Eating less meat and dairy

A dairy cow produces app 100kg of methane annually - 92% orally - 8% fart. (can't believe I'm actually typing this!)

This is equivalent to 2,300 kg of CO2 annually.

Agriculture is responsible for 18% of total release of greenhouse gases world wide. So it's not all due to global warming.
-- wonder what David Attenborough thinks of that.

 

They have proper meals and there isn't much focus on desserts (apart from a gelato on a Sunday passeggiata).
British people often snack more between meals on biscuits and chocolates.
A lifetime of pasta does tend to catch up with Italians as they get older but the diet has historically been better.

 

How can you tell if someone is a vegetarian?

They tell you.

 

There’s about 500 takeaways and greasy spoons in barnsley so it’s no wonder every fuckers fat.

 

Rum babas, cannoli, sfogliata, gelato, chocolate tortes, zabaglione... they put plenty of sugar and cream down their necks, and its not for sunday wanderings. One of the most mind bending things was watching a guy in a suit at 7pm on a Tuesday evening have a gelato sandwich.... 4 big scoops of gelato on a huge brioche roll!

What I love about Italy though is how regional it is and a place 20 miles away will have a completely different staple of foods. But you're right, they cook properly, they eat well and graze long. In the uk people eat way faster.

 

Last year when I was looking after my mum for a few weeks in Barnsley, I couldn't believe how much fruit, veg and salad was left on the shelves and how much processed ready crap was in trollies. My London based eyes were popping out of their sockets at the sights! Grim.

 

Barnsley has a big problem with obesity and bad dieting.

The powers that be in town keep making noises about doing something about it on one hands but in the other grant planning permission for another chicken shop, kebab house etc

I often wonder how some of these make money given the sustained income they require to keep afloat but that’s a discussion for another evening.

 

Am I the only vegan in the village then

 

Not for me, eating nice stuff as and when I like is about the only thing the thought police haven’t attacked me for. I try not to eat too much fat, chips maybe once a month if that, never eat sweet stuff as I’m not fond and I’ve cut back on processed meat. Other than that it’s game on.

 

Not to mention one of the biggest reasons I don't eat meat, the deforestation involved (65-70% of the Amazon's deforestation according to the rainforest alliance) also pushing animals towards extinction. Now more and more middle class people in developing countries are eating meat on top of the west, it's accelerating catastrophe.

I really like the taste of a lot of meat, but given the cost to the Earth and the horrible industry I came to the conclusion that it's too selfish an act for me to continue.

I was full vegetarian for 6 years when I was young, then found I felt healthier eating fish (which I know again has problems in terms of dredging the sea floor etc).

You don't miss meat once you've worked out a repertoire of meals You like. There are lots of hearty dishes you can make. The trouble is it can be more time consuming to eat healthily and we all work too hard and long.

I'd like to be vegan but I adore cheese and dairy. When you think about it, the milk industry, impregnating cows and then taking their calves to be slaughtered whilst they are stuck in pens to be milked is pretty awful.

The palm oil industry is also shocking when you look at it's effects on habitats and environments and that's in so much stuff I like it's unreal. It takes time and commitment to eat and live ethically, it's bloody difficult and I haven't managed it although I try.

 

The palm oil industry is devastating, as are so many things humans do. Going a bit deep here, but humans are conditioned to consume. And to consume we destroy or manufacture things which nature didn't intend. Then obviously the impact of our wastage.

I wonder if mankind would ever be selfless enough to manage its own numbers to protect the future of the planet and continuation of the species?

 

I'm just about where you're at and for the same reasons, albeit with chicken occasionally, though that's getting harder to actually enjoy and will probably kick that too soon.

There will always be more you can do and things you shouldn't eat etc, and that seems to be a reason why many people don't make any changes at all, which is a bit daft really. The wider public push should be towards reduction not outright abstention, at least at first, and I think that's the way things are going. The question is will enough people start to make changes and is it all too late anyway.

 

This is a nationwide problem,,empty retail units being turned into takeaways and is the main reason for the countries health problems,the sugar tax was just another revenue grabber and will do nothing to combat what its supposed to,the real problem imo is the sheer number of pizza and kebab shops.I've customers coming into my shop who eat virtually nothing but takeaways,they can tell you every single phone number within a five mile radius,

 

You can look at it from the point of view of saving the planet and/or personal responsibility for your own health. I was up at Wentworth garden centre during the summer and saw a really overweight couple sitting down with scones piled high with cream and jam, feeding another scone to their already overweight child. You are free to do what you want and no-one wants to be told what to do but in the end it's all about your own sense of personal responsibility.

 

I live in London, there are even more food and drink places catering for allsorts of different levels of income. Yet I'd wager there is less obesity per capita in London than in Barnsley.

To go in these places is pure choice, or laziness.

 

Avocados. Healthy, delicious, completely vegan (obviously) . Yet environmentally damaging when commercially cultivated, laden with food miles, and worst of all they are so lucrative their distribution is now apparently controlled by the same criminal gangs in Mexico who are involved in the drug trade. Oh well, you can always just go and have a pint of delicious, locally brewed craft ale. Except of course it's not very local as the hops, one of the thistiest crops in existence, probably came from America or Australia (more food miles). I was in the Bateman's brewery in Lincolnshire in the summer, and at the beginning of the tour they asked us how many pints of water it takes to produce one pint of beer. The answer? 99! So that's beer off the list of ethically sound products. To be honest, save keeping chickens and growing veg in your garden you're going to do something unethical the moment you walk out your front door these days. It's a nightmare.

 

Councils can't just turn down applications because they don't like them. They have to have legal grounds to do so or the applicant will just appeal and win.

For every take-away shop there are enough markets and supermarkets where people can buy fresh, healthy food. It's people's lifestyles that make them eat junk food, not decisions made by councils.

Er, agriculture causes a lot of global warming as well as destruction of forest land which is cleared for grazing.