[Gandalf Parker]

Renegade 13 said:

Speaking as the son of a cattle rancher, I can tell you right now that the beef we produce is not unhealthy in the least. As with all things, if you eat too much meat, perhaps you will gain weight due to fat content, but that can be said of many things. Beef in and of itself is not bad at all for you. At least, before it goes to the feedlots I know it is, I'm not sure what they do to the meat before the animals are slaughtered and butchered.

I meant those to be seperate things that would happen. I dont agree that beef is unhealthy. Im as much a carnivore as my wife is a vegetarian (both fairly extreme). To me a good meal includes the 5 basic food animals (beef, pork, foul, fish, mutton). I am the LAST person to jump on the "unhealthy meat" thing.

But some foods are bad for the environment. As much as I love beef (and REAL veal when I can get it instead of the fake crap in stores) I do have to acknowledge that its not an efficient meat. In terms of the use of the land, water, more land and water for the necessary feeds; it produces very little in return. We use everything a cow produces but it still doesnt balance the books and can be replaced by other more efficient animals. Also much of the encroachment of man into wilderness areas is due to cattle and it would not happen to that extent with any other meat crop. Wheat is also a rather obnoxious and damaging crop in its useage of land.

There are many SciFi books which bring it up because anyone who studies such reports knows that if we dont fix the population growth problem and some shortages, that changes will have to be made and those are fairly high on the list. I detriggefinetly do not plan to voluntarily give up anything in my diet.