I do like vegans and vegetarians. They have their reasons for their diet and lifestyle [Note to the right-wingers - veganism is a lifestyle choice; homosexuality is not. Learn the difference] ranging from “my body won’t let me eat meat” to “I think it’s morally wrong to eat anything that had a face”.
That’s fine.
I understand and accept you have your reasons and I am never so crass as to enforce my ethical omnivorous lifestyle choice on you.
It’s the arrogant/militant/squeaky wheel portion of the vegans/vegetarians[veges?] that get to my niblets, and my niblets are tender enough thanks to people taking liberties with the English language.
I have heard a lot of the arguments, of course. I have Vege friends who occasionally try to convince me to quit chewing on muscles.
It’s true that you can get just as much nutrition from plant life as you can from -say- a hunk of dead cow. It also happens to be true that my body just doesn’t like the plant life with iron in it and reacts… spectacularly. I won’t elaborate since lots of you eat while you’re browsing.
I could plausibly go vege if I took iron supplements, and possibly a few other pills. Okay. I choose not to. My reason for not flipping to vege is twofold, here: plant life goes off quickly, and vitamin/mineral supplements are hellishly expensive.
It is not true that going vege is better for the environment.
Humans have already clear-cut vast swathes of forest just to grow enough plant life to compliment the meat they also clear-cut forests in order to raise. Meat can also be fed on the stalks/leaves of plants we also grow to feed us. Now, if we cut meat out of the equation, we would have to clear-cut even more land and critter-environments just to grow the plants to feed the humans not eating meat.
Not to mention the many human-dependant species that would go extinct when their existence is no longer convenient for us. The automobile and the industrial age have relegated hundreds of breeds of horses to the “once was” list, already.
Various boffins are perfecting a means of making meat without having the animal attached. If it gets to the point where it can become a commercially viable then you can bet money that all those cute “real” pigs, cows, etc. will have exactly one generation before they’re on the endangered list.
Humans have a long history of eliminating animals that they no longer find convenient. Sometimes, we eliminate them because we make more money that way. The end result will be the same. Every acre of space will be needed to grow plant-based food.
Of course, we could wake up and realise there’s just too damn many people on the planet, but that’s not likely with various “populate or perish” movements attempting to out-breed the other guy.
So, even if we figure out how to multi-storey crops, we still kind-of need meat. Admittedly, not so damned much meat as we do plough through, but a reasonable some.
And -hey- if you can self-sustain with wall planters and the right balance of seasonal growing, give me hints and tips. I’d love to reduce the cost of healthy vegetables by growing my own. Hell, I’d love to be proven wrong about the whole nutrition thing, too. Just keep in mind that I react violently [and very stinkily] to spinach, silverbeet, brussels sprouts and most cabbages [red cabbage and the pointy ones seem to pass, FYI]. And I’m allergic to bees.
I have a bit less than an acre, almost zero free time, alkaline soil and no spare money.
Do tell me where and how to start. Go on.
I will, as always, share my results.
