Discussion Board

NPR radio just had a discussion on meat eating in America v.s other countries, how much, and why. Has to do mostly with economics, that we eat a lot when it's cheap and not as much when it's expensive. Nothing earth-shattering, but an interesting FYI for us non-meat-eaters:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/26/155720538/the-making-of-meat-eating-america

Thanks for the post. NPR is calling this discussion "Meat Week" to discuss the issues about eating meat:

"For the next few days, NPR will be taking a closer look at meat consumption in America; we're calling it "Meat Week."

The Time Traveler's Cookbook: Meat-Lover's Edition
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/24/155506989 ... rs-edition

We Evolved to Eat Meat, But How Much is too Much?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/0 ... s-too-much

Visualizing a Nation of Meat Eaters
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/0 ... rs?ps=cprs

Thanks, Rob. I realized that this morning when I heard the latest broadcast. It's an interesting discussion, all right. I'm glad it's being talked about. It's not new news, but it might get a few people to stop and think about the many evils of meat production and consumption. We can only hope....

I think it's good that these conversations are happening - that people appear to be questioning their dietary choices in terms of personal health, the environment, ethics, economics, safety, sustainability, etc.

I do question the accuracy of the information being presented as fact. One item that immediately caught my attention in 'Visualizing a Nation of Meat Eaters' was the factoid that producing 1/4 beef uses 52.8 gallons of water. The source for the information is a report produced by an anti-vegan/anti-vegetarian writer who is clearly a livestock industry shill, Judith Capper (http://www.bovidiva.com).

In the following article, John Robbins makes the case for the frequently cited figure of 2,500 gallons of water per pound of beef (625 gallons per 1/4 lb. of beef): http://www.earthsave.org/environment/water.htm

I'm concerned that this NPR series may be a back-handed attempt to re-write the dialogue about meat consumption with phony facts from industry-biased sources.

Lastly, there is a website called, meatweek.com that promotes the consumption of meat. Was the naming of this NPR discussion designed to send a not-to-subtle message?