Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
But, methane when they are eating grass makes NO CHANGE in the long run to the atmosphere. Cows have existed for millions of years, and the carbon cycle is in balance.
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The species from which we selectively bred cows, the aurochs, existed for millions of years, yes--until we drove them to extinction in 1627. But the aurochs' range was limited to Europe, and it did not exist in any population comparable to the sheer number of cows alive now, of which there are over
1 billion at any given time. (For comparison, there were only an estimated 30 million bison in North America before white settlers began hunting them. The modern cow population dwarfs the historic population of bovines, even when you combine various species on all continents).
Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
Just because something is processed doesn't mean it isn't good for you, and practically all food is GMO (selected and bred for desirable attributes).
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Unfortunately, in politically-charged and emotional "discussion," there often is no room for nuance. Anti-GMO people don't realize they aren't actually anti-GMO: nearly everything we consume has been genetically modified by us to suit our purposes, and they're fine with things like "heirloom" tomatoes and sweet corn. Their beef (pun intended!) is with the way we go about modifying an organism, but they never say that and many, I think, don't even realize that. It's like that stupid Food Babe or whomever ranting against "chemicals" in various things because they have scary names and she doesn't know that literally
everything that exists is made of chemicals.