1kg of beef provides a lot more nutrients, calories and protein than 1 kg of any vegetable or fruit ever could. Vegetarians and vegans would love everyone to switch over to their eating habits but that simply wouldn't be sustainable.

Want to replace milk? Let's look at the almond/pistachio/nut/soy industry and see how much more damage they would be doing to the environment if they scaled up large enough to produce their products to the same level that dairy currently does.

Animals take plants (a lot of that feed isn't fit for human consumption) and turns them into something we can use. Also, a lot of the land that cattle grazes on is not suitable for growing plants that humans can consume.

The water intake issue: yes, cattle need water, but a lot of that water is rain water that collects in ponds.

Livestock is not our problem. About 70% of the world's pollution comes from 100 corporations. Fossil fuels (that adds captured carbon in to our atmosphere) is the issue. I don't think that is a reasonable thing to stop though, it is just too essential to our civilization.

 

Agree, nuclear is the way to go for most developed countries (that aren't sitting on fault lines, in the path of a dozen or so typhoons every year, or vulnerable to other natural disasters). But I disagree that livestock plays any significant role in global warming. One person p@ssing in the ocean will raise the sea levels as much as a single cow burping will. (Hyperbole, I don't have a source for that one.)

 

The farming industry has politicians in their pockets just as much as any other major industry. Personally, as soon as they come out with a meat substitute that has the same calories, protein, taste and price (or cheaper) as real meat I'll switch over. Until then no thanks.