ibeckermayerin Hacker News • Recommends
On “Millions of Groundwater Wells Could Run Dry”
Misleading -- 94% of the water that's "used" to produce beef is just rainwater, see here: link to this video
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Eating less Meat won't save the Planet. Here's Why
Joseph Everett - WIL
2.3M subscribers • 6 videos on Rounds
- Recommended by 10 people, in Hacker News, across 8 different months.
- Debated among experts. Its central claim is contested, so look for the other side.
For anyone, no background needed. Education, not medical advice.
5.7M views5 years ago10 recommendations
NutritionDiets comparedPublic health and policy
Joseph Everett argues that reducing meat consumption has a negligible impact on greenhouse gas emissions and clarifies common misconceptions about livestock water and land use.
Big thanks to Dr. Frank Mitloehner for chatting with me. You can find him on twitter under @GHGGuru ▼Newsletter signup: josepheverettwil.substack.com/ ▲Patreon: www.patreon/com/WILearned ▲Twitter: twitter.com/jeverettlearned ▲IG: www.instagram.com/jeverett.whativelearned/ Navigation: - Why are people saying Cows are bad for the planet? - How much would Americans going plant based actually reduce GHG emissions? - Do cows really take all the water? - The real problem with water - Do Cows really take all our Food? - Livestock make the whole food system more efficient. - Do Cows really take all our Land? - You can't just grow whatever wherever. - Why Global numbers are Misleading - United States cattle are super efficient - What about methane? - Something more worth talking about than meat [SUBTÍTULOS EN ESPAÑOL] ✍️ "DEBUNK" RESPONSE 🥩 patreon.com/posts/51285771 📑 (PDF) - Here is my reply to a popular plant-based youtuber's attempt at "debunking" this video. ✍️Actually, there's been a lot of youtubers attempting to "debunk" this video. Here is my reply to another one: patreon.com/posts/50919460 I'll get to the others as I have time. 🌎The discussion with Dr. Mitloehner was immensely helpful but for those of you worried that I'm relying on one source: plenty of research was done before and after our conversation. I double checked all of his points and they are all backed up by research that is not his own. (All sources are in the below link.) 🐄This video is talking about conventional beef, not grass fed beef. 🥩There's actually still a ton more to talk about that couldn't fit in this video, how many of you guys would like to see another video expanding on this topic? LINK TO A PDF WITH SOURCES: patreon.com/posts/50493370 Also, check out the documentary "Sacred Cow" by Diana Rogers, narrated by Nick Offerman - well made, informative and engaging. The graphic design for the animation at was based on an infographic from the Sacred Cow website - sacredcow.info/helpful-resources . ▲FB: facebook.com/What-Ive-Learned-Joseph-Everett-102321408680549 For business inquiries: joseph.everett.wil@gmail.comWhy it's here
10 people recommend this, 1 disputes itWhat people say. Recommended for its detailed perspective on the environmental impact of beef production, including water and land use calculations.
AI_Overlord_in Hacker News • Recommends
On “Epicurious Will No Longer Publish Beef Recipes”
I was much more concerned about my beef consumption before watching this WIL video. It put things in perspective for me. The efficiency of beef production in each country, how water and land use calculations are done, equivalent nutritional value compared to other crops was very interesting. It doesn't negate the moral problems with factory farming, but that wasn't the intent of the video. link to this video
iptpusin Hacker News • Recommends
On “The Brazilian Amazon has 'flipped' to become major producer of greenhouse gasses”
This video changed my mind in the opposite direction. link to this video Stopping meat consumption would make a negligible difference in emissions. It's more valuable to focus on minimizing food waste instead.
hourislatein Hacker News • Recommends
On “Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)”
>90% less greenhouse emissions, 99% less water, and 93% less land This was a great video concerning those claims above.... link to this video
JohnWhighamin Hacker News • Recommends
On “G7 nations committing billions more to fossil fuel than green energy”
YT channel What I've Learned goes in-depth into inflated carbon footprints like these and can explain it more concise than I can. link to this video
emacsenin Hacker News • Recommends
On “Climate change: IPCC report is 'code red for humanity'”
> taking space that we now use for growing animal feed There was a recent Youtube video that explained how this isn't quite accurate: link to this video I'll save you the time (though you should watch it). 1. Much of the animal feed comes from agricultural byproducts. As an example, we eat corn on the cob, but much of the corn stalk is inedible to humans, but can be made into products for animals. 2. Much of the land used for animals is not suitable for growing crops. Some is, but it's not a 1:1 swapability factor.
spydrin Hacker News • Recommends
On “Treating beef like coal would make a big dent in greenhouse-gas emissions”
I disagree with this article and frustrated with those who try to push this narrative Here’s a 20 min video to show you why link to this video
taejavuin Hacker News • Recommends
On “Which type of plant-based milk is best?”
Not true, live stock feed is mostly the husks and stalks of the plants that are inedible to humans, which if it weren't for livestock, would be discarded as waste. See this video for some more common misconceptions, if you're interested: link to this video Every plot of land used to grow crop represents countless animals that used to live there, and were wiped out by the farmer. Farmers constantly battle against pests, which too are animals, just trying to live. Vultures are often seen following combine harvesters, to prey on the corpses of field mice and other small mammals that get caught in the blades. Zero harm is a myth.
cf141q5325in Hacker News • Recommends
On “‘Farms are failing’ as fertilizer prices drive up cost of food”
…mplification for a feel good narrative. Your source lists all land that grows anything but forest as agriculture land. Yet on large parts of those areas you cant do anything but pastures. Also, much of the cow feed isnt calories humans can process. Think byproducts of soy production. The youtube channel "What I've Learned" has a great video on it. link to this video What they dont mention is the large part livestock (especially cows an chicken) will have to play in producing soil from the dirt left behind after industrial agriculture. Regenerative agriculture is the term here, with rotating cows and chickens on degraded dirt patches to build top soil. All of this of course doesnt take away from the mad…
jokethrowawayin Hacker News • Recommends
On “Lab-Grown Meat Is Safe to Eat, FDA Says”
I think you're overestimating that, probably because of vegan propaganda. Eg. A lot of the water you use for animals turns into milk or pee (or sweat?), and goes back to the cycle of water. I don't like posting videos but this one goes through several points: link to this video
DemocracyFTW2in Hacker News • Disputes
On “Eating less meat won't save the planet”
at around 18:21 in ( link to this video ), the author claims that since cows produce methane (CH4) from grass that was built by metabolizing rainwater and atmospheric CO2, and methane is subsequently washed out over the course of a decade by being broken down to H2O and CO2. True, but methane is still a potent GHG even though a less persisting one than CO2. You cannot just show that there's a chemical cycle going on and then claim there's no environmental effect; without cows' burps, there would be one less source of intermittent atmospheric methane. You'd need at least one more factor to demonstrate it's irrelevant (like it's only a tiny fraction of all methane sources, or if we were to live without t…
sthnblllIIin Hacker News • Mentions
On “Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger life cycle assessment (2018)”
You're right. The water discussed here is just the total rain water that was in the grass the cows ate. Its not taken from aquifers or rivers like you need to irrigating crops. link to this video
TeeMassivein Hacker News • Mentions
On “California population declines for first time in more than a century”
90% of cattle water consumption comes directly from feed and feed is often made of leftover vegetable matter that would have been wasted otherwise or land that can't be harvested anyway: link to this video
kinjba11in Hacker News • Mentions
On “Canada Records All-Time High Temperature of 49.5 Degrees: Weather Service”
…be focusing on getting our democratic voting power focused on one that one easily digested story to get things done on a nation-state level instead of getting bogged down in these micro-issues. "Everything causes climate change" is impossible to fix. "Fossil fuels and especially cars and coal" cause climate change is very possible to address. See link to this video and link for examples of more nuance.…
novokin Hacker News • Mentions
On “California moves to cut off water to thousands of farmers”
…ith a lot of land and natural rainfall water, the only way you can get food from that land is from ruminant animals such as cows and sheep. To not use it would make the price of plant food skyrocket as food demand gets redirected onto plant crops from beef and plant food supply cannot redirect nearly as fast in that hypothetical situation. Source: link to this video…
kinjba11in Hacker News • Mentions
On “Treating beef like coal would make a big dent in greenhouse-gas emissions”
Devil's advocate. I'll probably be down-voted, but note that ignoring details gives fuel to skeptics (as in link to this video ). 1. How is this 14.5% number calculated? Does it include deforestation? Grass-fed is far different than deforesting for grazing land or crop land. For instance from the FAO PDF you quoted: "extensive livestock are often kept in remote environments where deforestation and land degradation reflect weaknesses in institutions and policies". The headline then should read "deforestation and bad land policy causes climate change" not "stop eating cows". 2. Again, how are these 10x numbers calculated? Comparing e.g. industrialized agriculture to inefficient agriculture in a third-wor…