Why do people still eat beef when we know it's terrible for Earth?

Why do people eat food they know isn't good for their health? Why do people continue to buy products from companies that have proven to only sell bad products or engage in scumbag practices?

They all have the same answer.

Each individual is facing the following choice in life:

• sacrifice to save the planet, and fail
• or not

People want to immediately jump to “if everyone would just …”

Nobody is looking at an “everyone does X” button. People only have their “I do X” button available.

So that is literally the answer to your question. Very few people would sacrifice the civilization to eat a cheeseburger. But nobody has that choice or that power in their hands. Their choice is eat the cheeseburger or not, and the survival of civilization stays rigidly the same between those two choices.

Same reason we use electricity despite not being 100% green energy and thus being even worse for the earth?

If you actually wanna guilt this question then the fuck are you doing using your coal and gas powered electricity to do it?

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, because the capitalists have seen to it that you will never be permitted to make an ethical choice that would dare compete with what they expect you to choose.

Being a moralizing prick doesn't send any message, what gets people to change is making that change easy, that's why instead of being terminally online fuckwads, british vegangelists spread the good news by hosting free kitchens, volunteering to take people grocery shopping on their own pound, teaching vegan cooking classes, and all other sorts of actually addressing literally any of the actual concerns people have about going vegan instead of being a condescending snob about it.

Cow yummy

This has got to be a troll, right?

How about we shift to talking about portion control and be less all or nothing?

Not everyone has the time and resources to commit to every 'good' fight under the sun especially when the systemic problems are as deeply rooted in our society as they are.

Which device did you post from? Did you vet it wasn't made with slave labor? You might need to go recycle all your devices and unfortunately that will cut you off from getting your message out to the world.

Your post does more harm to your cause than good because it just makes everyone angry at you.

This rage bait question could be reworded as...

Why do people consume <anything> when we know it's bad for the earth.

Because it’s a damn good source of creatine and protein. And it tastes good.

The real question is, why should we try to not eat beef for the environment, when corporations make 90% of all pollution in the world.

Maybe focus on the 90% of the problem and not the individual people who but meat?

Where I live the beef is local and cheap. I'm not able to obtain enough protein without meat, as confirmed by a doctor and a nutritionist when I tried to go vegetarian. With food costs so high it's cheaper to buy cow than anything else, but when I have the money I opt for fish or turkey. I looked into hunting but it's prohibitively expensive for me with permits, tags, guns, licenses, days off and transportation. I tried fishing for myself as well, but whenever I get time to do it, there are warnings about eating fish in the area. When there aren't I never catch anything big enough to legally be allowed to keep. I'd like to get chickens if/when local government ever lifts the bylaws preventing it.

What a loaded question.

Outside of the fact that a single cows life provides about 900 meals for humans, and the scraps left over make boots that last for a decade and also feed our cats and dogs. Plus, it's delicious.

Because it tastes great and it's today, and not tomorrow.

Not everybody agrees that beef is bad for you and the environment. We were talking about human health, it's hard to find a more of bioavailable source of nutrition than animal protein and fat

The average human has much more of a negative effect on the environment than a cow. So, shouldn’t the question be why we tolerate so many people?

It tastes good and I’m a carnivore.

Because most of the people eat the same kind of food their parents have been eating.

Why do vegans always think they have the moral high ground?

Humans can be weird about these facts or simply indifferent to the known effect that raising these animals for meat has on the environment. Additionally, I think the antagonistic message of a few vocal vegans triggered a powerful foolishness in the heads of certain people who are prone to acting hedonistically upon being told not to do something. A combination of apathy, chasing profits, taste for beef, and spite which fuels the industrialized beef production business. Another issue is that most of us simply won't be around to experience the consequences of the unchecked corporations responsible for this willful harm the meat industry is causing Earth's climate and surrounding environment. I believe in moderation, eating as little of all the meats as possible (those industries have a big impact on the environment). As an American, I see a weird pride that certain people have about eating as much meat as possible; loudly shunning and making fun of those who have either a mostly plant-based, vegetarian, or vegan diet. It's such a selfish outlook that happens in societies that focus on the individual over the many.

Why is killing people wrong, but ok in war? Why do we still kill animals even though we know it's wrong? Why is killing wrong in the first place? I bet you can't find a single rational reason. That is because ethics isn't based on reason, but instead on emotion. Given that, I don't find it very surprising that it's often very hypocritical.

I did try to reduce the impact of what I eat, but I haven't found a replacement for using chicken with a slow cooker. Beef also tastes good, especially when I eat at a restaurant.

I have stopped making hamburgers on my own (and replaced them with fish or soup), but I haven't put more effort into reducing my impact recently.

Tastes gud

Because not everyone agrees that it's terrible for Earth. And even some of those that do may not consider it so terrible for Earth that it's not worth the tastiness.

You're wasting electricity running a computer right now, when we know that electricity generation is terrible for Earth. Why are you doing that?

In my country at least beef consumption peaked around 2012 (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/24/uk-meat-consumption-lowest-level-since-record-began-data-reveal)

I think post WW2 there was a drive towards the idea that we'd never need to go without. This combined with lifestyle changes (more people working longer hours) gave birth to the rise of fast convince foods and the mass growth of places like McDonalds and Burger King.

Why don't people just stop? Ideas within society have a lot of momentum, they take a lot of energy to get started and a lot to turn or stop again.

It’s ingrained into our capitalistic culture. Fast food ads every 20 minutes on tv. Grilling on weekends. Tailgating. A WackDonald’s on every corner. Not to mention big Dairy.

This might not be a "stupid" question, but it sure is a loaded and leading one that for sure isn't in good faith. Welcome to my block list, enjoy your stay.

Meat yummy

because not every country produce beef like you westerner. and not everyone eat beef everyday.

go make your government ban beef like you ban palm oil if you really care about earth.

What a cesspool, this thread. I know OP asked a loaded question, but fucking hell. No need to get so hostile

Beef is one of the least-woke proteins. /s

Begging the question

1 the amount of beef I eat is not a major contributer to the problem. No matter how hard I try. The actual major contributors what to distract people by telling them that they can make the difference. They can't. 2 I don't like plants... 3 the way the grow plants for food is also terrible for earth

Cigarette smokers must really baffle you too

Beef makes money. Just like cars, oil makes money.

It's not terrible for the Earth. The Earth is a big rock and doesn't care in the slightest.

It's nutritious. Instead of carefully observing some diet you can eat some beef and buckwheat or cabbage or beans, and you're good.

That said, I eat meat so rarely that my relatives worry, mainly because it takes some time to cook if you boil it, and I'm lazy and unorganized, and frying it has the potential of, eh, leaving the kitchen for 5 minutes which turn out to be half an hour and returning for the smell.

Other than that people can't care about every problem at once.

Because most of the vocal people that are anti-meat tend to be the insufferable holier-than-thou types who are constantly getting high off the smell of their own farts.

As an example, you in this thread. Pathetic.

I appreciate your question, but I think "we know" is problematic:

• who is "we"?
• how do we "know"?
• can some people know one thing while others know the opposite?

I'm not trolling, either, just asking questions from a philosophical point of view. I've changed my mind about several things I took very seriously and thought I was 100% right about. Could others be dealing with similar changing-mind-through-time processes? Could you?

It's not?

Its a cultural thing for my wife and her family. Pretty much every meal she learned to cook when she was a beef meal.

I have a eating disorder so most vegetables make me retch, so I kind of don't have a choice.

Also companies do way more emissions than I ever will, yet I'm asked to stop.

Because people are selfish, stuck in their ways, and speciesist. Some are also ignorant

You really triggered some folks 🤣

Big money involved

LOL nice try, veggie troll

Because:

• Ruminants like cows repair our depleating topsoil via regenerative farming (our current approach of using petroleum-based fertilisers is not sustainable)
• A single cow's life can feed a human for 1 to 2 years, compared to the many incidentally killed animals (insects, rodents, frogs, birds, etc.) during the growing and harvesting of crops, plus the destruction of entire ecosystems to create the mono-crop farms in the first place
• Humans need to eat lots of fat to be physically and mentally healthy, and beef provides lots of fat (the low-fat high-carbohydrate diets recommended by various agencies — starting with the US's department of agriculture in the late '70s via the food pyramid — are making us sick, with once-rare diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, and dementia now commonplace)

Along with the other answers:

Because cooked cowflesh smells delicious, and there are companies out there that are willing to capitalize on that.

The bigger question is: why do people still drink cows milk? And the answer to that one is all about politics and power.

Because my partners are picky eaters and I literally cannot get them to even try vegetarian meals. If it doesn't have beef, pork, or chicken then they won't touch it. >_<

Dumb fucks who fall for propaganda on every platform.

Because we are carnivores and that's how nature works?

Because they're lazy and comfortable and stupid and they don't give a shit about anything.

You haven't made vegan food free yet. Make vegan food free, and people will naturally eat more of it. Plus you solve hunger at the same time.

You do care about reducing beef consumption right? Well start here. Stop spinning your wheels elsewhere