Rabbit: One of the Most Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly Meats You Can Eat?

http://problems.no

That doesn't compare to the number of cattle, pig and chicken feed lots in the world. A few dozen dead bunnies isn't going to make me sad and in turn convince me that I'm wrong. I'm trying to think in the direction of real solutions to real problems. I'm not interested in being shocked into a change of opinion.

People eat meat and the death of an animal isn't going to stop some people from eating meat. You have to realize this and move toward a new idea. Converting the world to vegetarianism/veganism will never happen.

And again, this particular article is not talking about slaughtering hundreds of rabbits. It's introducing an idea in a time where new ideas and paradigm shifts are needed.

this is not a solution.

this is unnecessary. glad this article isn't about abortion.

not for me........ I have no problem with you eating it go ahead knock yourself out

Its just another idea, nice try though they at least wanna make a difference.

Good points. My family and I became vegetarians last year and we haven't looked back. We don't try to convert anyone... We just could not continue to eat meat the way it is produced today. Morally we just did not feel we could eat tormented animals. After all we are what we eat. We have noticed we feel so much healthier since eliminating meat from our diet.

I ONLY buy organic or farmer's market meats. No more factory raised animals. It gets pricey so I don't buy meat as often and we have to get more creative, but I grew up in Amarillo, TX where they have one of the biggest Tyson plants and its disgusting. I swear "Fast Food Nation" was modeled after my hometown.

Organic bacon is the best too!! :oD

Sometimes you DO have to draw
lines in the sand,...............just to remind folks the lines exist.
still.....................point taken +^d.

Australia has got a huge rabbit problem. I'm surprised they haven't taken advantage of that...

SANE and "YUMMY" value system! SOLD!

( I wonder if they can gengeneer that with a mesquite "smokey" flavor ? )

Not that I care about this article, but my bunny rabbit loves parsley! I would suggest you put a fence around your garden because they think that stuff is chocolate. Wouldn't it be great if humans were like rabbits and thought that kale and spinach were to die for?
Also, rabbits scream when they die. They'll probably scream louder than your neighbor's kids.

Nothing has to die to make cheese.
I love cheese.
Saladin is wrong again... (Not vegan).

Fine, my bad.

But if you're still arguing from the "sustainability" point of view cheese has exactly the same problem as beef. Cows fart methane and are otherwise toxic in large numbers.

Not so fast. One cow (ALIVE) can produce quite a LOT of cheese (milk), so the carbon footprint/methane gas production would be very small indeed if all those cows weren't being killed in such a short amount of time for MEAT consumption and instead let to live their entire natural lives. It's the killing/meat consumption in huge quantity that is creating the problem. Also, what about Goat Cheese?

No, you don't understand. Cows FART methane, in LARGE quantities. Keeping them ALIVE is what causes the footprint.

Now, dairy cows and beef cows are two different breeds, so getting rid of the meat variety wouldn't really be a problem in terms of lowering emissions. That's a positive step (depending on what replaces it).

All I'm pointing out is that milk and cheese production have the same environmental problems as beef production, namely that cows are basically toxic.

But of course, none of that applies to goats. Although I've been led to believe that goat dairy is not nearly as tasty.

Goat milk/cheese is GREAT. I grew up with a pet goat in Oregon which I milked and made cheese with.

Anyway, you are incorrect on a couple things here.

First, I didn't say that it would reduce emissions if done in the same quantity. I said that the quantity (of living cattle) would be VASTLY lower since they wouldn't be killed in a short time and bred over and over.
For example, say 10 cows live on a dairy farm until their ripe old age of 22. In 22 yrs, there would have been only 10 cows producing methane. BUT, on the same property if used for MEAT production, cattle will be crammed into gestation crates and what should be 10 cows living there, will instead be thousands of cattle constantly being grossly overfed, slaughtered etc etc etc. (Do you see what I'm getting at?)
Second, dairy cows are not grossly overfed like the aformentioned meat cows.

The last point is a bit insignificant but in the name of education: Dairy cows' methane production is largely from their burps, not their farts...

Ok, I see what you're getting at now. That makes sense.

Although I'm led to believe that large dairy farms have many cows. I don't know exactly what the proportion is to meat farms but, some of them can be rather nasty. Especially the ones that use RBGH, often hundreds of cows will be in the same room.

I'll have to muster up some courage and try some goat products.

I think that if everyone thought like you do (actually used their mind, and had some compassion), there'd be no need for our discussion.

Yes, I only eat Organic when it comes to cheese, and I drink rice when it comes to "milk". that RGBH shit is a huge bummer.

No, there will always be a need for discussion. Because until we become cybernetic and can just use data transfer in place of communication, ideas in the mind can't be expressed without it.

However, if more people thought like I did, discussions would certainly be a lot more -productive-.

What's really sad about the RBGH stuff is that I think a lot of those guys get subsidies. So not only are they hedging out their competitors, who actually make GOOD milk, with unethical practices, they still get money from the government.

Food policy in America is a huge mess.

They say if you have your goat eat poison oak, and then drink the milk, you'll have an immunity.

Goat cheese is really good, especially when eaten with marmalade. They come in little plastic bowls and are really tasty...

I love salads. I could live on salads.....

Or Gorgonzola on your salad....

Someone once made a "soyburger" in Austin that was ACTUALLY really good,....it has been too long now to remember the place,....they WOULD allow you to get it with cheese.

I wouldn't even eat chicken if I had to beat it with a club to make a sandwich,.....but I wouldn't raise or feed the little bastards either. I DO however,...love my dog. He has to eat. I would club a chicken to feed my dog if I couldn't catch enough fish. (note---I used to have crayfish as aquarium pets------they turn the color of the tank they are in,.....and YES,...they CAN do magenta! ( so I feel like a cannibal when I eat gumbo )

As long as the jalapeño exists,....protein veggies are palatable enough to sustain my life!

Aww shitty! I'm going to look for good alternatives now. Any suggestions?

Hahaha that about sums it up I guess. I'm sold. I'm going to spelunk around and try a few different kinds out. It'd been on my to-do list anyway.

Hahaha, look a vegan got offended. I guess it was inevitable.

Meat in fact is sustainable, it's only been the assumption of green activists that it isn't because of the American reliance on beef. Cows don't represent all meat.

Chickens, buffaloes, pigs and rabbits (as this article points out) to a certain extent are all sustainable systems so long as they aren't eaten in absurd abundance.

Original post " Hahaha, look we got a butthurt vegan among us".
Wow.
Pretty mature there Saladin.

I think that any animals eaten will still be eaten in excess, rendering it unsustainable. (Look around).
That said, your argument is a miserable failure.

Sorry, I know it was mean. But I got a good laugh out of the "THAT IS DISGUSTING" comment, your bias shines through very clearly.

And this is just the thing I was touching on, all the vegan arguments rest on it being more sustainable "in theory." You don't have any real studies and all the real ones actually done suggest the exact opposite.

This is a big problem with environmental movements like greenpeace. They're staffed by well-meaning citizens who unfortunately don't know shit about anything.

Environmentalism is something that has to be driven by level-headed science and cautious policy makers. People who have a "spiritual connection to the earth" don't have any sense about how it needs to be taken care of.

For example, people have advocated for a while to "bring your own cup/bag" to the store to cut down on waste.

A study done showed that the carbon footprint left behind by what would be needed to manufacture all the cups needed and continuously wash them would exceed just using disposable styrofoam cups to a significant degree.

Similarly, studies have shown that suddenly shutting off the meat market and switching to crops, even if it were possible, doesn't instantly make things greener. Soy beans in particular leave heavy carbon footprints and that's ignoring how much extra shipping would need to be done.

I also find it odd that you agree with the validity of my statement and then call the whole argument a miserable failure. I know I poisoned the well but come on, it was in good fun, no need to get defensive.

Right, I know all of this and have readily admitted it, I've not denied the climate impact of beef at all. What I'm talking about is that switching wholesale from beef to another crop isn't necessarily carbon neutral.

Yes, beef is bad. But plenty of meat staples, especially chicken, surpass even certain crops in terms of their environmental effects.

I spent a while looking for that article but I couldn't find it, sorry.

If cattle are unsustainable I’d like to know why global warming didn’t kick off back in the 17th century when American bison numbered at around 60 million. Truth be told eat meat is about as natural as natural comes. Digging coal and oil out of the ground and burning it in the atmosphere ain’t so much.

Bison and cattle are completely different animals. Probably with completely different methane production rates.

Cattle and bison are not “completely different animals” they’re just specialized or evolved forms of the same animal! You can breed a domesticated cow with a bison. And no their methane production rates are pretty comparable.

Regardless, I never said that cows were the cause of "global warming" (or climate change for that matter), you did.
Humans are the true cause, but cattle aren't helping.

I agree. If people began accepting eating rabbits as the new "norm," why would it be any different than the way chickens are factory farmed? It would just be trading one animal for another. This article's argument is ridiculously flawed...

Oh now you’re just arguing semantics. Climate change and global warming ARE tied to environmental sustainability. The rate at which we burn fossil fuels is leading to the degradation of our environment which is just another way of saying it’s not sustainable.

“Humans are the true cause, but cattle aren't helping.”

Yeah and so is decomposing plant matter and volcanoes, but that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to eradicate plants and volcanoes along with our meat.

An excellent point Ricky. Cattle and Bison are ruminants, except that Bison are 2/3rds larger than cattle, thus impact the environment to a greater degree. However, both species contribute to fertilization of the grasses that they feed on. The net impact on the environment is therefore questionable. However, certainly 60-80 million Bison did not bring on Global warning or excessive methane levels. The U.S. needs more manure and our politicians are manufacturing it at record levels.

Again, the difference between the 2 is the difference between free roaming natural animals and FACTORY MEAT SLAUGHTERHOUSES.

It's like comparing a Hotwheel to a Hummer... I know I know, they're both cars! (So they both contribute to climate change by belting out emissions and sucking up fossil fuels right!?!?)

hahaha

True. About 2500 gallons of water for every pound of beef last I read...

I thought that we were discussing rabbits raised on a non commercial basis for home consumption? Which any simple minded fool would acknowedge has no comparision to commercialy raised, beef, chicken, or pork. Now, if you arrogant vegans, choose to debate me on protein consumption based on your personal beliefs/separated from facts then man up and provide facts rather than repeating a simple minded emotional attachment to mammals, reptiles, and poultry. We are animals, they are animals; we eat and die, they eat and die, unless of course you suppose that being a vegan somehow preserves you a special place in the afterlife?

Have you noticed any of the links I've already posted?

Also, read the posts without your blinders on.
The arguments I personally make are that meat consumption of any kind is damaging and unsustainable. That said, eating rabbits vs eating cows is very much comparable.

How about you try to stop assuming, stop judging and stop calling names ("simple minded"?) and start READING what you're replying to first.

If you want to eat meat, that's your choice. Just know that if you don't raise the animals and eat what you raise, then your lifestyle comes with a high environmental price which future generations will be paying for.

No comment on the afterlife...

ps. I'm not vegan, yet, but I'm leaning that way the more I talk to people that are too stubborn to make a change. (I can at least try to offset other people's unsustainable lifestyles by living/eating by example.)

"Onechance", I meant no offense to you. However, I was raised on a farm in Mississippi. 65 acres, 30 cows w/calves, 1 bull, 1 mule. 1 pig, 10-15 dogs (coonhounds and bloodhounds),10-20 cats, and at least 30-50 chickens. This was a self sustainable farm. No electricity/phone until 1962, never to this day, a sewage or water system ( we drank well water), and bathed in a cold water tub on the porch, or behind the house after I was an adult. I am a University graduate, only the second in my family prior to my daughters. I am a supporter of sustainable living, however, I suspect that you and most other commenters do not fully comprehend the labor involved in "sustainable" living. It is brutal, day in day out labor for both men and women and children, with few luxuries. Unfortunately, most of the responsibility fell on the shoulders of the women. 4:30 A.M. milk the cows, screen the milk. churn butter, collect eggs, cook breakfast by 6:00AM, work the garden, pickle the vegetables for the winter; and if lucky the women can fall into bed totally exhausted at 10:00PM. This is only the tip of the iceberg regarding true " sustainability", and the arrogance of people supposing that they have some concept of this life, irritates the hell out of me. Go to the store and buy your food and thank God that you do not have to produce it.

Wrong again. If you read the aforementioned posts above, you'd see that I too grew up on a farm. I milked my pet goat (Cleo), had a cow (Bessie) and I had 3 pigs (belle, annabelle, and sowyy), a slew of rabbits, chickens, and a horse named sweetlips...

I raised my own food, used an old iron stove and also bathed in cold water.
My hands know what it takes. I've lived it.
Now I choose to live more sustainably when outside of that sustainable lifestyle, as much as possible in a city.

Maybe your irritation should be directed toward the people and CORPORATIONS that are actually the problem.

In that case, I apologise. You have my respect and admiration for living the life. When I retire in 5-7 years I hope to return to that life. Best Wishes.

Well thank you very much. And thank YOU for caring. If you can't bring yourself to drop meat altogether, at least cutting back some will greatly help as well...
All the best.

Nothing like Southern-fried Gatortail!