Increasing mpg to save earth or try vegetarianism instead

[johnpr]

some w-marts carry vegan stuff (my local one does) and some dont, its really hit or miss

[DifferentPointofView]

Well I've got 3 local walmarts within 30 miles of me. 2 are super-walmarts, with the grocers section, so I might try there. One is brand new.

[Gone4]

I was watching How It's Made the other day and one thing they mentioned is the leftover from soy milk and tofu production is sold off really cheaply as animal feed. It seems as if everyone went vegan we'd have a lot more food waste.

Again this is coming from someone who wants to be a vegetarian now that it just became possible.

[SVOboy]

Originally Posted by GenKreton

I was watching How It's Made the other day and one thing they mentioned is the leftover from soy milk and tofu production is sold off really cheaply as animal feed. It seems as if everyone went vegan we'd have a lot more food waste.

Again this is coming from someone who wants to be a vegetarian now that it just became possible.

You think they use every part of the cow,

[Gone4]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

You think they use every part of the cow,

They do use every part in places with less regard for disease. Anyways recovering something is better than nothing. I've been trying to research what's left in these byproducts that are used in animal feed. It doesn't seem they have suitable levels of nitrogen or potassium to make them into fertilizers.

[SVOboy]

Well, the way I see it is this:

When comparing milk and soymilk, soymilk may take X pounds of food for a gallon to be produced, and then 5% of that goes to waste, but milk takes some multiple of x > 1 to produce that same gallon, because a cow just isn't as efficient a milk maker as a soy bean is.

Cow are like hydrogen cars, perhaps.

[Gregte]

Mostly vegetarian here. One to two ounces of chicken breast per day and one egg white. Everything else is fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains. Nothing refined and nothing processed. All my grain (oats and whole wheat flour) is bought in 50 lb. bags, very cheap and very little packaging. Take my own shopping baskets to the grocery store for sanitary reasons and to eliminate plastic bag waste.

I monitor another forum about bicycles, health and fitness and I find it interesting that it appears there are more vegans and vegetarians on the ecomodder forum than the health forum.

[lovemysan]

I'm sorta vegan. We went completely vegan for a while. The soy intake caused my wife to get iron deficient during pregnancy. We realized we ate too much soy and cut most of it out of our diet. Now we only occassionally eat boca or maybe some local smoked tofu. We buy very few things marked "vegan". We make it ourselves. We grind our own grain and cornmeal. There is nothing like fresh ground flour for baking.

[SVOboy]

Originally Posted by lovemysan

I'm sorta vegan. We went completely vegan for a while. The soy intake caused my wife to get iron deficient during pregnancy. We realized we ate too much soy and cut most of it out of our diet. Now we only occassionally eat boca or maybe some local smoked tofu. We buy very few things marked "vegan". We make it ourselves. We grind our own grain and cornmeal. There is nothing like fresh ground flour for baking.

Inspiring stuff right there, mehbe when I'm older and not in college/on a meal plan,

[IndyIan]

Here are a few articles on why you should watch what your doing with soy products.
http://www.electroherbalism.com/Natu...20of%20Soy.htm

http://www.electroherbalism.com/Natu...ldAvoidSoy.htm

Maybe I should start a new thread titled "Increasing mpg to save the earth or try eating local instead".
I have some trouble with just encouraging people to avoid meat because it uses more resources to produce. I would rather say, make sure the meat or animal products you eat is produced locally and sustainably, this usually costs more than at walmart because all the costs are accounted for and it is more costly (in monatary terms) to raise animals humanely.
As an example for eggs, Farmer Brown with 300 chickens doesn't have an automated system to feed and water them and collect the eggs, and he doesn't want to keep them locked up in cages anyways. So it takes him some time to feed and water and collect the eggs, which gives him a chance to see how they are doing. He also doesn't have the most "efficient" breed because they need a climate contolled barn, they don't live very long or well, and they can't reproduce with out alot of help. His chickens also have access to a couple acres of pasture which allows them to feed on actual living plants and bugs which means his eggs are far superior nutritionallyhttp://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-...hier-Eggs.aspx. So his eggs cost more but they are not trucked 100's of miles and are who knows how old.

The main idea of eating animals and their products is that they turn stuff we can't eat, grasses, bugs, shrubs, leaves from trees, etc, into something we can. Meat, eggs, milk. I like to eat meat and eggs and milk, and alot of it is sourced 100yrds away from my kitchen. All of our kitchen scraps are fed to somebody at our place, the chickens are omnivors and the dog crunches up the big bones. So I doubt anyones vegan food, that has been industrially grown, processed, packaged, and shipped from 500 miles away, is remotely close to being as sustainable as my roast chicken last night or my eggs for breakfast.

Like anything there is no simple answer, obviously not everyone can or wants to have any part in raising or growing their own food. We enjoy it and we can eat our animals guilt free, they live very well but they also have a purpose. However, anyone can try to eat locally and sustainabley and enjoy whatever type of food they choose, vegan or otherwise.
Ian