Bill Gates = Thomas Malthus + Igrid Newkirk.
“… because we know that conventional meat production is one of the biggest drivers of climate change, as well as water and pollution; and ethics, since the animal factories that produce most of our meat and milk are brutal places where animals suffer needlessly.”
Humans have a taste for meat, if not necessarily a requirement for it, and primates are generally omnivores.
If humans stop raising animals for meat, we’ll lose one of the major reasons for stewardship of open lands. If ranchers stop grazing, who will have a stake in the grasslands? Without a stake, people turn their attention to where they do have a stake (where your treasure is, there will your heart be — practical as well as spiritual).
Factory farms look bad to humans but it’s less clear that animals actually suffer there. If a given farm procedure is actually cruel, wealthy societies can usually develop alternatives. Poor societies don’t.
Wild animals do a fair amount of suffering as well, since they normally breed to the limits of their food supply.
Savory’s talk was quite interesting. He also includes before and after shots.
Having a couple of vegetarians in the family, I’ve frequently eaten and enjoyed meatless dishes/meals. I prefer those that do not have faux meat because they’ve yet to find one that actually tastes like the real thing. Besides, you don’t always get the protein/amino acids you need.
Evidently Gates has not yet learned that grazing livestock (cows, sheep, goats, and all those other tasty herbivores) is essential to the prevention of desertification
http://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_world_s_deserts_and_reverse_climate_change.html
Here’s one excellent example of one of those “brutal farms” where animals suffer needlessly:
Before that, he wanted me to give up my computer.