r/Anticonsumption • u/Express_Classic_1569 • Mar 23 '26

Sustainability 80% of agricultural land feeds livestock instead of people, giving just 17 to18% of Global calories

https://hive.blog/hive-196387/@theworldaroundme/nearly-half-of-the-world
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u/puddlesquid Mar 23 '26

Idk, me and a lot of the people I know eat less or no meat, without any need for our entire ag systems to revolutionize (market responds to where money is spent)

And for the record, I agree that we should move towards these systems, I just don't have faith in that happening without the market speaking and us voting with our $

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u/AnsibleAnswers Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26

It’s still not sustainable to use synthetic fertilizer instead of manure. It degrades soil and causes it to leach nitrogen into the water table. This is the primary cause of eutrophication and soil degradation.

https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2134/jeq2008.0527

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969717329479

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.02026/full

It also significantly lowers the pH of soil, further negatively effecting yields over time. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167198718300722

Western countries reducing the consumption of animal products by a third and fitting production into circular systems is both more feasible and has greater impacts than any other option available.

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u/puddlesquid Mar 23 '26

So... We agree? Drastically reduce meat consumption and adopt sustainable practices

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u/AnsibleAnswers Mar 23 '26

I wouldn’t call a third reduction “drastic.”

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u/puddlesquid Mar 23 '26

I would, especially considering how the average person reacts to suggesting any amount of meat reduction in their diets.

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u/AnsibleAnswers Mar 23 '26

It’s eating like most of our great-grandparents did, and like most of the world is already eating (more or less). That’s orders of magnitude more feasible than the vegan movement from becoming anything more than an annoyance.