Is that one of those chicken and egg things?
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that looks a lot like nevada. the Paiutes in nevada and utah subsisted on a lot of local plant life. they also hunted, of course, but this page (http://www.utahpaiutes.org/about/culture/paiutediet.aspx) says they also ate:
“Southern Paiutes harvested and processed nuts, grass seeds, cactus fruits, berries, teas, and other plants. Some foods that are still used today include the piñon nuts and scrub oat acorns, Indian rice grass seeds, wild rhubarb, and a variety of teas. Seed plants that are gathered include the spiny hop sage, Fremont goosefoot, herringbill, stickleaf or desert corsage, and tumbling mustard. Roots and bulbs such as the sego lily and the bitter root are used in cooking. Leafy plants are often eaten today as greens or added to other foods. These include Fremont goosefoot, Pahute beardtongue, and Indian spinach. Southern Paiute also eat some flowers like the globe mallow, wild rose, paintbrush, and Pahute beardtongue. Fruits of various species of cacti are also part of the diet and included prickly pear cactus and yucca. Edible berries come from juniper berries, desert gooseberry, wild grapes, chokecherries, sumac, and skunkbush.”
TL;DR: there’s a lot of edible plant life that we just ignore.
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Their big strong hands can help break it down into smaller chunks.
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Came here to say this! Flexitarian is the generally accepted term for this.
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You mean besides the antelope?
A major issue here is the underlying assumption that it is possible for all arable land currently being used to grow animals or food for animals, to be turned over to grow plants directly for humans. Anyone who’s ever visited a desert ranch (or for that matter the high alpine regions) will see how ridiculous such a proposal is. Growing animals on marginal nutrient-sparse land is the only way to make anything out of such land. Large parts of the world currently being used to raise animals are simply not suitable for growing anything else. Tibetan yak farmers ain’t gonna grow soybeans 4000m up!
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That’s helpful. I had a girlfriend once who was “vegetarian except bacon.” Same idea, kind of.
Anyone have a link to this info that isn’t YouTube? I do better digesting (ISWYDT) information in written format, rather than a TED talk. I despise the webinars that are currently all the rage among our administration.
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Therefore whitetail deer in the eastern parts of North America should … what?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally in favor of reintroducing apex predators like wolves and pumas. But there are a lot of places where they’re not going to keep the browser population healthy. Meanwhile those plains aren’t suited for farming – but they graze just fine.
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Preaching to the choir, sister! I pain your feels.
The video presents the usual vegan talking points in a modern short-attention-span montage of oversimplified infographics, followed by this bibliography.
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If you’re in an area with reliable water, yup. Those plains are an old lakebed and flat as a pancake – no streams. Even the mountains around it are dicey for agriculture (although the valleys past them get to be nice.) About 50 km east of where that picture was taken you get down into the Rio Grande valley and the situation changes, but the plains are high and dry and there’s no way to make a home there without modern wells – and that aquifer won’t last long if it’s pumped for farms.
I grew up in the Salt River valley, within walking distance of Pueblo ruins – and the canals they dug to bring water from the river to the fields. Now I live in walking distance of the Rio Grande. In this part of the world, it’s all about water. Everything else is secondary, and the only way to get food for humans out of those plains is by letting animals harvest the plants for us.
Especially if the meat in question is human.
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Interestingly different take on this, more factual in my opinion:
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I am a big eat less meat and eat consciously sourced meat fan. Then again, this is Texas and I can literally order seasonal meat from sustainable farms and have it delivered to my door. I pretty much each 75%-80% vegan as is because I have meat once a day if at all, and it’s a lot more sustainable personally than trying to avoid all animal products whatsoever.
What we really need is an eat more soup movement.
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Nicely nuanced for the most part, except for the part about food deserts. Just because such places currently make it hard to go meatless (and more generally, to eat more healthily) doesn’t mean those places have to stay that way.
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Thank you for the TL;DR summary. I only wish the bibliography were a little more detailed; by casual inspection, at least a couple of the entries are 20+ years old. Diet for a New America was published in 1987. Not exactly cutting edge research.
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Yes, but:
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Tofu is about 12-15% protein, 2.5% carbs and 2.7% fat and has approximately 62 calories per 100g (if not fried).
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Whilst chicken is about 25-31% protein, 0% carbs, 7.8% fat and has approximately 197 calories per 100g (skin-on-breast).
I’m not saying one is better than the other; just pointing out that comparing chicken and tofu is like comparing apples and oranges… and on a purely calories vs CO2 based calculation the chicken is well ahead.
(Excuse me if my maths is all kinds of wrong…)
Carbon Equivalent Units / Calories per kg =
Chicken
3000 / (197 x 10) = Approx 3/2
Tofu
2000 / (62 x 10) = Approx 6.5/2
[Of course all of the above assumes the figures cited in the comment I’m replying to; and the figures I found on randomwebsite.com are correct. I’m not vouching for either source.].
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Only if you are omnivore.
Do plant based here equals to vegan?
What about vegetarians then?
