] Sure, but do you seriously think the majority of our calories came from meat?

[QUOTE=Drury;51858473]Anecdotally my sister tried vegetarianism for a year and it fucked her teeth up quite bad so I'm not really up for picking it up myself now.[/QUOTE] you have to do your research first, or else you'll fuck up and die from a lack of b12 or something. But otherwise it's pretty safe and good nutritionally, I'm planning on trying it when I move out.

[QUOTE=Hugg;51858377]Just to clarify, for a cow to produce any milk it needs to be bred. Do you mean that a cow produces too much milk for the calf?[/QUOTE] Yes, they do produce too much milk. Ever heard of selective breeding? [QUOTE=Drury;51858473]Anecdotally my sister tried vegetarianism for a year and it fucked her teeth up quite bad so I'm not really up for picking it up myself now.[/QUOTE] My sister has been a vegetarian for a year and she is now anaemic and it's caused her heart issues.

My mom and brother have been vegetarian for quite a long time and they're fine.

[QUOTE=Darth Ninja;51858494]Yes, they do produce too much milk. Ever heard of selective breeding? My sister has been a vegetarian for a year and she is now anaemic and it's caused her heart issues.[/QUOTE] I was vegetarian for 3 years, I was perfectly fine. The plural of anecdote is not data.