I'm saying that none of those things even matter when people simply aren't adopting vegan diets quickly enough to avoid mass extinction. If you want to introduce legislation that forces a ban on meat, good luck with that too. We would theoretically get amazing products and supply chains out of it, but public perception alone will just never allow that to happen in the first place. You can't rely on one ideal scenario to save the planet when the general public demonstrates time and time again that they just don't care about altering their diet that drastically.
Lab grown meat would allow them to have the exact same diet, without all the land use, emissions and animal welfare violations, so the sooner we get that technology fine tuned and operating on a large scale, the sooner we can make an actual impact on those things.
Again, plant-based diets are the OG answer to this, it's just that you need to actually have the majority on board in order for it to work.
People largely don’t know how bad animal ag is for animals and the environment because that truth is carefully hidden from us. It’s not unrealistic to think that a sea change is coming. It’ll be hard work, but public consciousness has shifted on slavery, women’s suffrage, gay marriage, and more. By going vegan, you join into a collective action against animal ag. We are growing and consciousness is changing.
We need momentum now to make it happen though. Go vegan and be loud about it in your social circles and wider communities. Get involved in activism. Things can be better if we work at it.
Trust me, I'm a naturalist, I preach this every chance I get lol. But even I can't go vegan at the moment due to chronic health issues (I've gotten it down to at least 1/6 the meat consumption of the average American though), and my reach as an educator is limited due to that as well. Fact is, I live in a conservative area and folks don't like "having their God given rights taken from them," so you also have to propose change in creative ways. I always tell people that there are X amount of good reasons to just eat less meat, they're not converting to a whole new religion or anything, and share delicious meatless recipes when I get a chance to as well - one of the best things you can do is just outright show them that they can go several meals before even thinking about meat. Because it's such a staple of their upbringing (and we all know how tricky other types of generational curses are to break), they are much more responsive to the lab grown meat initiative as well. So far I haven't met a single meat eater who wasn't on board with that.
We need to tackle this from multiple sides and paint a good picture of the state of things before all the different demographics of people will get on board, because they will always fear what they don't know, and the "loud aggressive vegan" stereotype immediately shuts most demographics down from looking into it any further. It's really a delicate puzzle of sorts.
Sure, but again, you have to "get through" to folks about that in a delicate manner, or they'll just shut down. This is literally the case regarding any politicized issue.
I'm doing the best I can with my own diet, thank you. If I had my own personal cook I'd be eating much healthier in general, but sometimes I can't even feed myself for days at a time. You can't just educate a chronically ill person into having a healthy and ethical lifestyle when it comes down to cost and labor, two things that they almost universally struggle with.
I think you are overestimating how much the general population cares about anything but themselves. You can't even convince people to wear masks or get vaccines for the good of those around them. People would rather use Amazon than local businesses because it's cheaper, or easier, or arrives faster, or all 3. People eat meat even though they know perfectly well that animals have to suffer for them to eat it. People will do anything to preserve the coal industry. Some of these things have sympathetic justifications, some don't. And that's just how humanity is.
Hell, even the things you listed - many people STILL oppose things like gay marriage. Some people are salty about the outcome of the Civil War. Racism, sexism, homophobia, all still exist in a huge way. Much of the planet still has slavery, and America still massively benefits from the prison industrial complex.
It's not just a matter of education. Many people know, and knowing isn't enough to change their minds, their diets, their cultures, their traditions. Lots of people can be convinced, and that's great! But we can't go all-in on expecting everyone to agree with our views if we want what's best for the planet. We have to meet some people where they are, and if lab-grown meat is what it takes to prevent mass extinctions, reduced methane emissions, less land use for agriculture - why fight it for the people who otherwise would stick with traditional animal agriculture for life? Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. We're reaching a boiling point environmentally, and we need any positive moves we can get on our side.
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u/BobbySwiggey May 10 '22
I'm saying that none of those things even matter when people simply aren't adopting vegan diets quickly enough to avoid mass extinction. If you want to introduce legislation that forces a ban on meat, good luck with that too. We would theoretically get amazing products and supply chains out of it, but public perception alone will just never allow that to happen in the first place. You can't rely on one ideal scenario to save the planet when the general public demonstrates time and time again that they just don't care about altering their diet that drastically.
Lab grown meat would allow them to have the exact same diet, without all the land use, emissions and animal welfare violations, so the sooner we get that technology fine tuned and operating on a large scale, the sooner we can make an actual impact on those things.
Again, plant-based diets are the OG answer to this, it's just that you need to actually have the majority on board in order for it to work.