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Comment by mattigames | Hacker News Reader

The only way methane from live-stock is gonna disappear is by either: 1) Lab-created meat 2) Seaweed and other techniques of reducing methane released by cows [0] 3) Less humans due birth control or fortuitous events (e.g. a plague)

[0] https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612452/how-seaweed-could-...

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4) Reduce demand.

I'm Argentinean, if I stopped eating meat my passport would probably be revoked. I grew up thinking that it was perfectly normal to eat meat 7 days a week. Even with this background, I started reducing the amount of meat some time back. I'm not vegetarian by any means, but I reduced my meat consumption about 80% without even trying. I'm sure there are lots of people that could too.

> Less humans due birth control or fortuitous events (e.g. a plague)

Like everything, consumption follows a Pareto distribution, where some "whales" drive most of the demand. You can focus on them instead of hoping for lots of people dying.

Also, reduce poverty and the amount of newborns in this planet will naturally decrease precipitously, without any need for a mandate from anyone.

Changing people mentality is the less likely way methane is going to be reduced; I'm sure you tried to convince your family but you had little or no success, some parts of the world are even having trouble making people believe that vaccines are good don't think they gonna pay much attention about methane.

I also grew up eating crazy amounts of meat here in Canada. I'm steadily moving towards a vegetarian (though with some fish and other sea life I harvest) diet despite still absolutely loving meat. I just can't justify it anymore. To me (and I know others don't need to feel the same way) it's practically immoral to eat in a way that wouldn't be sustainable if everyone else did. It's incredible to be born in a place and time where I can afford dry aged sirloin, fresh bacon, roast chicken, or smoked duck breast with my meals... But to partake in it is a serious disservice to everyone else in the world, however minute that disservice may seem at the global scale.

Having kids robbed me of the selfishness I required to isolate myself from the externalities of my lifestyle. To be honest, some days I wish I still didn't worry about it.

How do you justify having kids (also unsustainable if everyone did it.)?

justify your own existence!

Honestly, I can't. It makes me feel bad for doing that to others and also for what the world might become for my kids. I wish I was kidding. This sort of thing has kept me up at night.

> it's practically immoral to eat in a way that wouldn't be sustainable if everyone else did.

Why would that be immoral if you have negligible negative impact? It would only be a problem if everybody else will begin doing it. Which does not happen. Having children, hunting in the woods, owning a big house. Eating meat. Not being a universal example for every person is not immoral. People have different needs, and one person has more impact on the environment than other (but usually still negligible). If you want to limit yourself in this particular way, fine, but this isn't particularly moral thing to do. It is more of a feel-good thing to do.

I see where you're coming from and I largely agree. In fact if we do go hunting, we will eat meat. Obviously if everyone near me was hunting for meat, the forest would be emptied in no time. But they don't, so the impact is still less than buying beef for example so I think that's acceptable. I also hunt for fish and crustaceans when I dive, which wouldn't be sustainable if everyone else did.

I suppose my desire is partially to exit a commercial food system that I know is unsustainable. That system doesn't look like it will become sustainable any time soon, and I don't want to vote for it with my dollars and contribute to the issue with each meal.

I also don't necessarily do it to feel good. It feels bad at times, otherwise neutral. It feels like doing too little. There's no warm fuzzy feeling from half measures like this. I wish I could do more, but I struggle to figure out how.

If you are going to eat red meat go Kangaroo, it's healthy and sustainable.

There are a million articles on the internet arguing either way. I would start with this one for an interesting angle: https://theconversation.com/from-pests-to-profits-making-kan...

I live in th UK, I’d suggest transporting it from Australia to the other side of the world would have some ethical implications

jump across the pond :)

https://www.smh.com.au/national/kangaroos-run-wild-in-france...

4) Afterburner.

Kidding. Well kinda... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2606956/Now-...

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