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the water resource consumption of meat is also overblown as most of the water used in the calculation is just RAIN water, which the cows urinate out back onto the fields anyway completing the water cycle

actual scarce resources like freshwater reserves are however used for.... you guessed it... PLANTS! the exact opposite of MEAT

and what's an example of a specific plant that IS sucking up all the freshwater reserves? ALMONDS. the exact kind of thing a vegan tries to turn into "milk". THEIR consumption habits ironically are actually depleting reserves & causing droughts

animals also don't waste feed that could have been used to feed the hungry poors because only ruminant animals with multiple stomachs can actually extract nutrient from feed (also, as obesity shows, logistics/distribtution/market-forces are more critical than caloric volume)

the same goes for land. a lot of the land that could be "reclaimed" if everyone went vegan is "marginal land", land that could not be used for crops they can eat the the only thing that grows there (grass) and convert it into nutrients (and fertilizer for crops!)

with regards to emissions, in the U.S. cows account for only 2% of total greenhouse gas emissions compared to around 30% each for transportation & electricity generation

even though methane from cow burp farts IS a relatively "bad" greenhouse gas, it is also part of the natural carbon cycle since it eats the grass which is storing the carbon and used to create the methane. it's not adding new ghg's to the system unlike cars

even electric cars increase the burden on electricity generation and electricity generation, unlike cows, don't complete a cycle. it depletes resources and increases externalities like ghg's in an open loop. just perhaps slower than combustion engines

now you may be saying 'b..b..b..but KURZGESAGT, MARK ROBER, BILL GATES!!!" and i will slap you in the face and tell you to look at the incentives, not what is popular and has high production value and good marketing

just like with TSA scanners, a whole industry is setup to profit enormously from selling easy feel-good solutions while also manipulating consumer behavior AND maintaining the status quo e.g. for meat, the vegan money machine creates a smokescreen for fossil fuels

the reason this works especially well in developed countries is because in developed countries the MAIN source of suffering is GUILT and b/c they have standards of living, they will reach desperately for EASY solutions like changing consumption habits

the road to hell is paved with good intentions so be very very careful of becoming someone who NEEDS to see self as "Good"