this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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Unpopular Opinion

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[–] Naich@lemmings.world 0 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Sure, but one person not eating beef doesn’t have a direct impact on beef farming.

In the same way that one person voting makes no difference, but people do it anyway. You are taking an extremely nihilistic and defeatist position that seems at odds with the effort you put into writing the reply.

And none of that is likely, so you may as well enjoy your cheeseburger.

At least if you cut down or give up eating them you can tell yourself that you are doing something to not actively making the planet worse for everyone. Is cutting down the amount of meat you eat really such an awful proposition? There are health benefits too.

There is also a massive difference in the CO2 produced for different types of meat - chicken produces 1/10th of the emissions of beef:

Source: https://ourworldindata.org/carbon-footprint-food-methane

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's difficult to avoid nihilism neck deep into an apocalypse. But you're right, I was being glib and dismissive. Sorry about that.

The reason I objected in the first place is that the oligarchy has used the personal choices conversation to quash criticisms across the board, and it's extremely effective. You can't complain about American manufacturing jobs going overseas because you drive an imported car. You can't complain about slave labor because you buy Nikes or KitKats or strawberries picked by illegal immigrants. It's a thought-terminating purity test that doesn't even hold up to scrutiny.

Factory farming chickens (or pigs or fish or reduces carbon output, but comes with its own environmental horrors, like diseases, water contamination, pest control, etc. Everyone in the world could go full vegan tomorrow, and the oligarchy would be clear cutting the Amazon rainforest to plant soybeans and lentils the day after, because the problem has never been personal choices. We need systemic changes to fix systemic problems.

By all means, reduce your beef consumption. But if you want to actually reduce human-drive climate destruction, we need to start eating billionaires, not chickens.

[–] Naich@lemmings.world 2 points 1 month ago

Yes, you are totally correct in all that, but I'm coming from a personal perspective - self preservation in what seems like a hopeless situation. Yes, it's all fucked and don't stop trying to eat the billionaires, but if you can not play their game, even in a minor way, that is a small win for you personally. Not dancing to their tune is a better feeling than hopeless nihilism as you bite into another one of their burgers, giving them a little bit more money and power.

And if enough people did that, who knows - it might actually make a difference.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

that graph is from poore-nemecek 2018, and should not be considered reliable.

[–] Naich@lemmings.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Unlike random internet dudes, who are always 100% reliable.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

all you need to do is read the LCA references they cite, in which it is explained that LCA data should not be combined, due to using disparate methodologies

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

you can tell yourself that you are doing something to not actively making the planet worse for everyone

but it's not true. if i told you jumping jacks reduced global warming, how many would you do?

[–] Naich@lemmings.world 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Well, what I said is true. I don't really know what else to say if you are just going to ignore basic logic and facts.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

you can say it's true but you haven't actually provided evidence

[–] Naich@lemmings.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not doing something that has been proven to be bad for the planet is making an effort to not make things worse. I'm not sure how you can argue against basic logic.

[–] commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 month ago

you are claiming it's proven, but you haven't actually provided the proof.